Our Maggical Days : Daniels Birthday Pt 3 of 3

Saturday, January 21, 2012 we celebrated Daniel’s birthday again! :-) Our friends came to this party, “mammy” and “Papa Keith”.

In this post I will cover the traditional birthday milestones, etc. so that I can look back and see what Daniel was like at his first birthday.

Our Daily Schedule:

He wakes around 6:15 every morning.
He nurses for about 10-15 minutes with me still in bed.
He takes another nap (or perhaps just a continuation of night time sleep) from 6:30-9:00 ish.
Around 10 am he typically nurses, but I am currently trying to get him to “forget” about that feeding and eat a normal breakfast instead. Some mornings it works, other days, not so much, but more on that later.
He plays until lunch time.
Around 11:30-12:00 we sit down for lunch. (He is still really prefering purees, but will eat some regular food that he has to pick up, but again, more on that later)
around 12:30, Daniel has had it for the day, and is ready yet again for another nap. At the point, I am trying not to nurse him, just lay him down, give him a paci, tuck a blanket around his body, and leave. We are no longer listening to music, or winding up the mobile. It’s a silent room when I leave. (it’s really weird for me!)
around 3, sometimes earlier depending on the noise level, he will wake. He is usually a little clingier after this nap, just wanting to be held and snuggled for a few minutes before playing. Sometimes he nurses, other times he doesn’t.
Around 4:30 we hit a regular “fussy period” when nothing I do calms him. It seems he just whines for whineyness’ sake! (I know that isn’t a well thought out sentence! sorry!)
Around 5:00 p.m. He is hungry for dinner, but I try to hold him off until ‘daddy’ gets home and we can eat as a family.

Diaper size: 3

Clothes: 12m-18m

Teeth: 5 or 6. 4 very visible, and at least one has broken through up top, to the right.

Height: appointment soon

Weight: I weighed him with me on scales on his actual birthday, and it appeared to be about 22 pounds.

Percentiles:

Milestones:

standing up from pulling up
a normal crawl
eating with hands
saying: “mama” “dada”
cruises from furniture to furniture.
refuses things he doesn’t want
“hums” for things he does want
gives kisses on command
jabbers using combined syllables
understands “no”
bends over and picks up objects
rolls balls back and forth
imitates us or tries as best as he can

Things he is NOT doing that “the book” says he should be:

waves goodbye consistently. (He has done this twice!)
he gives a weird “clap” its more like he clasps his hands together and brings it from his mouth and out, to his mouth and out. I have tried to capture this on video, but he has not cooperated so far.
Daniel will not stand alone without support, much less make a step or two.
does not obey specific commands, but will come when I call, and will stop doing something if I say ‘no.’
does not say more than mama or dada.

I am TRYING not to get too stressed out about this, but its hard.

Discipline:

Since we have hit the one year mark, I find myself having to correct him a lot. It initially was just explorative protection issues such as:

“hot, don’t touch”

“Don’t pull on this, it will hurt you”

BUT NOW. .

they are behaviors that seem to be done to “push my buttons” like: smacking my face while nursing in frustration, pushing his spoon away forcefully, throwing his cup on the ground, etc. Just this morning, he was trying to bite our leather couch with his front teeth, and I told him no, and used my hand to lift his face, and he pushed my hand away, then started to like claw at me, needless to say, we are smacking his hand and saying no, and why we are saying no, followed by love once the behavior has ceased. This can get so exhausting, and we are just on 1st base, with ONE child. Shhew!

Food:

He is really showing signs of being picky and particular, and it is nearly driving me bonkers. It feels as if nothing I offer him is something that he wants unless it is bread, pasta, or pureed baby food. I want him to start eating what we are eating, and mostly on his own. I should have just made this the requirement from the beginning, but I didn’t. I will be doing this food thing different the next time around (if we have one).

Drink:

He drinks water out of a sippy cup, but it chokes him up each time. I am introducing milk out of a open mouthed plastic cup, and he is taking a couple of drinks at a time, but nothing to really get overly excited about.

As you know, he is still nursing, and I am trying to get a few of the unnecessary “snacking” done away with. I am hoping for a morning afternoon, and night time feeding. Then to just have the first and last ones left in a month or so.

A lot of our friends came to celebrate with Daniel. It was a really enjoyable evening, and he received so many wonderful things. Thank you to each and every one of you that came. You made the day really special.

Daniel TRULY loves cards!!! Smile

I will be posting more about this box, but our friend Kristin gave this WONDERFUL and thoughtful gift. I am still amazed by it. I will be showing you all of the insides very soon! Smile

Daniel is a our sweet gift from God, and we love being his parents. Gods favor on us has been overwhelming and we cannot wait to share another year with him.