Beckett is ONE YEAR old!

My baby is a big boy now! Oh, not really. The second one teaches you that 12 months is still so little. I remember thinking that Hamilton was soooo grown-up when he turned one. I'm glad to discover that I get to keep my "baby" a little longer. We haven't had his official one-year check-up yet, so I'll have to add his stats later. And I haven't gotten his official one-year portrait either, so yet another add-on. But I didn't want to let more time pass before posting about the big birthday.

The Boy

• He's getting a little picky and tossing things off the side of his high chair, but mostly he's still a good eater. He likes cole slaw, for example. I don't know why, but I think this is hilarious.
• He isn't crawling, but he is pretty good at pivoting around and rolling where he wants to go. He IS getting frustrated about NOT crawling though. Hopefully, that will help.
• He LOVES to stand. He gets especially tickled when he takes his hands off whatever was supporting him. We're all impressed Cutie :).
• He rarely gets the opportunity thanks to his over-involved big brother, but Beckett can sit and play or look at books for the longest time. I love watching him do this.
• He's been pretty funny at bathtime, wanting to do whatever Hamilton is doing. Hamilton got some scuba diver figures for Christmas, and Beckett was so determined to get one for himself. These are like "army men" style, so nothing too exciting, but if his big brother was playing with it, he wanted to as well.
• He's really finding his voice. And by "finding his voice," I mean he yells a lot. I guess this is what happens when you spend your first year with Hamilton and me.
• He is great at going to my gym's daycare, but once I come back, he's had enough and cries if I go out of sight. Kind of love this.
• Even with the yelling, he's still a sweetheart and we all adore him.
  

The Day

I had LASIK the day before (nice selfish planning, Mom), so we kept the day pretty low-key. While not at all exciting for us, Beckett got spoiled with napping on his own terms for a change (no pushing through errands, sleeping in the car seat, etc.). Karen, Adam, and Wesley came over for dinner and dessert to celebrate with us. Alex made the grown-ups steak with blue cheese butter, asparagus, salad, and garlic bread. Yum. I don't even remember what the boys ate for dinner! I'm terrible...

Of course, the big eating event wasn't dinner, it was dessert. I made vanilla cupcakes (recipe courtesy of Heidi) with chocolate frosting (pre-made...this is a big "no-no" for me, but Alex was wanting to be helpful---and he was).

Hamilton just poked at the mini 3-layer cake I made for him, so I was curious to see how my big eater would handle his first taste of dessert...

He dipped his fingers in the frosting a couple times...




And then went nuts, going in with both hands, making crazed grunting sounds, and ending with a dramatic, intense squeeze of the cupcake itself followed by his tossing it on the floor. So much for homemade over store bought, huh?


We also had party hats and a special onesie.


And presents, of course...most of which Hamilton has kindly offered to share with him.


Below is a short retrospective on Beckett's full first year. The music is the same song I always heard for my birthday. I obviously had a very cool dad.

Perspective

This may sound hypocritical/bipolar/whatever after my loving "potty training" posts, but Hamilton is driving me nuts. Too much energy, too few naps (although some...thank you Tootsie Roll bribes), too many glass shattering screams, way too much attention to Beckett, too little sleep for me, and so on. I keep expecting this intensity to die down, as ups and downs of parenting do, but it seems were stuck in "flow" with nary a glimpse at "ebb." My temper is getting shorter and my desire to chuck him out the window growing. Not a great place. However (and, luckily, there is usually...eventually...a "however" in the trenches of motherhood), I had a couple moments today that helped me see the bigger picture.

The Post Office

Really? A positive experience at the post office? Well, Hamilton was crazy, naturally. Running around, pulling out mailing supplies, and enjoying the possibilities a wall of greeting cards offers. Luckily, there were only a couple other people in there, and they happened to be mom veterans. So, rather than looking shocked and judgemental, they had knowing smiles. The woman in front of us kind of laughed, remembering "those days." Her son is now driving himself to swim practice. The other woman, a grandmother now, assured me that Hamilton and Beckett will be buds one day...it would seem like it happened magically over night. She also offered a "good for you" for electing to be a mom at all, not like many people who don't want to consider kids until their 40s. Sidenote: I especially liked that bit because it made me think she thought I was younger than I actually am.

A needed reminder that kids are actually pretty funny and do eventually grow up and that being a mom is worthwhile.

Car Conversations

A woman in the ward has been in the hospital the last couple days with her two and half year old son. They came home today, and I was bringing them dinner.

Hamilton: Where are we going?
Me: We have to go to the store, grab something from the house, and then take someone dinner.
Hamilton (crying): I just want to go to Hamilton's house!
Me: Well, a little boy in our ward has been sick, and I want to do something nice for him and his family.
Hamilton (concerned): Is it Kieran? Is Stockton sick?
Me: No, no. They're ok. The little boy's name is Hunter.
Hamilton: Oh.

After dropping dinner off, I get back into the car...

Hamilton: Does Hunter feel better now?
Me (heart squeezing): Yeah, I think that made his family feel a little better.
Hamilton: Is his family sick too?
Me: No, but sometimes when little kids are sick, mommies and daddies get tired and sad too.
Hamilton: How do kids get sick?
Me: [some germ talk tied into encouraging all the hand washing we're doing lately]
Hamilton: [begins a complicated "germ tale" from his past]

It's so easy to forget he's a little person when he's pushing every button I have. Conversations like this not only remind me of that, but also show me how much that mind of his is thinking and growing.

Love him.