Landon: Our 1 Year Old

Photos taken by Bethany Cook, Set in Time Photography

More to come!

Earlier this week I took Landon in for his 1 year checkup. The doctor said he is healthy, growing well, and developing normally. He weighed in at 20 lbs 2 oz and his height was 29.5 inches. He's on the smaller side, but the doctor said that his growth patterns look great.

He really likes feeding himself so I've been giving him a lot more of what we eat, just ripping it into small pieces. Sometimes he surprises me with how much he eats. Then other days, he just isn't all that interested. It's funny. He likes spicy foods and he adores yogurt. I'm in the process of weaning him from breastfeeding. Yesterday I cut out the last middle of the day nursing, so now I'm just down to a morning and an evening nursing session. It feels weird going that long without nursing! But he seems to be handling the transition just fine. It's hard for me to imagine the day when I won't nurse him at all. Hard to believe it's just around the corner. I'm going to miss that special bonding time that we get each day. I'll just have to find other ways to get it.

He still takes two naps a day and most of the time he sleeps great at night now. It was rough when his top front tooth was coming through, and then again when he was sick last week. But when he's feeling good and is well rested he sleeps well. Now if only I could get myself to go to bed early enough to feel well rested! (He gave me a few weeks where he slept in until 7:30 or 8:00 am, so I got out of the habit of going to bed early. Lately his wakeup time has been more like 6:15-6:45 am, regardless of what time I put him to bed. Actually when I put him to bed later he wakes up at 6 am! I don't get it. So I just put him to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 pm so I can have a breather in the evenings.)

Landon's been army crawling for the last couple of months. He's gotten really good at it. Just the last couple of weeks he's been starting to try a little regular crawling. Each day he does it a little bit more. So I made sure to take one last video clip of his cute army crawl before he stops doing it. That's what is posted below. He's also become very proficient at pulling himself up to standing over the last couple of weeks. It's made it harder to get him to go to sleep because I lay him down and then he just pops right back up again. Last week when he discovered how much fun this new trick is, he took like 30-40 minutes to fall asleep for his naps for a couple of days while it usually takes him 10. But slowly the novelty of it seems to be wearing off so he's starting to fall asleep more quickly. I have to admit, he looks pretty cute standing there with a big grin, so proud of himself. Oh and now he is cruising along furniture, too. It seems like everything has just clicked recently for him with his gross motor skills. It's been fun to watch this whole learning process.

Did I mention that he is a super busy body and into anything and everything he can get his hands on? Sometimes I feel like my hands are tied when I'm trying to get anything done with this kiddo around. I didn't know how easy I had it for his first 9 months of life! I will definitely appreciate immobility a bit more with the next babe:)

My heart just melts when this little boy says anything that sounds close to "mom". It's usually something like, "mamamum". I'll take it! It seems like he's been saying "yeah" and "no", but it's hard to tell if he means anything or if he just likes the sounds.

I just love this little man to pieces. I can't imagine my world without him. His laugh just makes me so happy I want to cry! He has brought a whole new sense of purpose into my life. What a precious gift we've been given. I've learned so much about life and about myself as I've cared for him this past year. I'm sure he's going to teach me much more in the years to come!