Bye Bye Baby... Hello Toddler!

Yesterday we celebrated Tag's first birthday, and I've got a bad case of nostalgia. I've been looking at old pictures of Tag, and I'm fascinated at how much he's changed. Since January he has learned to eat solid foods (6 months), to crawl (7 months), to pull up and crawl up stairs(9 months), to walk (10 months), and now at his first birthday he eats most of his food on his own with his 8 hard earned teeth, he drinks water out of any sippy cup we give him, and he marches around the house like he owns the place getting into everything dangerous that is humanly possible (heavy books, electrical chords, laptops, animal foods, etc.). He's officially a TODDLER.

Tag plays well with Durham, and she tolerates him well. He likes to slap her and pull her tail, but Durham hardly seems phased. He enjoys Yo Gabba Gabba and his sign language DVD (but he doesn't use any sign language, HA!). He plays contently in his pack n play for about 10-20 minutes at a time. He loves books and the new favorite seems to be "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?" At church, he is still learning to play gently with others, and he's getting better every week. I'm not sure if this is every baby, or just Tag but he almost always has to be holding something in both hands. it's like it helps him balance or something. Even when he was crawling, he would almost skate around on the toys in his hands as he pushed along with his knees. I like to think he's going to be a good multi-tasker.

We're still putting Tag to bed at 8pm and he wakes up between 6-7 am. His naps are mostly still between 1.5-2 hours long, though every now and again he'll wake up at 45 minutes, and we'll try to rock him back to sleep. He's so tired most of the time, that he's glad when we put him in his crib. What a relief! I remember at 6 months thinking that day would never come! Most nights, he rolls right into his comfortable spot and goes on to sleep as he listens to his sound machine. He doesn't seem to have a favorite toy or stuffed animal, despite our best efforts to get him to like this cute sting ray in his crib. He learned to clap just this weekend, but his wave is still a bit sketchy.

We celebrated Tag's actual birthday as a family. B and I took the day off from work, and we went to the NC Zoo. It was terrific! Tag napped on the way down, enjoyed all of Africa, napped during most of North America and seemed to have a fun day all things considered. We didn't feel the infamous "earth quake", though. We got back just in time for his first haircut appointment (separate post about that), dinner and then an early bed time for all! This weekend we'll have a birthday party for Tag at my parents house. It's a mostly family affair, and we're excited to see everyone. I'm personally excited to eat birthday cake and see Tag eat it. I have this sneaky feeling he won't get much of a second nap in after all that sugar.

Here are a few pictures of the Birthday Boy himself:

Tag at his first well baby check up--5 days old.

Tag on his first birthday at the zoo!

Tag with Daddy.

Tag checking out the Gorillas

Tag and Mommy visiting the elephants

This has truly been a wonderful year. It's crazy how quickly we went from having a newborn to having a toddler, but we're thankful for every second of it. God has blessed us immensely with this little boy. He's perfectly and uniquely what God knew we needed. Tag challenges us daily but also brings us more earthly joy than either of us have ever known. I still can't decide if every mother feels as strongly as I do for my son, and this is just what loving a child is really like, or if I'm extra blessed with this special gift? Either way, I don't deserve him. But as long as God entrusts him to me, I will enjoy every single second!

Upon becoming a mother to this precious child, I have seen the world in such a new light. I feel like now I actually can concieve how God sacrificing his only son is the ultimate show of love to Christians. I can't imagine sacrificing my son for anyone. And, this just further proves to me my own depravity, God's pure goodness, and how much I need God.