On June 26, 2013, Henry turned one year old!
Sleeping
I'd say Henry's sleep schedule was about the same this month as it was the prior month. That is, he is finally, finally on a semi-regular schedule and sleeps for predictable amounts of time! A couple of hours after he wakes up, usually around 9:00-9:30, Henry takes a 1.5 hour or so morning nap. Then, around 2:00 or 2:30 in the afternoon, he will take another 1.5 hour nap. At night, he goes to bed by 9:00 now (we're working on inching back to 8:30) and sleeps about 10 hours.
Eating
Henry ate more and more "big boy" foods this month: chicken nachos, grilled chicken nuggets, french fries, hummus, greek yogurt, and pieces of granola bars, to name a few. He also tried some red meat (in the form of a hamburger) at a neighborhood party. There isn't much Henry doesn't like. We also can take him to restaurants and he will happily sit in the high chair as long as you keep a steady supply of food in front of him! One funny thing about this category is that Henry makes a funny face when he eats spicy or new foods. He crinkles his nose, closes his eyes a bit and shivers. He knows it's cute, because he sometimes does it even when the food is familiar just to see our reactions.
Moving and Shaking
Still no signs of walking independently. However, Henry stands unassisted for much longer lengths of time now, probably as long as 2-3 minutes. He does this particularly when he's playing with toys and wants something in each hand to inspect or bang together. Henry also walks while holding onto our hands, and can do this while holding onto just one of our hands. He also pushes around his walker, chairs, his tricycle, you name it, so I think he'll take his first steps in the next month or so.
Henry does this really adorable thing we call the "lean in." He does it to Rowan mostly, but he will also do it to us or to visitors, especially babies. He crawls up to Rowan, sits up and does a three point turn so that he's facing away from her, and then backs/leans into her. It's so cute. She tolerates it amazingly well, which is remarkable given that he's bigger than she is and weighs about 5 pounds more.
Verbal and Emotional Development
The biggest news here is that Henry officially has said his first words! He said "mama" at around 11.5 months. He often says it multiple times in a row, and usually when he wants me to retrieve him from his crib. Then, towards the end of the month, just before his first birthday, he said "bath" (or 'ba" in Henry-speak) and dog ("da")! He repeated bath when I said the word while bathing him, and he's said it a few times since. What's cute is that he has this new toy kitchen that includes a faucet that plays a running water sound. When he hears it, he says "ba," because it sounds like his bath water running! And he said dog when looking at one of his favorite books about dogs. Oddly, he doesn't say it much when he sees Rowan. But he's said it multiple times when looking at the dog book.
Henry is also chattier than he used to be. Most of what he says doesn't make sense, but I see him watching me when I talk and I know he's trying to figure out how to repeat the sounds. He has this "ohhh" sound he makes when he's interested in something. He does it frequently when we're reading books together, like he's interested in what's on the page. Henry also loves to blow raspberries. He did this more at the beginning of the month than he does now. But he can make some really loud pffft sounds and produce an impressive stream of spit!
Henry's receptive language ability gets better and better. He will look for the fans when I say their name or look outside if I ask him to.
Other Notables
Henry's stats at one year old are: 23 lbs, 9 oz. (63%), 30.5 inches (75%), and 18.5 inch head circumference (70%). Above average all-around!
Henry finally started clapping! I was getting a little worried about this milestone. But he claps on command now, as well as in response to your clapping or when he's particularly proud of himself!
Henry does a modified form of pointing. When he wants to touch something and we're holding him, he reaches his arm and hand out to it. He does this often when he wants to touch the ceiling fan pulls, the windows, or tree branches/flowers outside.
Henry can open his arms wide when we play the "How big is Henry? So big!" game. He doesn't do it consistently, but he often will mimic us if we open our arms and sometimes does it on his own.
Henry loves to look at himself in mirrors and brings the mirror, if mobile, or his face, if the mirror is stationary, right up to his face. He likes to press his lips against the mirror.
Henry is figuring out how to manipulate objects. He can stack a few blocks and also loves to put smaller objects (such as a small ball) inside larger ones (like a plastic bowl), or to put items in containers that have hinged lids that he can then open and close. He also absolutely loves to remove all of the items from our pantry shelves. Sometimes he even puts them back! And he likes to remove ziploc baggies, one at a time, from the box and leave them strewn about on the kitchen floor.
Happy first birthday, Henry! We can't wait to see how much you will change in the coming year.
