Dashiell at twelve months
I hope that you'll indulge me in one more Dashiell post this week. I'm certainly feeling nostalgic thinking of this past year and how teeny Dash used to be.
With every month it seems that I'm just getting used to the idea of having...a two month old....a six month old....a ten month old....but before it's completely reflexive suddenly Dashiell is a month older. And so now I have a one year old. A toddler! I have a toddler, people! That's going to take a while to sink in. Of course he will always be our baby but it doesn't feel right to refer to ourselves as "having a baby" anymore. Not when what we have is a walking-nearly-running, babbling, pointing, "bah!"ing, ball-throwing, t-shirt wearing little guy.
What I'm remembering about Dashiell at twelve months old:
+ Walking! He started being able to walk several steps on his own the week we returned from Austin. Since then, we see him improve every day and he can nearly run for short distances. I'm getting more used to seeing him walk but it's still surreal to see him walk around a corner to find me. He is loving the freedom to roam and explore and I love watching him enjoy his independence.
+ Sleeping through the niiiiiiiight! Leading up to our Austin trip Dashiell had slept through the night without nursing only a few times and was waking to nurse between one and three times a night. Starting the night we got home from Austin he slept through the night without nursing and hasn't stopped. It's amazing! We will sometimes hear him wake in the night but go back to sleep either immediately or within five minutes. A few times I have nursed him at night but it's becoming very infrequent.
+ Still nurses morning and night, takes one to two bottles when he's at daycare or if I'm with him he'll nurse two or more times during the day. Nursing has become a very active sport as of late; he'll only stay laying down when I nurse him before bed. Otherwise, he's all over the place. I'm pretty sure I can no longer discreetly nurse in public.
+ Dashiell is so curious. He wants to know what everything is, wants to inspect what's inside of something or what's behind a door. I love to watch him concentrate on absorbing new information.
+ Continues to point to things and uses a point plus "bah!" to tell us that he wants something. Sometimes when he wants to nurse he will point and touch me and say "bah!". Loud and clear, buddy.
+ Still loves to look and point at planes and birds. He is so good at spotting planes and at hearing them even before we can see them. If he hears a plane while we're inside he looks up and points to the sky. Birds still fascinate him too and I've seen a few signs for "bird", yay!
+ Foods Dashiell is loving lately: bananas! (he likes to bite them himself), steamed beets (magenta poo!), fingers of hummus sandwhich, anything spicy, peanut butter, blueberry snack cake, peas, and chickpeas.
+ Can hold large pieces of food, such as half a banana or pices of sandwich, and take a bite (instead of shoving the whole thing in his mouth).
+ Dashiell will sometimes do a slightly maniacal laugh when he realizes I'm about to nurse him. Sometimes he does that for bananas too!
+ Is so busy and on the go that it's hard to take a picture without part of him being blurry.
+ Loves to collect and inspect dirt from the flower pots. Most of the time he puts it on the ground, sometimes he transfers it to another pot and sometimes he eats it.
+ Desperately wants to collect and eat rocks.
+ Becoming less content to sit quietly on my hip or in a carrier for long periods of time.
+ But still snuggles and gives hugs when he greets us after a nap or a day at day care. Love this!
+ Loves bath time and tries to climb in while we're drawing the bath.
+ Loves to open cabinets. We've put child-proof cabinet pulls on all of our cabinets except for one in the kitchen that we designated as Dash's cabinet.
+ Playing with more complex toys like simple puzzles and trucks. I showed him playing with a plane and making a buzzing sound as it flew. He took the plane and make a similar sound! I also watched him make a small stack of blocks for the first time last week.
I can only imagine all the fun and change that this year will bring. Happy, happy birthday to my darling boy!