One Year

Poor Asher had his 12-month check-up, and therefore 5 shots, on his first birthday. I know, not very good planning on my part. But he was a tough kid, as usual, and stopped crying by the time the last band-aid was on. He is now 29 inches tall (25th%) and 20 pounds 10 ounces (20th%) with a head circumference of 18.75 inches (80th%).

Asher has no interest in walking yet. He recently realized that he can stand on his own without holding onto something, and he's pretty proud of himself. He will crawl to a piece of furniture or someone's leg, pull himself up, and then pull his hands back and just grin. It's pretty cute.

Earlier in the week Riley bundled up and went out back to dig in the snow with her sand toys. Asher stood at the back window watching her, occasionally hitting the window and yelling. It was obvious that he wanted to be out there with her. It made me happy to think that by the time it's warm enough here to let him play out there too, he'll be walking, and maybe even running!

He is saying a few words now: mama, daddy, baby, book, balloon ("boon"), uh-oh, and more. He has also said Riley's name three times over the past month. (Yes, I am counting. I think his "Why-ee" is adorable and really wish he'd say it more.) He is very good at pointing and grunting when he wants something. And so far he can sign more, thank you, please, eat, and all done. And from this photo you can see he also knows "touchdown!" I'm not sure if that counts as a sign, though.

Some of his favorite things are looking at books, emptying drawers, and feeding himself. He's pretty good about getting a spoon into his mouth, especially when it's got something on there that he is excited to eat.

His social skills are also developing rapidly. Yesterday he and Riley played chase around the kitchen table. She altered the game to accomodate the fact that her running is so much faster than his crawling. She would do laps around the kitchen table and squeal every time she was visible to him. He just crawled back and forth along one (narrow) side of the table, from corner to corner, and giggle every time she squealed.