James: 12 months

Twelve months!  One whole year.  I'm so thankful for this little man that joined our family a year ago!  Here's what he's been up to lately...

A day in the life

6:30-7am wake, then hop in bed with mama for some snuggles (and dad, too, if he's lucky!)

7am head downstairs, have a bottle of organic whole cow's milk

8am eat breakfast - his favorite these days is oatmeal with almond butter, coconut and cinnamon

9am go down for first nap

10:30ish am wake from first nap and have a snack (either yogurt or some fruit)

11am go for a stroller ride while mama jogs, head out to run errands, or go to storytime

12noon eat lunch!  some form of protein and veggies, along with fruit and maybe some pasta

1pm go down for second nap (still holding strong here!)

2:30ish pm wake from second nap

3pm offer milk in a sippy cup, though he has not been very interested in this yet!  He may drink a few ounces, or throw a tantrum and drink none.

3-5pm run errands or play around the house

5:30pm dinner time: more protein and vegetables, always end with a clementine if he hasn't had one in the day yet!

6-7pm play, usually dad is home at this time and that's the most fun!

7-7:30pm bedtime routine (diaper, lotion, cow's milk in a bottle, read books, sing and rock a bit)

7:30pm go down for bedtime and fall right asleep!

Big boy food

It's so tricky to know what and how to feed a kid this age!  The transition from formula to real food/cow's milk has been tricky (and we're still working on it...).  The one guideline I've found helpful is to try to make sure he gets his "rainbow" - at least one food of each color during the day (red, orange, yellow, green, blue/purple).  And I try to do everything organic for him as much as we can afford, but always all animal products (meat and dairy) and the "dirty dozen" for fruits and vegetables.

Favorites (meaning, he almost never refuses):
-Anything orange! Most of all: clementines.  But, also sweet potatoes, butternut squash & carrots.
- Almond butter and coconut combination (who can blame him!?).
-Banana
-Plain yogurt




At this point, I pretty much try to feed him anything that I would eat, except sweets :) and egg because of the allergic reaction he had (still waiting to try it again...).  So, when we're out, I often will just feed him a little of whatever I order, or I'll try to get a combination of foods that he will be able to eat from.  But, when we're home, I usually just prepare food for him, and they're the same foods that Stuart and I eat, only a little more basic (i.e. plain steamed broccoli for James, whereas Stuart gets butter and salt on his broccoli if he wants!).  I figure that if the majority of our diets include clean fruits and vegetables, clean animal products and 100% whole grains, then we're laying a pretty solid foundation of nutrition for James.

Proteins:
-Organic roasted chicken (breast and thigh, though he prefers white meat)
-Baked salmon with dill
-Canned sardines
-Beans, especially black.  We've also tried kidney beans and chickpeas.
-Dairy: yogurt only so far.  I'd like to add cottage cheese and maybe other cheeses if his tummy can tolerate...

Starches:
-Whole wheat pasta
-O's cereal
-Oatmeal
-Sweet potatoes

Vegetables:
-Avocado
-Broccoli
-Green beans
-Peas
-Spinach (most often in a smoothie, including oranges, banana and milk)

Fruits:
-Clementines (obviously)
-Applesauce
-Banana
-Cranberries (he had these several times around Thanksgiving and he ate them up!)
-Cantaloupe and watermelon
-Red grapes
-Blueberries
-Strawberries (but only in a smoothie so far, just because buying fresh organic is expensive!)




Favorite activities

-Storytime at the library - we prefer the baby lapsit class to the toddler class since it's more geared toward James' age developmental stage.
-Stay & Play Cafe - a large space full of comfy chairs and toys that has been child-proofed, with a coffee bar in the back with espresso for mama!
- Side by Side - both Bible study and play group.  He loves to play with friends and different toys!
-Nursery at church - we keep James with us during the first part of worship service on Sunday mornings for a few reasons:  He likes the songs, and we think it also can teach him from a young age how to behave appropriately in such a setting around adults.  During the sermon, he goes downstairs to the nursery, and he gets excited as soon as he realizes where we're headed.  Again, I think he just likes playing with friends and new toys!
-Swinging at the park - this is a great, quick activity that I can use to recharge him while we're out in the middle of running errands, since he LOVES it, but only for about 10 minutes.







