Can you believe it?! We’re here! One whole year with this sweet baby boy. I don’t fully believe it yet, even though yesterday was his birthday and all the announcements and pictures from the day he was born keep popping up on my Timehop. Somehow I still think this must all be some kind of joke! My tiny infant cannot be a toddler. That just cannot be.
All the same, I thought I would be more emotional than I am right now. I shed a few tears the other night after I rocked him to sleep for the last time as a “baby,” but mostly I’m just happy. Happy about everything from this year! The good and the bad, the fun and the sad. Every laugh, every snuggle, every proud moment, every difficult learning curve…all of it. I am happy and I am so, so thankful.
This will be my last monthly update on Jameson for awhile. I plan on coming back every few months to write down the highlights as he grows and learns, but it’ll probably be something like every 3-6 months or so, rather than every month. I will, however, be writing more frequently about other things in between the Jameson updates. 🙂 This blog started out as a simple way to document my pregnancy, but it’s turned into such a wonderful creative outlet for me and I hope to keep up with it for many years to come.
Anyway, here we go! Twelve months of Jameson. This is where we stand with our one year old. ❤
Weight & Length: We had his one year checkup this morning and he weighed in at 21 pounds, which is slightly less than last month but only by a few ounces. He’s been around 21 lbs since he was 10 months old (he’s so active, though, so that’s not surprising) and he’s in the 30th percentile for weight. Height-wise he’s 2 feet, 5 inches and his doctor mentioned that he’s starting to slide down in the percentile rankings (he’s a little less than the 25th percentile). She said it’s nothing to be worried about (especially after I mentioned that my husband didn’t hit his major growth spurt until later in high school) and said that it’s likely he’ll just be a late bloomer like Alex and I both were. Based on his height at six months, though, she predicted that he’ll be around 6’1″ once he’s fully grown (with a growth spurt around the time he’s 15-17 years old). I just feel bad that he’ll probably be a little dude for so long! Oh well, Alex survived it and I know Jameson will too.
Clothing: Still 12-18 month clothes (but he’s starting to fit in some 18 month stuff too if it’s on the smaller side) and size 4 diapers. I love shopping for him now because he fits in the toddler outfits, which are so much cuter than all the baby clothes that say dopey things on the front of everything. Just make a darn shirt without any words on it for goodness sake. Sheesh!
Hair & Eyes: I would probably call his eyes hazel or dark green. They are gorgeous. He’s going to break a lot of hearts with those dark brooding eyes and crazy long lashes. His hair is still fairly light, partly red, partly brown, partly blonde. Just a tie-dyed mixture of really pretty shades. It still curls in the back but when it’s wet it reaches down past his shoulders hahah. Alex is getting antsy to cut it but I do not want to cut off those curls. Maybe we’ll clean it up a little soon, but his hair is so thin anyway that a real haircut would be ridiculous at this point. I comb it over all nice and neat every day anyway, so it’s not like it looks girly or silly or something like that. And besides, I would never choose to cut his hair short (like buzz it or something) ever ever ever, no matter how old he gets. I prefer slightly longer hair on boys, for styling purposes. So for now, I win and we keep the curls. 🙂
Sleep: He’s still on the two naps per day schedule but I’m guessing he’ll go down to one pretty soon. His morning nap has been total crap every day for the past week or so (used to be a solid hour and a half every day, now it’s more like 30 minutes). But one of the days this week I tried pushing him to just take one nap and it was a complete fail. He slept for like an hour tops and then was a total grump the rest of the day. So maybe he’ll just take a short cat nap in the morning for awhile until we phase it out. His afternoon nap is still solid and he’s still going to bed around 8pm. Wakes up at 6am every day (way too early for my taste) but Alex uses that time to play with him before work and lets me sleep in a little longer. So it’s all good. 🙂
Eating: Ugh, I don’t want to talk about this! I get so frustrated because Jameson is one of the most challenging eaters I’ve ever seen. He changes tastes almost daily (one day he’s into something, the next day he absolutely refuses…although his doctor did say this is typical), he throws food off his high chair all the time, he spits anything he doesn’t particularly care for out of his mouth, and once he’s frustrated with eating it’s all over. If that happens two minutes into a meal, too bad. He’s done. And he’s so little that I have no way of asking him what the problem is. Texture? Flavor? Not hungry? Want something else? I get so exasperated nearly every meal. I hate making food that he’s just going to feed the dog because that is such huge waste of time, money, and food. Plus Charlie is going to get fat haha. I’ve been trying to find healthy power foods that I can feed him quickly before he gets annoyed but homeboy is such a carb and dessert lover that anything beyond Goldfish or cookies is pretty much a total flop. Ah, please someone tell me it gets better! I nurse him about 3 times a day so he’s still getting nutrition that way…but we can’t keep that up forever and I need him to be okay with eating before we can stop. Oye. Rough times. Hopefully I have something better to report next time I write an update hahah.
