I can’t believe it… our little baby is now 1 year old and not really a “baby” anymore. I just posted the last one of his monthly pictures, which have been increasingly harder for me to take seeing as he is rarely “still”. It’s crazy though to look through all those pictures and see how much he’s grown and what a little handsome boy he’s turning into. 
He really hasn’t been a “baby” for a couple months now. He is growing so fast and learning new things everyday that it’s nearly impossible to keep up. I would have to write multiple posts just to cover all the “new developments” of the past couple months. Since I’m not going to do that… I’ll just simply include some highlights here.
He had his 12 month check up the day after his birthday and he’s still healthy and growing steadily. He is drinking whole milk now without any problems, so he successfully grew out of his milk allergy. We feel so fortunate that he has not really been sick yet. He’s still on his target for growth and actually slowed down on his height [20 lbs,14 oz (23rd percentile) and 30.25 in (67th percentile)].
I tried to condense some pictures from the past month into one collage.
Below you’ll see:
- how we’ve kept him cool this summer. That’s been a challenge with no air conditioning and no free pools. Luckily, we live within 5 minutes of 2 really popular water fountains in downtown Colorado Springs.
- visits from family for his birthday. He and uncle Aus got to bond more and are becoming good buddies. He got extended time with his NeNe and Poppy too as they babysat overnight for us!
- Braddock helping do yard work… he LOVES to feel like he is working and helping us.
- and Braddock learning to share toys and play “nice” with his friend Brynna. Hopefully Brynna’s mother and I can switch off one day a week for a few hours with the kids, letting them have 2 play dates a week and leaving us with a few free hours. I’m excited about this because Braddock could really use the socialization… he began “drumming” her head after this picture was taken! He has yet to learn “gentle”.
The best way for me to summarize all the new developments Braddock has acquired over the past couple months is to share about his budding personality… Braddock is very:
independent. This is a quality about Braddock that we knew he possessed from the beginning and have tried to encourage. Much to my surprise (because I obsess over these things more than Braddock does) – he does very well in new situations, people, big crowds, places, etc. He does not seem shy, timid, or scared easily. As soon as he began walking (about 10 months) he quickly stopped letting me hold his hand! 
He will lean on me for support with stairs, but for the most part, wants to do most things on his own. I have to admit that I get a bit sad about his strong sense of independence though. I wouldn’t mind for him to need me just a little bit. 
adventurous. Going along with his independent spirit, we have found that he is just as adventurous. He LOVES tackling anything new and seems to really enjoy a challenge. I can give countless examples of things he does, that I never knew a “baby” could do because he enjoys conquering some new challenge. Wow, so much like his daddy its scary!
intellectual. Again, going off his last characteristics – although he is independent and adventurous, he is very smart about it. He seems to think about what he is doing and how he’s doing it. He is not careless. He may run to the edge of the steps, but then he will stop, survey his surroundings, and cautiously help himself down. He seems to understand what his limitations are, but is determined to find how he can overcome those limitations. He is also very interested in how things work (hence the picture of him inspecting beneath our frig). He will often spend long periods of time trying to figure out how something works. Ex: What holds the table together (studying the bolts), what makes this toy move (studying the wheels and how they move), how does a door work (figuring out what the knob turns inside the door… how does the latch work). He also seems to understand a lot of what we say to him. Just today he surprised me when I asked him if he wanted to read a book and he walked across the room, grabbed a book and gave it to me to read to him.
curious. I think this quality is evident in what I mentioned before. For his birthday, his NeNe and Poppy got him several Curious George items… one of them being a big stuffed animal (pictured above). George is like a monkey version of the “My Buddy” when we were kids (remember those… and Kid Sister?). He carries him around like a friend and will put him on his chair, push him around on his riding toy train, and cuddle him (as pictured). It is really sweet. This has got to be his favorite “toy” by far right now. He LOVES his “Geor” (as he calls him). He and Curious George have lots in common so it makes perfect sense that they are already such good buds.
fun and funny. This lil boy loves to make us laugh, hence the videos in the last post. Sometimes he will make us laugh by doing something odd and accidentally… he will continue to do it over and over as long as he is making us laugh and smile. And he loves playing games with us. Games he enjoys: hide-n-seek, peek-a-boo, tag, and chase. He LOVES to be chased. He squeals and will take off as fast he can running away from us. It is really cute. He also enjoys moving and rearranging furniture… yep, that’s right.
loving. We don’t get cuddles out of him much, but when we do, it’s precious. He has been “kissing” his Nana’s (my mom) picture for months now and exclaiming “Nana!” when he sees her picture. He will also kiss and hug George and his beloved Tiger security blanket. And he finally just started giving me “kisses”. He will stand at my feet and hug my leg occasionally when he wants some extra lovin’ or to be held (which I LOVE). And from time to time, he will cuddle with me in the mornings and we fall back asleep for a couple hours. So sweet… he melts my heart.
communicative. His means of communication is growing daily. He can say: cracker “craka” (he surprised me with that one!), all done “al da”, diaper “diapa”, juice “jus”, mama, nana, dada (to which he says at least 1 million times a day). He’s attempting to say cup, shoe, banana, and many more I can’t remember. He can sign (and use in context): milk, eat/food, more, bye bye, all done, please… and sleep. “Sleep” is his favorite sign. He tells us sleep when he wants his nap – I lay him down… and waa-la, he goes right to sleep. Now, how long and often he sleeps is another issue.
energetic. He’s like the energizer bunny that keeps going sometimes. He is sleeping well through the night now from about 7ish pm-7ish am. He cut out his second nap a couple months ago. And I’m lucky if he sleeps for 1-1.5hrs. But he seems happy and content, so I guess he’s getting enough sleep. He apparently has plenty of energy to get him through his day contently. He does know when he needs to slow down and have some down time though. He will sign “sleep” later in the day when he wants “alone time” in his crib. He will voluntarily play quietly in his crib anywhere from 30min to 1hr (giving us both a much needed break!).
go-with-the-flow. Now, he got this from me! We have a very loose schedule and he doesn’t seem to notice or care if we change it up… unless of course if he’s tired and signing “sleep” so much that he’s slapping his face. He can be adamant about when he wants to sleep (which is tricky because it changes every day!).
I am surprised every single day with the new things he does or seems to understand over night. It’s really quiet impressive. I am amazed by babies and young children in general. They truly are a sponge!! But I have to say that I am super impressed with Braddock and all the things he has learned or is learning to do. I can’t take much credit because this boy seems to do a lot of this stuff on his own!
And I also have to say that I am so blessed and thankful that I get to stay home and watch all these new developments unfold. It truly is marvelous and I feel like I have the best “job” in the world!
And one last picture…. since I won’t be doing his monthly pictures anymore, I thought I’d at least do one for each year to show how he’s grown:
