Gee, did I miss the monthly update for his first birthday, or what?! Please, pass me the "good mommy award" (you'll have to rip it out of Britney Spear's crazy, head-shaving, car-pummeling, rehab-hopping hands, but still...) I have just been so busy and so (insert lame excuse here), that I never got around to it. I hang my head in shame.
This past month has been a whirlwind of activity. My baby now looks like a little boy, not the tiny little floppy infant I was so afraid of in the early days. His features are so developed and his personality is so strong, sometimes I am completely overwhelmed by just how much of a real little person he is.
I spent several late nights re-reading my blog from May 5, 05 to present in the days leading up to his first birthday and I have to say--it feels like the blink of an eye and yet I can barely remember what it felt like to have a newborn and to be so exhausted and so overwhelmed that it seemed like I simply couldn't do it. And, declining wit and writing abilities aside, I am so glad I have this record of his life and the memories that it has captured for me. For most of the entries I read, I can recall writing them and I certainly have clear recollections of the events in them.
We are a flurry of cruising and warp-speed crawling right now. There are moments when I think he is having a birthday cake sugar rush flashback because he moves at such a pace and with such enthusiasm that I can't believe he isn't training for some baby Olympics events. He cruises as far as he can, plops onto his butt and then pulls up at the next available piece of furniture. He received several walking toys for his birthday, but he has yet to get the hang of these. He is currently holding on to them and slowly falling to his belly as they move further away from him. It's like that awkward moment in high school when you and your girlfriends are trying to be cool like the cheerleaders and attempting splits. You get about half way down and realize...."I can't get any further down. Oh wait, I can't get up, either. Super cool."
So I let Ethan belly flop to the floor because I figure if I go rescue him every time, he'll think the walking toys are just fancy mommy-callers. Mama sometimes just likes to watch.
He is also pretty proud of himself because he thinks he has discovered cupboards. Like, he's the Copernicus of cupboards. If a Nobel Prize was awarded in great achievement in cupboard exploration, Ethan would be a shoe-in. He can clearly discern a cupboard from say...anything that is NOT a cupboard. He can open them; he can close them. He can rifle through the contents of the cupboard like it was his job. It's quite impressive.
And the baby-proofing begins in earnest this weekend. But I ask you, internet, how do you baby-proof the bathroom trash? Because....yuck.
My weight-challenged munchkin was just shy of 17lbs at his 1 year appointment. Big sissy, drama-queen that I am, I cried. I really wanted him to be at least 18lbs and of course I took it as a personal failure that he didn't quite make it (I am such a freaking sucker for the mommy guilt! Bring it ON!). But now, the little stinker will take formula...in his whole milk. So I have been loading him up with formula-spiked whole milk and I swear, I feel the difference already when I pick him up.
We nurse only once at night now. The teething thing, sadly, did us in. He got 4 teeth within one month and mommy's boob was his favorite teething toy. No matter what diversionary tactics I tried, he could not be deterred and so we added more whole milk and cut out the boob more and more, until we were only nursing when he was at his groggiest and least bitey. That would be about 4am. It is lovely that we still have that--you can't beat middle of the night cuddle time and as we still co-sleep, it is so easy and perfect and it can stay like this for as long as he needs or wants it. I will say, wearing non-nursing bras rocks (more mommy guilt!)
So much more to write about, but I am about 3 glasses of wine into my evening and I must curl up and sleep now.
