Cai Alexander:12 Months

Today Cai turns one year old! This year has flown by. Cai has had a cold this week and had a few nights where he couldn't sleep unless he was touching me, so we spent a couple of nights on the couch (so daddy could get a good night's sleep for work). As I snuggled with him on the couch, I thought about how a year ago, I was also laying on the couch, unable to sle
ep because I was huge and itchy and achy and had to pee and thinking about the way our lives were about to change. What a difference a year makes!

This month has been the hardest and most rewarding so far. Cai has changed so much this month!

At his one year well baby visit, Cai was 19 lbs 3 oz, and 31.5 inches tall which means since birth he has gained 11 lbs. 4 oz. and has grown 11.5 inches! He is in the 10th percentile for weight and the 75th for height. 

Cai can...

• Walk! All over the place. He is so proud of himself. He definitely walks more than crawls now.
• Sign the words "more," "again," "all done," and sort of "please." He doesn't sign any of them consistently, but he knows how. I say sort of for please, because he only does it when he wants to nurse, and he rubs my chest instead of his (but even this is far more polite than the way he normally requests to nurse by squeezing my boobs or lifting up my shirt. We're working on this).
• Bark. My sister taught Cai to bark and now he does it when he sees any animal, particularly dogs, horses, and cows.
• Climb onto the couch. He can get his little leg up so high! He likes to climb up and push everything of the couch; blankets, pillows, the back cushions, the dog...
• Ride his little bike, sort of. He has a little push bike, and he likes to ride it. He doesn't go very far. In fact, he prefers to hold onto the handles and stand balanced on the seat, one foot in front of the other.
• Call the dog, sort of. When I stick my head out the door to call Finn, Cai joins in and calls him too.
• Point out your nose, eyes, and mouth, but not his own.
• Share. Very sweetly. Mostly with the dog though.
• Do all of the motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Cai likes to...

• Read. Particularly his Little Blue Truck books. He gets gleeful when we pick them up.
• Eat!
• Climb.
• Make messes.
• His Grandpa Jack.
• Brush his teeth. If I ask him if he wants to brush his teeth, he will stop playing in his bedroom and crawl down the hall to the bathroom as fast as he can go.
• Stack things or put things inside of other things.
• Fight. Every. Diaper. Change.
• Watch Sesame Street.
• Touch soft things. He sleeps with a curtain. After weeks of having him play with them while we rocked him in the rocking chair, Steve finally took one of the panels down from his window, and now Cai uses it as a security blanket.
• Throw tantrums. Seriously, the temper on this kid is absurd. If something doesn't go his way, he throws himself backwards and shrieks. We're working on this. 
• Bite mama. He thinks it's hilarious! No matter what I do to discipline him. I even tried biting him back (I know some of you will think that's horrible and others swear by it) and he LAUGHED! Sometimes putting him on the floor and moving away from him works, but it's a battle.

Most nights, sleeping is a little better. He naps beautifully right now. Night times are one extreme or the other. Either he doesn't sleep much at all (waking often, not going to sleep until 2 AM or only sleeping with me) and other nights he wakes, eats, and goes instantly back to sleep. We had one night recently where he only woke twice, and then the next night, he went to sleep then work at 11:30 and didn't go back to sleep until 2 AM. 

Cai has either his first or his second cold right now. I'm still not sure if the first one was a cold or teeth, but this one is definitely a cold. Teeth may be making it worse, but I seem to have the same cold. We were working on the beginnings of the weaning process, but because he's been feeling poorly and not eating or drinking much of anything else, we've put a pause on that.