One

Dear Cole,

Today you are one year old.  I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by!  You are still our happy little guy...most of the time.  You definitely let us know if there's something you don't like.  We hear lots of angry grunts at the table when you're out of food or when you don't think you have enough food on your tray.

You have this sweet shy face that we see every once in a while.  You smile, bury your head in our shoulders and look up at the new face.  It's so sweet!

Likes- You LOVE books right now.  You love to read in the car, while I change your diaper or get your dressed, and you especially love to dump all the books in our baskets out and look through them all.  You still love to watch, follow, or "play" with your brother.  Sometimes he puts up with you and sometimes not...depending on his mood.  You love being tossed these days.  You laugh out loud and squeal as soon as you fall into Daddy's arms.

Dislikes- Running out of food- or thinking that you might.  The other day you had a mouth full of food, food in both hands and food on your tray and you were still screaming for more.  You are also starting to have more of a voice when it comes to your brother taking your toys away from you.

Eating- You love bread, pasta, crackers, and cheese- so much so that we have to hide all of it until you've eaten your fruit.  You also love carrots and green beans.  You will eat pretty much anything we give you as long as it's in the right order.  ;)  You seem to be a pickier eater than Levi was at this age.  There isn't much that you don't like, but from day to day your tastes change.  One day you'll love avocado, and the next day you won't eat it.  It's still so funny to me to see your face when you don't want something.  If you do accidentally put something you don't want in your mouth, you open your mouth, stick out your tongue and wait for it to fall out all while making this silly face.

Playing-  You love most of the toys we have for you, but right now, you're most interested in exploring things around our house- the dishwasher, bookshelves, and the dog food...ugh!  If the dog bowl is within your reach, you head straight for it, and you usually put the food right into in your mouth.  You got a few new toys for your birthday that you are really enjoying (and so is your brother!)

This morning I finally saw you hold your own with Levi.  He was trying to take your new phone away from you, and you started grunting and trying to hide the toy behind you!  You've recently figured out how to shake your head 'no'.  You sit in your car seat or high chair and shake your head back and forth.  You are becoming more vocal with lots of new sounds, but the only word we really hear is "Da da"

Sleeping- At home you're still taking 2 good naps, but it sounds like you might be trying to drop that morning nap.  I'm going to fight that a little while longer, but we'll see.  At night you still sleep about 11 hours.

We love you, ONE YEAR OLD!