My Baby is ONE!

So, I'm a little behind in writing this post, but last week, my sweet baby turned one.  He is a little bundle of joy, and I can't believe how his little personality has come out!!  He is VERY independent, and he is constantly going everywhere!  We had cake on his actual birthday (last Wednesday) and then we threw a big birthday party on Saturday to celebrate!

John Parker is a very established walker now - he practically runs everywhere.  He never crawls at all - and a couple of weeks ago he learned to stand up from the floor without pulling up.  When he first started walking, he would crawl to the nearest pull-up object and walk from there, but now he doesn't need to pull-up!  He is such a big boy!!  He has 7 teeth and an 8th just about to break through.  He weighs 23 1/2 pounds, wears 18 month clothes (a few 24 month!), size 6 shoes, and size 4 diapers.  He eats only table food now and would LOVE to feed himself all the time - mommy just can't quite take the mess all the time yet!  He eats basically what we eat, sometimes just modified for a small mouth.  He is drinking all whole milk and gets it in sippy cups EXCEPT for bedtime - he still gets whole milk in a bottle.  We plan to try to transition that this weekend, but I think John and I are both slightly worried he won't fall asleep as easily.  Speaking of sleep, he sleeps from 9pm - 830am (sometimes when I'm off, he sleeps until 9am!) and he naps twice a day, usually around 1030am and somewhere between 130 and 330pm.  He is much more flexible with naps now, but he definitely still needs at least 2 hours a day!  Just before his birthday last week he had started not sleeping as well again and not acting like himself, so I took him to the pediatrician and as I suspected, he had his 4th ear infection.  I'm getting a little worried that he's had 4 in 5 months, but the doctor told me not to worry about tubes until he has had 8 in a year or had an infection that didn't respond to multiple antibiotics, so for now, we are just waiting it out.  Usually, after just one day on the Amoxicillin he perks right up and starts sleeping all night again.  Basically, he has had 4 runny noses/colds and 4 ear infections corresponding to these in his first year, and he has had one stomach bug. Overall, he hasn't had any major issues and is a happy, healthy boy.  He is a little chatter box, and he says lots of words - dada, mama, nana (John's mom), paa-dada (Paw Daddy - my dad), Dandiii (Dandy), nanda (Amanda - my sister in law), dog, kitty, juice, ball, aw-done (all done), dank-oo (thank you), duck, night-night, byebye, hello, hey there, and his new favorite, no-no.  There are probably more words I just haven't translated yet - but he talks constantly.

John Parker is a sweet, smart, energetic little toddler with quite the red-headed temper!  He is so much fun and ALL BOY!  I can't wait to enjoy year two!

Having a cupcake on his actual birthday!