Kisses, part 2

Chris captured the open-mouth kiss in a photo. Cute, right?!? :)

Kisses

If you ask Cameron for a kiss, most often he will lean toward you with an open mouth and let you plant one on him.

I thought that was the cutest thing ever. But I was wrong.

Last night I got my first unsolicited kiss; just before I put him to bed he leaned toward me with that open mouth without me asking first...and that's the cutest thing ever. :)

12 months!

We just had Cameron's 12 month check up. His height (29.75 inches) and weight (23 lb 2 oz) are now in the 50th percentile: totally average. But his head (48 cm) is still in the 90th percentile! :oP

All in all, he's doing really well. He's meeting all his milestones and is a happy guy! We talked about what foods he's going to eat as we go forward and transition off the soy formula. Since he isn't going to be getting the fat and calories from whole cow's milk, we're going to have to make sure that his diet includes plenty of non-dairy caloric foods. We're going to try both soy milk and rice milk, and see what he thinks. No almond milk, though, as the allergist cautioned us to stay away from all nuts for at least another year. He didn't have a reaction to peanuts when tested, but, to be on the safe side, we're going to hold off.

We also talked about transitioning off the bottle. It'll be a gradual change over the next several months. We'll likely keep the pre-nap and pre-bedtime bottles to start, but maybe give him more to drink in his sippy cups with daytime meals. We'll see!

I got my flu shot today, and Cameron got his first of two flu shots (in addition to two other shots, poor guy!). We have to return in four weeks for his second dose. Fun stuff.

For posterity

At one year, Cameron...

• has this "ha ha ha" laugh, which is totally adorable and he will mimic you if you do it.
• is walking around when holding adult fingers, or on his own when holding onto objects like chairs or the coffee table.
• is very proficient at pulling up to stand, squatting down, and standing back up again.
• is wearing 12m clothes, but not for very much longer. Gotta go wash those 18m ones!
• is wearing size 4 diapers, size 5 at night, but still in cloth most days.
• has 6 teeth (2 bottom, 4 top).
• is in between 1 and 2 naps per day; we've been going back and forth.
• is not saying any real words...will make a hard C (or K) sound when he sees the cats, and for other objects whose names have that sound (like duck, clock, book, etc.) but otherwise it's really just pointing with a very emphatic "mmmm!" for whatever he wants.
• understands a lot, though, and will correctly point things out when we say "Where's the butterfly? monkey? ball?" etc.
• just learned how to properly use a straw, instead of just chewing on the end. Straw sippy cups, here we come!

Growing up

Happy Birthday!

I can't believe my little man is one already. This year has flown by so fast!

His party was a success, if I do say so myself. Above you see the "smash cake" that I made for him: a dairy-free banana cake with dairy-free frosting. He didn't eat more than a bite of the cake, but got a few mouthfuls of the frosting. It was pretty amusing to watch, actually. He didn't really want to get his hands messy, so he just dove in, face first. Hey, whatever works! I didn't even have to change his shirt afterward.

The kiddos in attendance had fun playing with balloons, toys, and many of the garden decorations in the backyard (sorry Karen!). Then, after cupcakes and presents, it was time to call it a day.

Cameron says, "I had a good time, but I'm pooped!"

Winding down

I had this inexplicable feeling that when I nursed Cameron on Friday morning that it was my last nursing session. I made sure to soak in the details.

Saturday morning, for various reasons, I ended up pumping and giving him some formula. But then today, when I tried to nurse him, he said "no thank you" in his own little way. I moved to a different room, and again he said "no thank you". So I went and got some formula, and he gobbled it down.

So I guess that's it. I really wanted to make it to his first birthday, and that is only 6 days away at this point. I'm pretty happy with where we are, given the circumstances. I told myself that I would continue pumping as long as he was still interested in nursing. And since the number of pumping sessions has been tapering off over the past few months (last week was the first time I did not tote my pump to work with me), this seems to be the nod of approval I needed to really let things wind down.

It's a happy/sad day for me. I was going to stop using the label "baby" on my blog posts about him after his first birthday, but, this may be the last one!