Nerd and Healthnut: 1 Year Old

I've kind of been MIA the past few weeks. Between moving in and some other stressful events it's been quite the adventure.

This week we are taking a road trip to Vermont for the Fourth of July. We're going to visit the Ben & Jerry's factory and explore the beautiful state of Vermont through hiking and farmers' markets :)

When we get back we have a little birthday party planned for Sawyer. I promise I'll be posting pictures next week, of both our trip to Vermont and Sawyer's birthday party.

Although I've been lousy at updating the blog, I have been taking pictures through Instagram. If you aren't following me, you should! @nerd_healthnut

Before we leave, I'm going to give a long overdue update of Sawyer's development.

Gross Motor

He took his first steps at 8 1/2 months, but didn't really start walking until 9 1/2 months. By 10 months he was walking everywhere. This week he has attempted running, which seems way to early! He usually gets up to a good speed and then his upper body goes faster than his lower body and he ends up face planting.
He is a good little climber as well. He can get up on the bed and couch with ease, and luckily has found safe ways of getting back down.

Language

He can sign a few signs, but understands a lot more. Right now he can sign water, milk, bath, all done, and eat/food. We are still working on banana, cracker, sleepy, yogurt, and potty.
Just recently he's had a wording boom. He jabbers all day long, especially when reading. He can say hat, cat, shoe, pancake ("pah-cah"), dada, papa, mama, baby, ball, blueberry ("boo-beh") and dog. He can't pronounce them perfectly yet, but we can understand what he's saying :)

Eating

Baby led weaning is going great, although I have to admit I'm not hardcore and I still spoon feed him things, like soup, applesauce, and yogurt. I was at a playgroup lunch and I gave him a pieces of my hamburger (just the ground beef part). He picked it up and bit off little pieces, chewed it, and swallowed with ease. One of the moms was surprised that he was eating solid foods already. She had a 15 month old that hasn't ventured into the realm of solid foods and chewing yet, so I guess it seemed unusual to her.
Sawyer will eat pretty much anything we give him. He does have preferences that vary day-to-day, but for the most part he can and will eat anything. Pancakes, berries, peaches, asparagus, beets, ground meat (like meatballs), cheese, and grilled chicken are his lasting favorites. He doesn't eat large amounts of food, but he will try anything we give him.

Personal-Social

Sawyer has attached himself to stuffed animals, which is adorable. He will hug and kiss his stuff monkey and bear. He loves to sleep with them and I usually find him cuddled up to one of them during his naps. When we were at a friends house for dinner he walked up to their 5 month old who was laying on the ground. I was scared he was going to attempt to poke out his eyes or stick his hand in his mouth, but instead he laid his head on the baby's belly and gently patted his arm. Talk about melting a mamma's heart!

We have also started Elimination Communication with him. It hasn't been perfect, and it takes some dedication, but it has been worth it. He now goes pee/poop 2-4 times per day in his little potty. Which means 2-4 less diapers for us, and I'm hoping at the rate he's going he'll be mostly potty trained by 18 months. If you're interested in learning more about EC I can write a blog post about our experience with it. There is a ton of information on the internet, but I've found that since every family and child are different, it takes different strategies. It helped me a lot to read different methods that parents have used with their babies.

Sawyer also loves books. I've mentioned this a hundred times, but seriuosly that's all he wants to do. We read to him 1 to 1 1/2 hours per day. Yes, I've kept track. He would probably be read to more than that, but we have things to do and honestly, reading the same board books over and over again can get pretty monotonous. So we try to distract him with toys or other things while we take a break from "Dum Ditty Dum Ditty DUM DUM DUM!"

Overall, Sawyer is doing great. We are so happy that he is developing normally and that we've kept him alive for the past year. Isn't that a great feeling? I honestly think that a first birthday party is more for the parents than the child. A celebration of "We didn't kill our child in the most vulnerable year of his life!"