12 Months

Sweet little Gavin,

Oh, Gav. I will never get tired of telling you all about how much I love and adore you. This first year of your life has been one of the absolute best of mine. You are pure sweetness with a little dash of crazy thrown in, and the older you get the more I fall head over heels for your silly little personality.

You're entering that magical age where it seems like you're learning or doing something new and exciting every single day. I can see my tiny baby slipping away as you become more and more independent. And independent you most certainly are. You don't want to hold hands in public, you don't want us to cut your food into small pieces, you don't want to be held down for any reason, and you have zero fears that I have discovered. You are constantly wandering off on your own, exploring all the nooks and crannies our home has to offer. You are also attempting to climb just about anything that can be climbed, but thankfully you haven't gone full spider-monkey on me yet.

Now that you are officially a toddler, things have changed a bit. You've added a bit more "spice" to your constant sweetness, and we've had our first foray into tantrum territory with you. I have to say, your brother was the king of tantrums at this age, so yours are kind of just adorable. If you get mad at us and happen to be standing on the tile, you will run as fast as your tiny legs will take you while crying as loudly as you can, then dramatically fling yourself to the floor the second you hit the carpet, where you'll cry as if your heart has been broken in two. While Grayson's tantrums seemed more angry, yours seem to be much more based on heartbreak.

You're still happy most of the time, but you are starting to protest and fight back at times. If anyone takes anything away from you that you really want, you will totally freak out and scream and cry. If Grayson won't share a toy, you'll grunt and scream, and you've recently started a baby-version of hitting. You aren't packing much of a punch, but you are definitely getting your point across.

You are SUPER silly, and you literally walk around smiling and laughing most of the day. All we have to do is make eye contact with you and you break into the sweetest little grin. The tiniest ounce of attention seems to fill up your little love tank, then you're back to independent exploring until you need another couple minutes of being loved on. You love to be chased and tickled, so I spend an absurd amount of time doing both. You also have an ornery streak, and you love to take things you know you aren't supposed to have and run run run as fast as you can with them. At the moment the things from my bathroom drawers and the Christmas tree decorations are your favorites to steal. You'll slowly, sneakily take something, all while watching to see if anyone has seen what you're doing, then you'll give the orneriest little smile with a side-eye before you run away. It's hysterical and sometimes totally infuriating.

You are understanding so much of what we are saying, and I've noticed you love to be helpful. You'll load the water bottles into the bottom bin of the fridge after I show you how, or help me put toys up in the baskets around the house, or bring me whatever I ask you to. It seems like just about anything I ask you do to you will do with very little direction. Of course I think you're a beautiful genius baby just like your brother - and I'm pretty sure I'm right ;)

You've started communicating with us a lot more (to be fair, you're over 13 months as I'm writing this). You answer me by nodding very decisively with a grunt for yes, and give a pretty brief head shake for no. You point to whatever you want, and come running and grunting and shaking objects at me anytime you want me to do something for you, like turn on a toy or feed you something you found. There are videos that you watch and dance to on YouTube called Gigglebellies (you're obsessed) and you'll find the remote, run over to me shaking it while going "Ahhh!Ahh!Ahhh!" and point at the TV, then you'll start dancing in a circle until I get it turned on. You definitely know how to get your point across.

You LOVE to dance, and you literally start at it the second you recognize a song or beat of any sort. Even if I sing like three words or tap on the table a few times, you start dancing. You also love to sing, which is just precious. Sometimes you'll sing in your carseat, and you almost always sing to music. You also sing your ABC's with me during diaper changes, which is the only way I can get them done these days. You also have the sweetest little baby voice in the world, so the singing totally melts my mama heart.

You are eating like a champ, which is great because you are a teeny tiny little guy. You were really sick last month, so I'm sure that didn't help anything, but we are currently trying to beef you up a bit before your 15 month doctors appointment. You are several pounds lighter and a bit shorter than Grayson was at this age, so it's kind of strange for me. The good news is you still feel like a baby when I hold you, so it's helping to keep any baby fever at bay ;)

Your favorite foods are grapes, strawberries, broccoli, carrots, soup, and pancakes. You haven't accepted my offerings of cow's milk yet, so all you're drinking is water. You're still nursing several times a day...and a few times a night, as much as I would love for you to not be doing that. However, since you're so little your doc said I need to keep it up as long as you're asking, so looks like mommy just won't be sleeping through the night for awhile. You're also working on your top two molars at the moment, and you handle teething so, so well that we never realize you're getting a tooth until they've broken through. This will bring your grand total to 10.

Your brother is starting to love you more and more, the older you get and the more you start to interact with him. He thinks it's hysterical that you answer us yes and no now, and the other day when I was feeding you and telling you to eat certain things he said "He always does what you tell him to do..." like he was amazed. I told him he should learn from you! Every once in awhile I catch him being really sweet to you, usually when he doesn't know I'm watching or you're being sweet or sleepy. I adore watching the two of you bond, I am so incredibly glad I get to experience the sibling thing through you guys.

You are the sunshine in my life sweet boy, you make me so super happy, and you were just the most perfect addition to our family. I couldn't be more obsessed with you, and you bring so much joy to everyone that knows you. I love you so much baby boy! I can't believe you're one!

Mommy

Photos by my sweet friend- Shana Pisanich Photography