twelve months checkup

Weight: 25.5 lbs
Height: 31 inches
75th percentile

first birthday

Looking back. We celebrated Elijah's first birthday yesterday. It seems like it was just yesterday that we came home from the hospital with a tiny baby in our arms, whose tender skin was irritated by the diaper and was slightly bleeding, so we let him go without a diaper for an hour and he pooped on me. We thought his cries were so loud that we took him out of the bedroom and sat in the living room so as to not wake up the neighbors above us. Little did we know that those cries were nothing compared to the glass-shaking screams he would be capable of a year later.


Off to a good start. I thought we'd take him to have a professional picture taken, but he fell even before breakfast and ended up with a huge red mark under his eye, so a trip to a professional photographer had to be postponed till the bruise heals.

Gifts. After breakfast we opened gifts. He caught on pretty quickly. A couple of times he tried to eat the wrapping paper, but Daddy took it away promptly.


The box in the video contained clothes, which he threw over his shoulder and proceeded to play with the box :)

(Cup)cake


We debated for a while whether to give him cake on his birthday. He wouldn't have known any better, and he probably didn't need the sugar rush. Plus, we didn't want him to know that cake existed. After all, we are trying to train the young taste buds to like the things that are good for him (it's going well so far - he prefers vegetables to pretty much anything except cheese, with broccoli and green beans being all time favorites). We felt there was no reason for him to know that cottage cheese is different from ice cream and wheat bread is not the same thing as chocolate cake. But in the end we (ok, I) broke down and gave him a carrot cake cupcake. To say that he loved it would be a gross understatement.



He had the cupcake after his second nap a couple of hours before dinner. He still ate pretty well at dinner, but once in a while he'd start screaming. The same thing happened today at breakfast. We think he remembers the cupcake and is wondering why he can't have that instead of the Malt-O-Meal. Sorry, Bud, but your next cupcake is at least a year away, and then only maybe. :)

first steps

At almost one Elijah is almost walking. And he has a little attitude :)



Also, I've been experimenting with two video sites: YouTube and vSocial. Although YouTube is by far better known than vSocial, and has been recently acquired by Google, my vote goes to vSocial. The quality of my videos is much better there, and audio doesn't have an annoying delay the way it does on YouTube.

three more teeth

So far Elijah has gotten by with 5 teeth: two front ones on the top and three on the bottom. After several weeks of heavy drooling and a couple days of fever about two weeks ago, he has something to show for all this struggle. A fourth bottom tooth cut through recently and was discovered today by Daddy's hawk eye. Two more on the top are clearly on their way. So now he'll have a complete set of eight teeth: four on the top and four on the bottom. Meanwhile we shy away from him when he approaches our legs with an open mouth - he is biting on anyone and anything he can get a hold of.

grandma's little helper

Elijah's first Thanksgiving (outside of the womb) was marked by a trip to Arizona to visit Grandma Shannon. It was in the 80's outside, so we took walks, watched Cody (the dog) fetch a stick (Elijah loves dogs, but is, unfortunately, allergic to them), explored kitchen cupboards, and had all kinds of fun with brand new toys. Mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans were his favorite at Thanksgiving dinner. And since we don't have a dishwasher at home, Elijah closely examined grandma's.

Elijah's Christmas 2006 list

OK, this is Elijah's Christmas list, which can also be used as his birthday list. However, it doesn't have to be used at all. Since Elijah can't type yet (he is learning typing next month), I typed it up for him. The list will be periodically updated as needed.

1. Discovery toys (he already has the cups called "Measure Up", an earlier version of "Hammer Away," and "Stacktivities")
2. Books (by Sandra Boynton (he already has Moo, Baa, La-La-La), or from this list, or from this list, or any other of you favorite baby board books, or books in Russian).
3. Dinosaur, Dalmatian, Teddy Bear, or plain hooded towels
4. A bouncy ball 4-6 inches in diameter. He has a large one and likes to play with it, but it's a little too big for him and hard to hold on to.
5. HotWheels cars, or any other cars that are small enough for little hands.
6. Diapers (Pampers Cruisers size 4)