One Year Old.

Dear Big Boy Alexander,

I can’t believe you are a year old today! So much has happened since you were born a year ago.

You have grown into such a beautiful boy. I look at you and I am just amazed at how stinkin cute you are. I wasn’t nearly as cute of a baby as you, so I am just so struck at how much of a cutie you are. Your father was a very cute baby and young man as well. You are very tall and thin. I haven’t had you properly measured since 9 months, but I think you are around 18lbs and 30 inches. You are a little bigger than average height and around 7^th percentile for weight. You are an adorable, skinny man. Your hair is incredibly blonde and growing in like a mullet. You don’t have much on top but you have a lot in the back and sides. You have six teeth. Four on top and two on the bottom. You have taken a few tentative steps, but you are not full on walking yet. You crawl across the floor at lightning pace though. You high five, and learned to wave this week. You babble and like to say “yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah” and “dadadadada”. You say “mama” when you are upset and I can swear you have said “dog” before. You love your dog Yoshi so much. You giggle when you look at him. You pull his fur and play with his collar. He is very tolerant of you, even though you torture him a bit.

You are very much a mama’s boy, but your father is very good to you and I can tell you have bonded with him even if you still prefer me (I think this preference is based on the fact that you are still nursing). I had no idea what your Daddy would think after you were born. He went to my doctor’s appointments when I was pregnant but didn’t seem too concerned with anything. He was extremely interested during my labor with you. He asked a lot of questions and was so excited when the nurse proclaimed “He has blonde hair!” Right away James was very attentive to you. He watched over you while the nurses did your apgar scores and took your weight (your scores were an 8 and 9—very good for Colorado with our low oxygen). He helped give you your first bath and changed your first diaper. He talked and talked about how cute you were with your blonde hair and big blue eyes.

Your daddy is still very good with you. He watches you two days a week while I work and sleep (I work night shift as an inpatient nurse). You won’t take a bottle from anyone, but you have started to drink water from a sippy cup and your daddy cooks for you. He gives you your bath and takes you to all of his errands. He loves showing you off and I can hear the two of you playing while I sleep. He doesn’t even complain when he has to change your poopy diapers (you usually have multiple in a day because you loooooove blueberries!)

You slept in our bed until you were six months old. At this time you crawled out of our bed. Because I didn’t want you to hurt yourself, daddy and I started sleeping on a futon with you in your room. But eventually my back started hurting, so at 10.5 months I had to finally let you sleep in your crib on your own. Your daddy wanted you to be able to sleep alone by one year. I would have been fine sleeping with you if the futon were cozier. Now you go in your crib by yourself (even though you still fall asleep in your infant swing). You usually sleep from 8pm to around 7am.

You really are quite the character, Alexander. I take you to baby time at the library a few times a week. You have never been the baby who just sits there and listens to songs. I sit you down and you immediately want to crawl and play with all the toys in the room. You like to pull on other baby’s pig tails and go after computers and cords. You have no sense of danger and push and pull any and all objects. You like to stand at the window and look outside. You have never cared about “pat a cake” but enjoy “this little piggy” and being bounced in the air. You have started to hug your stuffed animals (which is pretty darn cute). You also smack me in the face and pull my hair when you nurse. You feed your unwanted food to the dog. If you want something I’m eating, you fuss until you get it.

And now it is the morning of your birthday, and I still can’t believe it. I look at you and I’m so excited for the future. I’m excited for everything you will learn in the next year and years to come. I can’t wait to take you on vacations and to put your little toes in the ocean. I’m so excited for you to spend more time with your grandparents. I can’t wait for all of the fun that we are going to have together. You will always be my special little first born man. I’m so glad that you came into our lives with your spunky little personality and sweet smile. Thank you for giving me the greatest joy of my life—being your mom. Happy Birthday little boy.

Alex and James. Both approximately one year old.

Birthday Rocking Horse.

One day. One month. One year.