We're ONE! :)

It's been a crazy-busy month, with Keith's birthday, Noah's birthday, and the Christmas holiday. It has absolutely FLOWN but Noah is a year old! Since we had a big dedication party, we only had a small gathering for his birthday-- pizza and family at our house. He had a great time opening his gifts, and would get so excited about the gift that he would ignore the rest of the wrapping paper remaining and start to play through the package. He didn't take any interest in his cake but did suck the icing off his candle. In fairness, he didn't feel well that day, due to 3 more teeth breaking through. We'll have to try the cake thing again soon, while he's feeling well. I did take pictures both of Noah's party and Christmas, but haven't yet uploaded them. I figured I would blog before I forgot all the fun little details about how he has changed.

Every day, my little baby transitions into toddlerhood in some way. He's eating anything he can get his hands on (except veggies ofcourse), and doing so with only 4 teeth on top, and two on the bottom. Chicken is his favorite. In fact, on his actual birthday (on a wednesday) we took him to Chick-fil-a to have nuggets and play on the indoor playset. He had a BALL! He was double-fisting the nuggets and loving the apple juice. In fact, that was the night he first drank from a straw! He now can't get enough of straws, and will drink even if he isn't thirsty, if a straw is available. After dinner, he played on the playset, with the toys that he could reach, and even climbed a little on the slide. He would've gone up the stairs alone, if we'd let him, but we knew it couldn't support our weight, should he get stuck.

He's not walking yet, although he totally could. He flys on his hands and knees-- he's definitely mastered crawling. And he's becoming more independent and confident when it comes to cruising. He's been using furniture to get around much more than crawling, these days. And every day, the distance he's willing to stretch to get from piece to piece grows larger. He will even take tiny half-steps with hands on nothing, in transit to his next furniture destination. Yesterday he stood for a good 20/30 seconds on his own, until he realized he was standing. Then he fell to his knees. He also took one step to get to Ashley! His first step! The other first that happened yesterday was him saying "Pop Pop". He said it two or three times and then got distracted.

Noah's communication skills are rapidly growing! He now nods and shakes his head no in response to our questions. Sometimes I think he understands, sometimes I don't think he does, but he wants to communicate anyway. If there is something he wants to try to tell us, he will do so with fervent grunts, groans, sounds, and pointing. If we don't get it, he gets extremely frustrated and will not relent until he gets his point across. He says "Ma Ma" and "Da da" and "uh oh" quite regularly now. He's also been giving kisses. He makes the kissy noise with pursed lips, when we say "give me a kiss". But when he actually kisses you he plants his open mouth over yours, then pulls away. He gave me a hug and kiss one morning to wake me....it was so sweet! Right now, his hug is either pulling your face to his, really hard, or laying his head on your chest. He's such a tender heart, my boy! Hugs and kisses are given out all the time, and Keith and I can't get enough. :)

He's become quite the little adventurer in the bathtub as well! Now Noah LOVES to lay down in the tub. You have to keep an eye on him because without warning, he will thrust himself backwards to lay down. He isn't cautious about it-- he expects your hand to be there. And once lying, he'll stay until he feels like it, and then will turn over. It's so funny to watch!

Mimicking has been the latest thing. He mimicks so many of our actions: mom-mom picking lint off of the stairs, daddy putting his tools away, dance moves, sounds. The other day we were watching TV and my parents' and a hair loss commercial came on. It was an info-mercial so it was quite extensive. After the commercial Noah crawled down from my lap and onto Poppy's lap, ran a hand through his hair, and pointed to the TV. :) We all got a good laugh out of that one! My dad and Uncle Bill have been trying to teach Noah how to play with balls, and he gets SO excited when he 'throws' the ball (drops it over his shoulder after drawing his hand backward). He makes a big fuss and waits to do it again. And our little dancer is expanding his dance horizons! Any time there is even a hint of music on, he's moving. LOVES to dance, and LOVES music!!

Christmas was fun, too. He enjoyed opening the packages and playing with the toys before they were even fully unwrapped. Poppy got him a bouncing zebra toy that he has learned to climb onto and off of, by himself. He also got him a radio flyer trike, which we look forward to putting together this spring, when the weather is nice. The holidays were crazy because of being out every night...Noah was on no real schedule and up late each night. But looking back at my childhood, I have such special memories from holidays, being allowed to be up late and play with my cousins and whatnot. I'd hate to take that away from him.

My three cousins (Kristi, Lindsay, and Ashley) love to dote on Noah! If we go to a family party and they are there, he is almost instantly taken away and then passed between the three of them. He LOVES their attention, too. I always hear some kind of squeal or giggle from whatever room they are playing in. It's nice to have the break. I love being with Noah, so much, but he's a handfull! Especially now that he knows (and loves) climbing stairs (both up and down).

It's getting late- time to wrap this up. I will post pictures once they are uploaded. Noah's changing so quickly that I suspect I'll be blogging more frequently now! Love to all of you! Happy New Year!