Happy Birthday Jack

Jack turned a year old today! Where did the time go? He has grown and changed so much this past year. What an exciting year it has been! Check out all the things he has accomplished this past month. . .

- He weighs 21 lbs. 8 oz (50th percentile) and is 30 1/4 inches tall (95th percentile).

- The doctor told us to give up bottles. We plan to make the switch sometime this week. We have already started giving him milk in a sippy cup during the day. All that is left is his morning and evening bottle.

- He wears size 3 diapers.

- He wears 9 and 12 month clothes. He is starting to wear 18 month pajamas. He is now wearing hard sole shoes in a size 4.

- He eats table food. He pretty much eats what we eat. The only thing we are still working on is meat. He is not a big fan, but he is getting better. He loves fruits and veggies, except for bananas. His biggest meal is lunch. He eats a ton!

- He sleeps 10-11 hours a night and takes 1-2 naps a day. They are anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.

- He can sign "more."

- He says mama and dada but I still don't think he knows what he means when he says them. He makes a lot of other sounds. Sometimes I think he tries to say his name when he is looking at a picture of himself.

- He is walking, more like running, all over the place.

- He attempts to climb on everything.

- He moved to a new class at school. The children in there are between 14 and 20 months. I moved Jack early because I thought he was ready and he was starting to beat up on the little babies. So far, it has been really good for him and he is doing really well. He is very busy in there. He has to sit in little chairs to eat.

- He loves to watch the "Five Little Monkeys" song on YouTube. Its only about 2 minutes but he absolutely loves it and sits completely still when it is on!

- He loves to read books. He doesn't really want us to read them to him, he just likes to sit and flip through the pages.

- He still sleeps with a pacifier and he loves to rub the end of a blanket against his nose.

After we took his cake away, he decided his toes tasted pretty good as well!

Something new every day!

With Jack's first birthday only 2 weeks away, it seems like he learns something new everyday. This week, three things stick out in my mind. He is really into music these days. He loves to sit on my lap and sing songs. His favorite is Twinkle, Twinkle. As I sing, he sways back and forth and gets the biggest grin on his face. Love it! He has created his own little fort. We have a chair that is angled out from the wall with just enough room for a little guy like Jack to crawl behind and make a fort. He takes some toys back there with him and sits for quite awhile and plays. He also likes to play peek-a-boo while he is back there! All we have to do is say, "Where's Jack?" and he pops his head out and giggles. Again...love it! The third thing is not such a good thing....he is fascinated with plugs and cords. We have all the protectors in all the unused outlets, but he loves to go find a cord and pull it. We are tying our best to put things in front of them so he can't reach them, but we have run out of heavy things to stick in front of the outlets. Any suggestions? We have thought about rearranging the living room, but I have a feeling that no matter how we arrange it, there will be an outlet exposed. When we tell him no and redirect him to something else he laughs and thinks its funny. On April 11th, Jack makes his transition to the next classroom at school. Typically we don't move kids until they are 14 months, but he is the only one left in the "baby room" who is mobile. The next oldest child in there is 9 months and that little girl just started crawling, so he is bored. The teachers have been taking him to the new room to visit. He doesn't like when Ms. Diane leaves, but after a few minutes he starts playing and seems to like it. I have watched tons of children transition to a new room and with each move I comfort their parents as they are sobbing about their child moving and tell them that it is harder on the parent to watch their child grow up than it is on the child to move to the new room. Now its my turn. I never thought it would be hard on me, since I am right there, but it is. I am having a harder time than I thought I would. I know it is the best thing for him, I just can't believe that a year has gone by and he is ready for the move. I'll keep you posted on how he does!