Griff Turns 1

My baby turned ONE a week and a half ago.  I can't even believe it!  The past year just flew by.  It seems like he was just born and I seriously don't know how it's been a year.  I'm amazed at how much faster it went this time around.  Beckett's first year didn't seem fast or slow.  It just seemed normal.  I was anticipating every little thing he did.  Every week mark, every month mark, every smile, roll, tooth, crawl, stand.  I just waited for every milestone to come.  With Griff, I feel like they just passed by before I had a chance to wait for it.  All of sudden he had a tooth.  All of a sudden he was crawling.  It just went by in the blink of an eye.

Over the first 11 months of Griff's life, I thought I was getting his personality figured out.  I thought he was going to be the calm, laid back one.  I was kind of excited about that because as my sister said, Beckett seems to always have a party going on in his head.  He's loud, fun and crazy.  I was excited by the idea of a calm second one.  Well, Griffin is either discovering his own personality now or he's learning from Beckett.  His days of observation are over.  He wants everything Beckett has and he wants to play with everything Beckett plays with.  I feel like most of my days are spent policing and reminding Beckett that his head isn't a weapon.  He just puts his head down and plows it into Griff whenever Griff takes his toys or trains. (And let's be honest, we all know that Beckett has a huge head, so it obviously hurts) Griff has learned head butting well and will do the same thing to Beckett now.  They play well together sometimes, but often it's a struggle.  He also has a screech that can make your ears bleed.  If he wants something or he's mad about something, you'll know it.

Overall though, he is still such a sweet, happy baby.  He makes the silliest facial expressions and has the sweetest smile and laugh. Griff has 8 teeth, soft curly hair and big hazel puppy dog eyes that will melt anyones heart. The only animal sound he knows right now is that a sheep says baaa. He mimics and imitates pretty much any word or sound you say but he only uses a few words in context. They are ball, cheese (when you take a picture), uh-oh, ball, da (dad), book, ball, bye, done, amen, and did I mention ball?  He is obsessed with balls and can spot one from a mile away.  Going to the grocery store is not so fun with a 1 year old obsessed with balls.  Our conversation goes about like this.

G: ball (with arms outstretched)

Me: No, that's an orange.

G:ball (with arms outstretched)

Me: No, those are limes.

G:ball (with arms outstretched)

Me: No, those are tomatoes, onions, watermelon, cantaloupe, etc, etc, etc.  

You get the picture.  The kid LOVES balls. He is also obsessed with water bottles and shoes.  He is a pretty picky eater and sometimes it's tricky finding something he'll eat.  That's 100% opposite of Beckett.  Some days are better than others, but some of the reliable foods he eats are cheerios, yogurt, crackers, applesauce, chicken, fish (except for the last time we ate it) and watermelon.  That kid takes after me with his love for watermelon.  Once he sees watermelon, you can forget trying to feed him anything else.  That's all he'll have anything to do with. 

He loves watching his big brother and he wants to do everything like him.  He laughs at everything, loves to dance, be tickled, and thrown in the air. He's not super snuggly but he will give hugs and an occasional kiss if you're lucky.  He will blow kisses too and when he does, he always makes the sound, mmwwaahh, as he does it.  Not sure if that makes sense to anyone reading this, but I mostly want to remember how he does it. He's been standing on his own for close to a month now.  It was really funny the way he did it.  I feel like most kids will be holding onto something and then let go.  Not Griff.  He just all of a sudden stood up one day. He was sitting and then he was standing. By the next day he could stand for 5-10 seconds at a time.  I thought he would start walking soon, but he still hasn't even taken a step.  He'll walk if you hold his hands or if he's holding on to something, but other than that, he'll stand for a long time and then when he wants to move, he falls down and starts crawling. 

 This is a classic Griff face. When he is happy and excited, he closes his eyes like this.

At his 12 month check up he weighed in at almost 24 pounds (75%, about 2.5 lbs less that B at this point). He's 30.5 inches (75%) and head circumference is 18.9 in (90%).  He loves his sunglasses and they'll keep him entertained for about 5 whole mins.

I feel so humbled to be the mom of such a sweet little boy.  He makes me laugh, cry, smile, worry, and do anything silly to hear that giggle. I'm so thankful I have 2 boys that are healthy and strong. They are the light of my life and teach me so many things on a daily basis.  

Happy Birthday sweet Griffin. You make every day better by being in our lives. I can't wait to see what the next year holds for you.