Well, he made it! Hayden has hit the big 1 year! We can't believe how fast time really has gone. We have enjoyed every minute and it just keeps getting better and better as his personality unfolds and develops. He makes us laugh all the time and keeps us on our toes now that he is discovering the wonderful world of mobility.

So...here we go....let's see what milestones Hayden has reached by his very first birthday:

  • perfecting the (he can cover even more ground now, and he has even mastered the one armed scoot and on occassion, he has to do the no-arm scoot if he is holding an especially heavy toy that must move with him).
  • pulling himself up on anything and cruising around it is old hat.
  • sitting forward in the carseat (more about this milestone later in the post).
  • navigating the stairs is becoming easier and easier. We have to keep one hand on him of course, but he is learning the right (and wrong) way to climb and decend the stairs. He is better at going up than coming down. He hasn't figured out how to just stay flat and slide down yet. I am sure it won't take long though.
  • drinking through a straw (the introduction of OtterPops by dad gave us the idea that he could probably manage drinking this way just fine).
Some things that Hayden likes to do now that he is one year old are:
  • swimming...he will take it anyway he can get it...kiddie pool, bath tub, backyard pool, the frigid waters of Lake Chelan...he's not picky.
  • handing a toy to mom or dad and taking it back again...this seems mundane, but provides hours of fun.
  • screaming to show his frustration if something doesn't quite go his way.
  • playing peek-a-boo.
  • brushing his teeth. He still finds this FUN! I am sure that will change when he figures out that there is a true hygenic purpose to this activity.
  • opening and closing doors. He can spend many minutes doing this and it is highly entertaining for all.
  • playing "Nose" with Poppy Mason.
  • playing the "I am going to get you!" game with anyone...he hasn't quite figured out the concept...whenever you say that to him, he comes towards you instead of scooting away.
  • playing his big and little pianos.
Some things that Hayden doesn't enjoy right now are:
  • staying still for a diaper change...he has MUCH better things to do.
  • showing off his new teeth (he has four poking through on top and three full teeth on the bottom).
  • having his nails clipped (this is probably the worst form of torture that he could think of, but even little boys need manicured (or at least non-razorlike) finger and toe nails. To provide adequate distraction, I plop him in front of the TV for some PBS or Animal Planet entertainment.
  • doing anything that he doesn't want to at the time that you want him to do it. :-)
On the food frontier, things have expanded quite a bit. Hayden was given the green light to drink whole milk now. He hasn't figured out the sippy cup quite yet, but the straw trick works perfectly. We try to give him one cup of milk a day, but usually only manage to get about 3/4 of that into his mouth. Some is hidden in his morning oatmeal now. He also likes other dairy products such as cottage cheese, yogurt, string cheese and eggs. All of these foods come into play for his new diet...it is the "fatten him up" diet. At his one year well-check, we found out that Hayden weighs 18 pounds 12 ounces, which puts him in the 4th percentile for weight! That means that 96% of one year olds weigh MORE than he does. She wasn't terribly concerned, she just suggested that veggies now come with butter and parmesan cheese on them, and that fat is a good word when it comes to his diet. We are still going to feed him healthy foods of course, but with the addition of the whole milk and dairy he should put on a few pounds before his 15 month check up.

Even though we were supposed to wait until he was over 20 pounds to flip his carseat around, we just couldn't take it anymore and decided to face him forward during our trip to NY.

So...as far as his other stats go:

Height: 29 3/4 inches (51st percentile) Head: 19 1/8 inch circumference (95th percentile)

At least he is consistent in the head department!

Well...we sure are enjoying this time. Hayden is so fun to be around and we are truly enjoying watching his personality unfold. This is going to be my last monthly post, but I will always post after a well-check (the next one is at 15 months) and of course after any important milestone is reached in between.

Let the fun begin.... -- mam