First off, apologies for not posting sooner. No excuse. Been busy but that is normal. Secondly, no pics today because I am at work.

Thane celebrated his first birthday 2 weeks ago today. In some ways, I cannot believe a year has gone by already, in others, I cannot remember a time without him.

His birthday was fabulous and I will post pictures soon.

To update everyone on our little Einstein, here is what he has been up to:

*Rolling a ball from him to me, laughing, clapping, grabbing the ball when I send it back. Repeat.
*Changed from formula to milk without issue
*Dropped all but 1 daytime bottle (only cups at school) and only having an early morning and late night bottle at home (sippy cup the rest of the day)
*Climbing, everywhere and on everything
*Says: Dada, mama, dog, giagia (he said it once), ball, bottle and lots of blabber we cannot yet understand
*Signs: Milk and Food
*Gives us things (when prompted or not prompted, including a flower to his mom yesterday)
*Waves and claps constantly
*Walks with help-we have to hold onto one of his hands and he can walk quite far
*5 teeth and counting (and wailing)
*Eats everything is sight from peanut butter and jelly to Indian to Greek
*Loves the puppies, thinks they are hysterical
*Loves the Roomba, except when he turns it on and it comes after him
*He helps mommy empty the dishwasher, really, last night he got the top of his red sippy cup and the bottom of his red sippy cup and handed them to me and there were LOTS of sippy cups in there
*He eats entirely on his own. It may get messy but we don’t feed him.
*We brush his teeth
*He points at everything. Sometimes we ask him where something is and he points at it.

Very, very cool stuff. It is amazing what a difference a year makes.

Happy Birthday! Mommy and Daddy Love YOU!!!

Thane had his 12 month checkup today. His stats were:

Weight: 24.6 lbs (bigger than 75 out of 100 babies)
Height: 31 1/4 inches (taller than 90 out of 100 babies)
Head Circumference: 47 (bigger than 70 out of 100 babies)

He also had 3 shots: Chickenpox, which Jay and I waivered about, Pneumococcal Conjugate, and Hepatitis A (why you give an STD shot to a baby still confuses me).

The big, worrisome MMR shot is postponed until 15 months. Shots did not go well. He screamed more than ever before, guess that comes with being more self-aware.

We also learned several new things:
*He can come off of formula and switch to whole milk
*He can eat peanut butter (and any nut) now. Needs to not be too chunky, that’s a choking hazard
*We described the way he is walking (pushing things, etc) and that is apparently a sign that he CAN walk. Apparently the actual act of walking unaided will happen when HE is ready
*We need to wean him off bottles. We are working on this and so is school
*Shellfish is apparently not good until he is 18 months. Who knew? He loves shrimp.

We start swimming lessons this afternoon. 5 days/week for 6 weeks. We will let you know how it goes.