Twelve Months!

Happy Twelve Month Birthday, Clayton Scott!

You are a whole year old now! Oh my goodness! Wasn't it just yesterday that we were welcoming you into this world and holding you in our arms for the first time? Mommy sure does remember it like it was just the other day! What a wonderful and joyous day that was!

You are quite the little toddler now. Gone are the days where you were immobile! You walk everywhere, and even try to run sometimes! You will still crawl if it is just between toys or if you are really trying to get somewhere fast! You do not need our assistance to walk anywhere, but sometimes you will let us hold your hand! You even navigate over thresholds and uneven surfaces pretty well! We love to watch you toddle around the house! It's pretty cute! You still hate shoes though so it's a struggle when you want to walk outside but we make you wear shoes! ;-) Your socks can't always be brown! haha! Mobility wise you can also bend down to pick things up and stand back up straight without touching the ground.

You have learned so many words and are so smart! This month you started to say "hello" and "tractor". Although they don't come out perfectly they are pretty good! You also always say "vroom-vroom" when you are driving things... anything with wheels makes that noise! ;-) Even though you don't say many words you know so many words! You know "bottle", "outside", "voom-voom", "potchi-potchi", "bath". All of these words must be spelled if it is not time for them or else we are in trouble! You have also learned to identify so many things. You can tell us where our eyes, ears, nose, mouth are, what the baby is in a picture, what the dog is in a picture, and who pop, gia, mama, dada, and nana are! Pop was pretty proud of himself because he taught you to pat him when he asked where Pop was! It's cute!

You have learned that your paci is only for naptime and you will THROW it when you wake up from your nap and we pick you up. However, if you see the paci laying around somewhere, like on the coffee table, you will still grab it and shove it in your mouth! Another fun "trick" you have is that you can blow your nose and wipe your mouth..... ok, you only halfway do it, but it's funny to watch you! We can hand you a tissue and you make a blowing noise with your mouth. And when we ask you to wipe your mouth you mostly dab it and then try to eat the napkin. hehe...

You finally learned how to clap this month, right before your 12 month birthday. Now you always clap and are proud of yourself. If we say "yay" you will immediately smile and start clapping! This month you also started to really show us when you were excited about things. You make the cutest giggling noise when you are super excited. For instance, when Pop asks you if you want to go ride on the "voom-voom" you giggle and go crazy! If we are at work then you know where the voom-voom is kept and will walk outside to it! Mommy asked you if you wanted to take a bath one day and you did the same thing - giggled and walked all the way into Mommy & Daddy's bathroom! You're so smart! No one lead you into there!

Your favorite toys are anything with wheels, especially tractors, anything with buttons, and anything that plays music. For your first birthday you received so many wonderful toys, almost all of which made noise! haha! You love playing with all things with wheels, and you know that the car will not roll if it is not on it's wheels. You will turn a car over until it is the right way and then push it along! One of your favorite buttons to push though was the computer power button at work! Oops! We had to keep you from turning our computers off and on, which made you quite mad!

You LOVE to be outside and cry if anyone opens the door and doesn't take you with them. Sometimes it makes life for Mommy & Daddy a little difficult because we can't always take you with us, and it's not always a nice day out! Spring in West Texas means that the weather changes nearly every day and it is almost always windy out. You don't mind the wind though!

Every month you take more of an interest in Pearl, your puppy. This month you really started to pet her when she was laying on the floor, and you'll even go up to her and snuggle her. It's so sweet! Plus, now you share with her! Oh, lucky us! You will share your food with her! She's a good puppy though and will take the food from your hands so gently. She also lets you pull up on her, pull her hair, whatever you want to do! We're glad that she is such a good dog and will be there to watch you grow!

We're still struggling with your food. You are so picky! You now love sweet things though, especially fruit loops! Mimi kept you over her Spring Break and gave you fruit loops in the mornings. You thought they were delicious! We can usually always get you to eat peas, grapes, chicken, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Sometimes you will eat pears, and you even eat asparagus. But for the rest of things.... nah!!!! You have a habit of putting things in your mouth then taking them back out, looking at it, and then shoving it back in! Guess you want to see what you're eating! One good thing is that you really like water and drink from a sippy cup with a straw really well. So, we're able to get water down ya! You still just prefer your bottle, which we have to start weaning you from now! Oh no!

You have 4 teeth on bottom and 3 teeth on top. Right before your 1 year birthday you began to get your 12 month molars. This made for some rough nights for Mommy & Daddy. Thankfully Nana came and was able to help us! Stinkin' teeth! Growth wise you weighed 21 pounds at the doctor's office and were 27 1/2" long. You were just under the 50th percentile growth curve for both height and weight. You still have a pretty tiny head though and are on the 25th percentile for that! You wear a size 12 month in all of your clothes now. It's convenient for Mommy that you are always the perfect size! =)

Your baby sister will be here soon and we can't wait to see if she is anything like you! We seriously doubt she can be, because you are just a special boy! You are so good and you have been such a huge blessing in our lives. We love you more than you'll ever know! You are our sweet baby boy!

Happy Birthday to our now toddler. We love you!

Love,
Mommy