One Year Old

It feels so weird for me to call you a one-year-old.  This past year has been a crazy one, but you have maintained your generally happy personality through it all.  Lately, you have started to throw some tantrums.  It is funny, because you react almost exactly the same way your sister did at that age.  When you don't get your way, you lean forward, put your hands down, and lay your face on the floor.  Of course, that action is accompanied by crying and hollering.  You are persistant when you want something though, so a tantrum does even mean that you will stop trying.  In fact, I think it is more of a diversion tactic so that your "oppressor" will soon forget what they were stopping and let you go on doing it.

The past couple of months, you have really started to engage in more social behaviors.  You wave hello and goodbye, sometimes.  You also say "hi."  You clearly now how to refer to momma, dadda, and Audrey and ask for us frequently by name.  Right now, momma is definitely your favorite.  You want me to snuggle you every chance you get.  I think that might be part of the reason you have not yet become a proficient walker.  You can take a few steps, but only if you pull yoursef up on something.  You get so excited though about the fact that you are walking, you quickly lose your balance, sit down, and revert to crawling.  You are getting so big that it looks a little silly for you to still be crawling, but your daddy keeps reminding me that with walking comes even more of you getting into things.  I am not so sure about that, because you already get into pretty much everything.  You open cabinets, climb on furniture, and grab anything you can reach. 

 

You are an extremely curious little boy.  You are always exploring.  You favorite toys aren't even toys at all; you want to play with cell phones and remote controls.  You also have an affinity for your sister's bitty baby, but I think that is because you know you aren't supposed to play with it.  I can already tell that you are definitely going to be an ornery little brother.   I am sure it is all out of love though, because there is no doubt that you love your sister.  The director of your school told me last week that she took you to Audrey's class one day to say hi, and she saw you smile bigger than she'd ever seen before when you saw your sister.  That is saying a lot, considering that you smile all of the time.  I love it when you and your sister play in the back of the car when we are driving to or from school.  You think everything she does is funny, which causes you to giggle, and when you laugh, it is contagious.  You have a great belly laugh; when you laugh really hard, I think you might stop breathing.  So, when you get to laughing, Audrey can't help but giggle.  Then I start giggling, and soon we're all in a breathless fit of giggles.  I love it. 

I should also mention that you have learned to throw.  You love your puppies so much that when you realized they like it when you throw their toys for them, you immediately wanted to do it.  I only had to show you a couple of times how to do it, before you learned how.  The toys still don't go far, but the dogs enjoy it.  Your favorite ones to throw are the squeaky toys; you are always sure to get in a few squeaks before throwing, too. 

Despite the occasional tantrum, you are still a pretty laid back little boy.  Not much ruffles your feathers.  When we were in Florida, Nora would take a toy away from you, and after the initial shock wore off, you would simply move on to another toy.  Because of that, you adapt well.  You can get a little off schedule, and you are still pretty happy.  I think your laid back personality is going to fit well in our household, but I do see it being a challenge for me.  If that is the case, I am sure God will help me learn a lot from you.  You've already changed my perspective on so many things in one year, who knows what the next 40, 50, or even 60 years will bring. 

I can't forget to mention how much you LOVE regular food.  You still get mad if someone else is eating something we have not put on your tray.  There isn't much that you have not tried.  Really the only foods you won't eat are ones that are really spicy.  Actually, that is incorrect; you still eat them, you just cry and fuss the whole time, and then drink a ton of water.  You are really proficient with the tippy cup and drink water every chance you get.  The challenge is going to be getting you to drink cow's milk.  I have given it to you a couple of times, and you have yet to really drink it.  As much as you love to eat, I don't think it will be too long before you are completely weaned.  You're still nursing, and I am glad for that.  With all of the craziness in our lives day to day, those are our special times.  Just momma and baby boy. 

I love you Barrett, B-dub, Mr. B, B-man...you'll always be my baby boy.