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.