Walker is ONE!

Happy Birthday, Walker!

Likes:

• playing "Where's Walker?" in Lainey's tent
• using his right hand - he's right-side dominant
• using his right foot and right side to lead when walking
• being held and cuddled after he awakens
• any opportunity to explore the dishwasher, pantry, refrigerator, staircase, or Reagan's food and water (which is located on a small landing on the stairs)
• rearranging chairs (by pushing them around)
• putting his favorite things together - he once put a ball, a used paper towel roll, a spoon, and a box of Crystal Light flavor packets into his red fire truck and pushed it around, happy as can be
• trying to stack items on top of each other or put them in new spots, like when he puts a jar of diced apples on top of the spices in the pantry or when he reaches across his tray to put pieces of his food or his drink on the table
• being outside...he would love to just be outside at all times
• certain books, particularly ones with textures that he can feel
• the book Peekaboo Farm by Susan Hood - it has a mirror on the last page and he gets SO excited to see himself
• blueberries, graham crackers, yogurt, apples, grapes, ground meat, edamame
• throwing clothes/toys/things through the balusters and watching them 1) tumble down the staircase or 2) fall directly on to the hardwood floors below him (all depending on the point from which he launches his throw)
• bonking any hard surface (or a person's head) with his toys
• dirt/rocks/sand
• anything that he can wrap his little hand around and carry with him: bubble wand, thermometer from the toy doctor's kit, a stick, a marker, a plastic golf club, a wand, a sock, a pair of jammie pants, a shirt, etc. He will hold whatever it is in his right hand and crawl around with it forever. Well, until Lainey yanks it out of his hands. :)
• the park (particularly the slides and the big plastic tunnels that he can crawl inside)
• swinging
• throwing food on the floor for Reagan to eat
• all animals - especially dogs
• birds (but they are just so darn hard to catch!)

Accomplishments:

• pointing
• throwing/tossing/rolling a ball (with as much aim and skill as a one-year-old can have)
• can point to Gus (the deer mount) when we ask him, "Where's Gus?"
• can point to fans when we ask him, "Where's the fan?"
• has taken four steps (that's his record)
• has a new birthmark on his left shin
• is getting better and better with eating and with using his sippy cup
• can shake his head back and forth, but I don't think he knows that it means "no" - he just kinda does it randomly
• can show us a number one when we ask him, "Are you one?"

Dislikes:

• Cheerios
• certain books, especially if he's tired of them or just not interested in the pictures...he'll close the book and reach over the side of the rocking chair and grunt and point to the book that he does want
• stickers...he has no idea what to do with them
• being awakened

Stats:

• Weight: 20 pounds, 6.2 ounces (10th-25th percentile)
• Height: 29-3/4 inches (25th-50th percentile)
• Head: 43 cm (95th percentile...the boy has some brains!)

This is the face that Walker makes when we ask him to say anything - I think he's trying to imitate the shapes of our mouths. :) He usually says "bababa" when making this face.

Sweet Walker, I can't believe you are a year old. I can remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. While lying in my hospital bed, waiting to meet you, I passed the time reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett (and then cried when I finished it), got absorbed in the Today Show's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and then had a few laughs while watching The Cosby Show. My nurse Caroline (who also happened to be my nurse when Lainey was born) kept coming in to check on me periodically. Your dad, hanging out in the chair by the window, was constantly making me laugh with his silly comments and questions. Finally, around 2:30 p.m., I was told that I was making progress!! Of course I had no idea because I had been given a beautiful epidural. You arrived at 3:45 p.m., a little quiet, and with a true knot in your umbilical cord. Blessedly, you were just fine. A perfect baby boy. However, you've had a bit of a bumpy year. I think you've had a total of 6 ear infections, 2 sets of ear tubes, 2 intussusceptions, a random spider bite, goopy eyes (because of blocked tear ducts, with one eye being worse than the other), several sinus infections, a few colds/sore throats/coughs, and 2 stomach bugs. Oh, and reflux. We've just recently started you on Zantac to treat "real" reflux, as opposed to the kind of reflux that babies get. This medicine has helped control your vomit-burps (a technical term that we invented in our house) and so for now, we'll keep giving it to you. :) I hope that your second year is one filled with less sickness, but I'm not holding my breath. You'll start "school" in September and I'm sure you'll bring home with you a bunch of germy surprises. Despite being sick for about 75% of your first year of life, you have proved to us that you are a resilient, cuddly, sweet, "live in the moment" type of guy. You are the sweetest thing and you have the brightest smile. You are our little angel, our Bubby, our sweet Walkie-doo. We love you. Even though you don't sleep through the night. We love you for the person you are and the person you will become. Happy first birthday, Walker!

not a fan of his Band-Aids (probably because he doesn't like stickers)

"Eeh. Eeh. Eeh." (Fuss. Fuss. Fuss.)

****

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

~Elizabeth Stone

(I find this statement to be 100% true!)