Andy-Roo Update

Roo turned 1 on November 28. We made a cake and even got to hang out with Grammy and some neighbors, and with Nan and Aunt K over the computer! Roo has been taking some spins around the neighborhood in his new big-boy Radio Flyer wagon from Daddy, and he cruises around the house behind his "bike" from grammy (a push toy for toddlers).

Roo isn't walking quite yet, but he can stand on his own for a few seconds at a time, when he feels like it. He'll walk when he's darn good and ready, and I'm fine with that (in fact, there's some evidence that suggests that babies who crawl longer have higher IQs later in life...something about using opposing arm/leg movements and how it helps the 2 halves of the brain work together...). He's happy, healthy (knock on wood) and getting quite vocal. He can reliably sign "more" and "dog," and he's working on "kitty." He can say "Dada," but for some reason I'm "Baba." He actuallly can say "Mama," but I guess he prefers the letter "B." I think it's adorable.

He loves the song "If You're Happy and You Know It," and he'll actually clap his hands or stomp his feet in response to the song and your actions. If you say "Peekaboo," he'll cover up his eyes with his hands. If you ask him where his belly is, he'll point to it, but if you ask him where is nose is, he'll point to yours. I think because he can't see it, he doesn't realize that he actually has a nose of his own!

He is an ebullient, flirty baby who loves being around people. In fact, sometimes it's a challenge finding a way to put him down for a few minutes. This evening, though, he contented himself with playing with some spare (clean) oven racks on the kitchen floor while I put his school dishes in the sink to soak and prepared supper. It's nice now that he doesn't scream each and every time we turn our backs for more than 5 seconds.

He's in a phase wherein he hates having his diaper changed, but screeches this loud, fake screech in protest. It's not his "hurt" cry. It's interesting -- he's getting to the point when he knows what he wants, anticipates getting it...and is VERY unhappy when he doesn't end up getting it! I guess they would call that "getting a personality," which is actually kind of exciting.

We gave up bottles just after his first birthday. He still nurses first thing in the morning and right before bed, and anytime he wants to when we're together, but otherwise when he's at school or it's daytime on weekends, it's sippy-cup only (organic whole cow's milk).* Woo hoo -- no more scrubbing and sterilizing nipples! More about Roo's diet and nutrition in another post...

At his one-year checkup, Roo weighed 25 pounds, 7.5 ounces and was 30.5 inches long. He's 50th-75th percentile for height, 75th-90th for weight, and 50th for head circumference. He amused the nurses with big belly-laughs when I blew raspberries on his tummy -- in fact, they told me he was the first happy baby they'd had all day. The poor things -- it was 4:00 p.m.!

Roo loves books. He'll actually say "Buhh" when picking up a book in the nursery in the morning or at night. This is not to be confused with "Booff," which is what he says when you ask him what the dog says. Then again, if you ask him what a kitty says, or what a cow says, or what a sheep says, the answer will invariably be "Boofff." I tell you, this kid loves the letter "B." And dogs, apparently.

He likes to point at things, especially lights, and it being Christmas, it's a good season for it. Every morning as we're leaving the nursery and I'm carrying him on my hip, I ask him to help Mommy by turning off the light switch. He knows he's supposed to touch it, but he hasn't quite mastered the concept of actually turning it off. All in good time, I suppose. I can imagine at some point, after trying to get him to give up turning the switch on and off for the 1,000th time, rueing the day I ever taught him what a light switch does...

When Andy-Roo smiles, it lights up his whole face. And the whole room. And our hearts. We are so lucky!

*Clarification: Roo still gets a bottle at night if he's being put to bed by someone other than Mommy (i.e. Daddy or a babysitter). I'm OK with it. He gets the bottle while being snuggled and rocked in the rocking chair; he's never ever taken a bottle to bed in the crib.