Ode to a One Year Old

This post is about Grayden. Not because he's my first and only child so that's what all my posts are about, but because today is his first birthday. Also, he is playing so nicely by himself right now that I actually have the time to type.

I know it's been said, but here goes: one whole year? It's unbelievable. Tonight I am going to make him a cake and let him blow out a candle and unwrap a new book, and he'll have no idea what's going on. But what I'll be thinking while he eats his cake is that the next time we celebrate his birthday he'll be two, and if it goes by even half as fast as his first year then he's practically two already!

Grayden is a very good kid. He's happy and social and loves to learn, he soaks up everything we tell him. His best words are banana and hi and Dada, and mama when he wants more food, but he also copies so many sounds of words we say I think he'll be adding to that list soon. He signs the words "all done" and "more", and he throws his hands up in the air when you say touchdown. He is in the stage between walking and crawling, where he'll walk until he falls and then crawl the rest of the way. He has about the same amount of hair he had one year ago. He has six teeth when I last counted a couple months ago. He just learned to go downstairs, a good thing since we have 17 in our house. He will sit and look at books and babble to himself, but he loves when we read to him even more. Balls are his favorite toys, any type of ball, and he loves to lift them high above his head and then throw them to you. He loves blowing bubbles in the water at bath time, sleeps at least 12 hours at night and two naps during the day, which makes his mother very happy. He'll do almost anything if I bribe him with going outside, he's an outdoors man. He unfortunately has absolutely zero interest in watching television. He thinks most noises are music and he dances and bobs his head to anything from the prelude music at church to the ice cream truck to a cell phone ring to the beeping of the microwave. He thinks he is the most adorable thing on the planet, and mostly, we agree.

April 2009:




April 2010:




Nate feels the need to give Grayden a mohawk when he puts sunscreen on him. Every time.

Happy Birthday, Little Dude.