One Year

Height: 29" (25%)

Weight: 19 lbs. 4 oz. (10%)

Head Size: 19.5" (98%)

I have been dragging my feet to get this final monthly update written for Peter. I haven't really felt too emotional about him turning 1, but this feels like the end of an era and so it's been hard for me to make myself sit down and finish this post. I do want to document his life at this age, however, so I'll do just that. (This update ending up being random ramblings, but I'm sure I'll be glad to come back and read this some day so I'm leaving it.)

These pictures were taken by our family friend, Amy Holst. I am so happy with the way they all turned out. 

Peter's saying a lot during the day, but most of it could be better classified as "babbling" than actual talking. His very favorite word is "kuh-duh" and while we're not sure what it means, we do know it's very important as he says it all day, every day. He also says "uh-oh" and Sky, which sounds more like "ky". 

He has 10 big teeth and his bottom molars are currently coming in. It's a lot of teeth for such a little guy. He is a great eater! He will truly eat anything we give him. Well, he did turn down mac and cheese, but he's eaten everything else we have offered. Bananas and Cheerios are still probably his favorite, along with anything in a squeeze pouch. When you get food out for him, he starts opening and closing his mouth kind of like a fish and makes the cutest little noise. 

He is still nursing a lot. In fact, he's only had cow's milk a few times so far. The main reason is that I'm just not ready to wean. It's easy, we both like it, it's free, and I want to keep doing it for now. My original goal was to make it a year, and now that we've done that, we're going to just keep going until one of us decides to stop. I've already received a few comments insinuating that it's time for us to stop, but I'm really not concerned about that. If anything, it only makes me want to keep going for longer. ;) 

I've long described Peter as a great napper and not such a good night sleeper. While he is improving at night, this really still describes him. He's down to waking up once many nights, which is wonderful! He goes to bed at 8:00 and will often wake up about midnight to eat. Some nights he wakes up once more about 5:00, but lately he sleeps from midnight until 8:30-9:00 a.m. I am SO enjoying the fact that he sleeps in for now. 

He is really into giving hugs right now and it is THE BEST. If I'm kneeling down or sitting on the ground, he will come up behind me and hug my back. If you lay down on the ground, he lays his head on you and often lays down on top of you for a full body hug. It's SO sweet. I can hardly handle it. He also holds his arms up for me to pick him up and then just goes in for a full squeeze around the neck hug occasionally. I wasn't ready for how his hugs were going to melt me. It's overwhelmingly wonderful, particularly because he's not a big cuddler. 

Since he's been walking for almost 3 months now, he's got great balance and walks really well. In fact, he's actually running around the house these days. When he can't find me, I can hear the pitter patter as he runs from room to room looking for me. He also really loves climbing these days. He's gotten really good at getting himself down from the bed or couch by putting his feet down first and holding on to let himself down slowly. It's pretty impressive to me...but let's me honest, I'm pretty easily impressed by anything this kid does. I think it's all wonderful and genius and awesome. 

Peter dressed up as a Hershey's kiss for his 1st Halloween. We went to Jeremy and Abby's house and hung out with them that evening rather than going trick-or-treating. The funniest part of that holiday was that I tried the hood to his costume on him multiple times in the weeks leading up to Halloween and he immediately ripped it off every single time. On Halloween, I put the whole costume on him for the first time and he never even tried to take the hood off once that night. It was like he thought the hood was dumb by itself, but he was cool with the whole ensemble together. 

I'm SO excited for this holiday season with Peter. Last year was wonderful because I got to snuggle a newborn during the holidays, and while he won't really understand a lot about the holidays this year, he's at a really fun age and I can't wait to celebrate with the rest of our family.  

Everyone keeps saying that they can't believe it's been a year since he was born. Well, I can. It honestly hasn't rushed by like I thought it would. I'm sure being home with him every day has been a big part of that. That is such a huge gift to me and I don't take it for granted. 

The picture above is my favorite family portrait but I also really love the one below because it's so true to real life. Peter loves to dig his fingers into your eyeballs, which is never enjoyable, but was especially concerning when I got pink eye recently and was trying SO hard to make sure it didn't spread to Peter. Thankfully, he and Kory never got it, but I had some really swollen and pink eyes for about a week. 

I've been keeping two little kids one day a week and it's great to see Peter interact with them. One is a 3 month old boy and the other is a 2 year old girl, so Peter gets the opportunity to play with someone older and someone younger than him. He really does pretty well with them, but doesn't love it when I'm holding one of them and not him (like any other infant/toddler). It's been a good introduction to what life with more than one kid would be like...and it's been eye-opening for sure. 

I thought I would be a lot sadder about watching Peter become more of a toddler and less of an infant, but I'm having too much fun to be sad. I LOVED holding him as a tiny baby, but it's far better to see his personality develop and watch him learn new things every day. I have never laughed more in my life than I have in the past two months with him. 

I've enjoyed watching Peter start to approach Kory more to be held and played with, rather than just coming to me. Dad can throw him higher and makes better noises/impressions, so he's quickly beating me out in the entertainment department. 

We did a football themed party for his birthday and it was really fun! Kory's parents were in town and we had several families from church over for dinner and dessert and presents. I made Peter a Boston Cream Pie (Kory's traditional birthday treat) and he seemed to love it. 

What a JOY this little guy is to all who meet him! These past twelve months have been the best of our lives. I absolutely can't wait to see what the next year with him looks like. 

I sure do love you, P baby.