Milestones: His sixth tooth is juuuust breaking through (his bottom left) and he’s gnawing on things like crazy, poor baby. In terms of gross motor development, he’s such an active kid and is always pushing himself to figure out new things. He can speed walk now (almost runs sometimes!), walk backwards, climb things, go up stairs, etc. I even saw him try to jump two different times! I’m starting to teach him how to eat with a spoon which he loves trying to do, and his fine motor skills are always improving. This age is so much fun. He’s not quite as wobbly anymore so it’s not quite as terrifying every second haha.
Communication: He says “uh oh” now, “na na” for night night, “meh meh meh” for more, “ah dun” for all done (but he thinks it means “help,” I’m pretty sure), and he understands so much. Oh it is SO fun! He can follow simple directions (“Put the toy in,” “throw the ball,” “come here,” “no touch,” “no mouth,” “give kisses, “give hugs,” “share with mama,” “where’s mommy’s nose?” etc.). And he copies words we say (like “mama” and “dada,” although he hasn’t actually called either of us by name yet. Maybe “dada” once or twice). His favorite thing to babble is “tookatookatooka” and I love it haha. He copies hand gestures too like pointing, wagging his finger for “no no no,” waving, giving high fives, and trying to do “I’m a Little Teapot.” He also sings along to the song “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers (“OH!”). I love how much more we can interact now and I can’t wait to have real conversations with him and hear all his wonderful thoughts!
Loves: Music and dancing, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, helping me with the laundry, going outside and playing in the dirt/rocks/ripping leaves off my plants, chasing Charlie, playing high-stakes peekaboo (aka I jump out and try to scare him), anything that keeps him active, bath time/all things water-related (the splash pad especially!), reading, playing in the fridge, desserts (me too, buddy), and grabbing stuff out of the dishwasher (seriously loses his mind if I close it before he can get there, and if he does make it there in time he is just beside himself with joy that he’s able to take the spatulas out and play with them).
Hates: Sitting still for too long (we’re working on that…church has become something of a circus act trying to wrangle him during the message, since we have family-integrated services). Also hates being told “no touch.” Not all the time, but when he really wants something he gets maaaad if he finds out he can’t have it. But we’re working on first-time obedience and respecting mommy and daddy. It’s hard at this age because the language is just not there to explain things, but I’m fully confident that he can learn to obey without knowing the exact reason. Honoring your father and your mother doesn’t mean “only when you know and agree with their reasons” and I want to start training him up now before he gets into full-fledged toddlerhood haha. He already does know boundaries, even this young. And he really does listen pretty well for such a little guy.
Also, he hated when Alex put him in his shirt hahaha.
Things I want to remember: How excited you get when Daddy gets home from work, how you share your toys (but since you like to chew on them all, you share by putting them near my mouth because you think I’ll like to chew on them too), how you walk around with you belly sticking out, how you mosey all over smacking your chest when you don’t have a shirt on, how you dance with your arms up in the air and slowly walk around in a circle, how you sing “Ho Hey” along with the song (“OH!), how you try to explain yourself with a very serious look on your face when you know you’re doing something bad (Me: Jameson, what are you– You: *jump away from item* Ahtookatookatooka!), when I catch you with something you’re not supposed to have and you hand it to me like that was your plan all along, how you like to explore new things with just one very careful pointer finger, how you run to us and fall into our arms with a huge smile, the way you hurry your little tushy away after baths and make me chase you to get dressed, how you sometimes start dancing or clapping along to silly songs that I’m making up on the spot (makes me feel famous or something), and how you’ve recently started sharing with other kids (gently handing your toys to someone you think might have fun with it). Sweet boy!
Jameson, my little love, you are everything to us. This year with you has been the best of our lives. You make our little family overflow with love and laughter and fun. We adore you. I am so thrilled to see what God has in store for us in year TWO! ❤
Milk with a Meal 