silly bud

my baby turns 1!!

we celebrated william's 1st birthday august 23, en route to utah. we stopped over in aberdeen, idaho to visit cousins and i was able to locate a cake mix and frosting. i whipped up a really boring cake and because we didn't have a candle we used a match for william to blow out. as you can see, he wasn't too excited about blowing out the match. i don't blame him! our little bud(which has become his official nickname) has grown leaps and bounds this year. it would be difficult to highlight all of his accomplishments.
today, i put will on my lap and we watched home videos of him during his first year. it was priceless as he would point and say dada(which has two meanings, dad and baby), laugh and smile at himself. it was fun to be reminded of how he has changed over the year.

some silly things our bud likes or does:

1. he loves to suck his thumb. a terrible habit, but one that is difficult to make an infant break. not only does he like to suck his thumb, but he likes to hold onto skin while doing it. and not just any skin but family members' tummy skin. he will crawl around and find a shirt to lift, lift it, stick his thumb in his mouth, grab hold of your tummy skin and lay his head down and suck. it is hilarious, except when you are walking through walmart and all the kid wants to do is lift your shirt, hold the skin and suck and you are trying to fight him off and he won't stop screaming at you to let him have a little tummy skin!! incredibly embarrassing and frustrating!

2. will loves to dance. he has a very unique way of dancing too. he puts his hands together in front of himself, as to be praying and then he wiggles them up and down like a snake. he has added other moves, such as the shaking his bum back and forth and shaking his head back and forth as well. it is really fun to watch.

3. he just started to walk this past week. he has been taking a few steps here and there over the past few weeks but finally he has realized that he can move from one piece of furniture to the other without crawling. it is super exciting.

4. he EATS A LOT!! i am not kidding. this kid eats like 20 meals a day. it drives me nuts. he can sign "more" and so he will follow me around signing more so i will get him some food. i try to avoid the kitchen so he won't think he needs to eat. i will often find him sitting on the floor among some food he has found in the cupboards munching away. i can't tell you how tired i am from vacuuming up food all over the floors. (his favorite food, is not chocolate but rather fruit.)


5. william loves to be outside. he loves to crawl around and find leaves or rocks and throw them. he thinks he is so cool.

6. william is very vocal. he not only says a bunch of words including, car, truck, this, that, dad, mom, baby, moo, horse sounds, pig sounds and dog but he LOVES to scream, whine and cry.

7. this kid definitely knows what he wants and when he wants something he wants it now! luckily, he is still young enough to distract. however, he doesn't give up easily! he will scream, hit, kick and cry to get what he wants. he is definitely 1!

8. recently william has learned he can climb off things. he has learned to scoot to the edge of the bed, table or step and put his feet over the edge and just let go or slowly scoot backwards. he will always look for someone to approve of this great event with a high five or smile!

9. william loves to throw things, put lids on/off containers, dump food or toys, crawl on top of things, pull books off shelves, get in the fridge and find food to munch on, play hide and seek tag, wrestle, take baths, play on the piano, push toys around, go on walks and find dogs to pet, listen to music and ride in shopping carts(he has realized recently that he can climb out of strollers/carts if he isn't buckled in, a fact i feel i need to remind my sweet knuckleheaded husband of).

10. william loves his brother and sisters. he is aware of the fact that they leave him every morning. when i drop them off at school, he immediately starts to cry and tries to climb out of his seat. it is so sad and sweet.

we love you william. happy 1st birthday!