Dearest Grayson,
Yesterday we celebrated your first birthday. One whole year with you as a part of our family. How quickly the time has gone. It is very surreal to think back to a little over a year ago and realize that you were not with us yet. To think about how much our lives have changed because you are a part of us. You are such an important part of our family and I can hardly imagine a time when you were not here. You remind me so much of your daddy. Your sweet, easy-going personality. Your precious smile and that adorable giggle.
We are going to have to combine this with your 11 month post, since I haven't had a chance to post that yet. Bad mommy. We have been busy, so hopefully you will forgive me. Your 11th month start out with a bang. Literally and figuratively. You got tubes in your ears at the beginning of the year. You had basically had an ear infection from Labor Day until the time your tubes were put in, so it was definitely time. That and the fact that you failed your booth hearing test so bad that they had to do a special nerve conduction hearing test called an AER while you were under anethesia. Luckily you passed that with flying colors and we definitely think you are hearing better now that you have your tubes in. You still aren't saying any words yet, but you can say the ba, da, ga sound. You also are GREAT at imitating. If I make a clicking sound with my tongue, you will smile really big and start clicking with your tongue. This one is your daddy's favorite. If he blows raspberries with his lips you will immediately follow suit. The funny part of this is that you can be half way across the house and daddy will motorboat his lips and you will hear him do it and start to repeat it. Such a smart boy!
I digress though. The reason I mention that you started off your year was a bang, was because you also go to experience your first time with stitches. That's right. Stitches before you were even a year old. The whole family was in the playroom and we were all conducting a rousing rendition of the Nutcracker suite with your older brother. You were standing at the bookshelf yanking all of the books the shelf, your favorite pass time, and you slipped and hit your eyebrow right on the sharp edge of the bookshelf. Needless to say, you split it right open and the blood started gushing. We took you to the emergency room and you got three stitches right above your eyebrow. You were the bravest little baby and you did not even shed a single tear the entire procedure. Everyone was so impressed. So now you have a little red scar above your eyebrow that gives you some definite street cred.
When I mentioned that you were pulling things off the shelf when you busted your eyebrow, I should also mention that one of your nicknames is Captain Destructo. You can tear a room up faster than you can say Grayson stop it. You love pulling things off shelves, dumping baskets over, and generally wreaking havoc. You are like a stealth bomber. You are very quiet and very fast and you are into EVERYTHING! You love dipping your hands in the toilet, regardless of whether your brother has remembered to flush or not. You can unwind a roll of toilet paper faster than anyone I have ever seen. You love to play in the pantry and tear things up. Your favorite thing to do, much to your daddy's chagrin, is push all of the buttons on his tv equipment and remotes.
You are an expert crawler and started taking your first steps a few weeks before your first birthday. You certainly aren't walking full-time by any means, but you can take four to five steps in a row. You love to play and are way more into toys then your brother ever was/is. You are a great independent player and you can entertain yourself very, very well. You love your brother and it is cute to see the two of you together. Perron is VERY big into tackling you which you tolerate pretty well right now, but I keep warning Perron that it won't be long before you are bigger than him. At your one year check-up yesterday, you weighed 22 lbs 11 ozs (50th percentile) and were 30 inches tall (55th percentile). You wear a size 5 diaper and you wear size 12-18 month clothes. You just got your first big boy pair of tennis shoes and you are wearing a size five shoe. So big! You have four top teeth and two bottom teeth, with one more on the way very soon. You sleep through the night, but have gone through a stretch where you are waking up way to early.
You got RSV for the first time since your hospitalization. You handled it really well. It was a really difficult time because mommy got appendicitis and had to have her appendix out. Add to that, both you and your brother having RSV, with your brother's case being pretty severe, and it has made for some very difficult couple of weeks. Luckily we are all on the mend and you only have a residual cough.
This first year milestone has been a little hard on mommy. I am very aware that a lot of these milestones we are celebrating with you will be the last time they are celebrated in our house. It just feels like it is going by way to fast. With each day that passes, I realize that the baby phase is slipping a little further away. That is a bit of a tough pill to swallow. However, we are so proud of the little boy you are becoming. I know that your sweet disposition will serve you well in life and I can not wait to see you grow and change over this next year. While I might miss certain parts of the baby phase, I know there are so many exciting things for you just around the corner.
You are a light and a gift to this family. Our lives forever changes on the day that you were born and we would not have it any other way!
Mommy and Daddy
