12 Months Old

Dear Nathan,

My sweet boy who gives wonderful hugs and cuddles.  I’m so grateful for you and the strength you give me by being a calm presence here (except when you are hungry).  You are quick to show your love and excitement for each of us with arms waving and delighted squeals.

Although you aren’t walking yet, you are able to get everywhere you want to go.  You crawl fast, pull yourself to standing, and walk along surfaces.  Climbing up the stairs is a favorite pastime and you are close to being able to go down the stairs feet first too.  Nathan you have a surprising reach and have inspected everything on the desk and table surfaces that are remotely close to the edge.

Many hours of your day are spent in exploration.  I love seeing you discover new things.  A few days ago you laid down on your stomach on the rug in our entryway and rubbed your fingers along it and kicked your legs while yelling in excitement about the rough texture.  You’ve also managed to get into the bathroom this week and play in the toilet with a spoon. You were less than pleased when we found you and ended the game. Wen you are tired you pause in your adventuring to lay your head on a pillow from the couch or sprawl out on the floor to rest.

You are incredibly observant and very diligent.  You’ve figured out how to plug and unplug the vacuum cleaner with ease, and not with our approval or encouragement.

We recently discovered that you like to flip backwards in our arms. If we flip you once you will throw yourself backwards over and over again with a huge smile on your face.  You love dancing in our arms and being held out as we run to play games.   You get really excited and kick your legs when we play chase or tag with Emily.  The two of you play a hide and seek chase game under the kitchen table that has both of you laughing and speedy crawling around the room before too long. You enjoy playing with little toys, like cars, duplos and trains. You don’t like it when what you are playing with gets taken away by an older sister, and will chase her down to get it or bend your head over and cry big tears.   You still enjoy flipping through books by yourself, and you are starting to join us when we read stories together.

You really enjoy playing with phones and computers.  You’ve figured out how to open the screens and type away, despite our best efforts to keep them up and out of reach.  Almost any item will become a phone as you’ve started holding things up to your ear and pretending to listen.

You have started to show excitement when we go outside to play. If I forget something and we turn back in you cry in disappointment.  You love playing with shovels and buckets in the sand, crawling around and drumming on the slides, and being pushed in the swings.  You have started to really enjoy swinging and switch between laughing and zoning.  Emily gives you underdogs and you really like those.

You have four teeth on top and two on the bottom.  You use them to their fullest, eating whole apples top down stem, core, seeds, and all.  Feeding yourself is absolutely preferred to being fed and you have a fascination with using forks and spoons. You use them for digging in the sand and dirt but also like trying to scoop food up with them.  Getting sand into your mouth with the spoon seems easier than actual food.  Yelling and staring at what you want to eat is still your preferred method of communicating. Once you are full you join the family conversation adding laughter, waving hands, and repeated sounds. Yesterday we were talking about ducks and quacking and you joined in saying,”kack, kack, kack” for a good ten minutes at the end of the meal.  We have been signing with you from the beginning and you sign “milk” for nursing when you know it is time for bed.

The first step in tucking you in is handing you a blanket. You grab it with two hands and burry your face in it and growl.  You sleep on your stomach with your legs tucked underneath you.  When we wake you up you sit up and are very pleasant from the get-go.  You go to sleep around 6:30 or 7pm, wake up around 5am to nurse, and sleep until 7am.  You are switching from two naps to one, and shortening the length of your nap to an hour or hour and a half.

We are so grateful you are a forever part of our family Nathan. You have been part of adding joy and laughter to our home this year.  We love you Nathan boy.