Nana and Pop

Came to visit!  James very rarely gets to see the Pierce side of his family since they all live far away and it's very expensive to travel.  Every vacation that Stuart has had in residency, we have flown to Arkansas to visit for a week, but it is such a blessing to have a visit come our way in NC!  Nana and Pop came out for a short visit over James' birthday weekend.  Of course Nana won his little heart over by playing, reading lots of books and putting James down at bedtime.  But whenever Pop walked in the room, James pointed and reached for him!  He knows a good man when he sees one.  Pop also gave James his first taste of beignet.  I think this would win anyone over :)



Sleep Regression

During his 11th month, James spent a two weeks being a terrible sleeper.  He was suddenly waking up in the middle of the night and crying for up to an hour.  Some nights we had multiple episodes of this.  Then, he would wake earlier and earlier each morning.  4am I think was the record during this regression.  It made us so tired here in the Pierce household.  We just waited it out, knowing that he wasn't sick, there weren't signs of new teeth, and that there wasn't really any particular reason for this besides maybe some separation anxiety, or "night terrors" (which, I still don't really understand.  How is it possible to know if a babe this age is having night terrors??).  Around his birthday, two things changed.  We started putting him to bed with a little teddy bear that I made, and we moved his bedtime to 7:30pm (from 7pm).  Like magic, he slept all night and woke at 7am happy as can be.  So, I don't know if those things fixed it, or if he just moved on.  Here's to hoping we can all recover before the next sleep regression (because I know we're not done!).





Miscellaneous Thoughts

- The boy has 7 teeth: 4 on top, 3 on bottom.  We've been waiting almost 2 months for the bottom right one to come in and follow it's left cousin!

- During his 11th month, James started preferring crawling on hands and knees to slithering around on his belly.  Sometimes he still swims instead of crawling, especially if he has a toy in each hand that he is not interested in leaving behind, but he usually pops up onto hands and knees these days.

- He pulls to standing, but not ever at a normal spot like at the couch or other furniture.  It's always inside of a cabinet, up my legs, onto the stairs or onto one of the large Christmas gifts under the tree.

- He has done really great with having our large Christmas tree up.  A few weeks before getting our large tree, we were given a small table top tree that James LOVED.  Every morning after his milk, he would reach out to touch it.  We taught him to be very gentle and just lightly stroke the tree and it's tiny little ornaments.  When the big tree showed up, James totally knew how to control himself, I think because he had practiced with the tiny tree.  The only time he loses his little bit of self-control is with the Christmas lights.  He just loves them.  The way they feel, the way they taste, the way they jiggle when you violently shake them and pull them off the tree.  So, James is allowed to be "gentle" to our Christmas tree, but is not allowed to touch the lights.  He's doing pretty well :)

-Speaking of off-limits... Stuart and I have talked about wanting to create a "garden of yes" for James, rather than just telling him no, no, no, no, no, no all the time.  We have a short list of things he is not allowed to play with or touch (electrical outlets, electrical cords, Christmas lights and gifts under the tree, the fireplace, and the peace lilly in the dining room which he likes to eat...).  But otherwise, we have tried to create an environment that is safe for James to explore and play in, since that is exactly how he exists developmentally at this stage (exploring everything)!  I put away (most) everything that could be dangerous or that I didn't want him to tear up.  But (for example) my basket of knitting, explore away little boy!  Yes, it's a hassle to clean up the yarn after he pulls it all out, but I don't mind.  I'd rather have it out so that I am tempted to knit, and so that he can explore what yarn feels like between his fingers, than to put it away and never use it.  Or the tupperware cabinet.  Or his basket of books.  I just think the little hassle is worth it in this stage, to teach him that we want him to explore and learn, and that he can trust us that this environment we've created for him is safe to do so, with only a few important restrictions (sounds like the Garden of Eden...).

- His 12 month appointment with Dr. Zimmerman is this Friday, so I'll update with some stats then!  I'm so curious to see how much my skinny little boy weighs!