my one year old

This morning, with a bemused smile on my face, I watched as Riggs explored the house in his usual way, picking things up to look at them, then throwing them thoughtlessly as he moved onto the next item of interest.  Sometimes he would stop and look back at what he had thrown, thinking hard before crawling over to it and snatching it back up again, apparently having decided he did actually rather like whatever it was he had so carelessly discarded.  As I watched, I thought about what a cheeky toddler he is turning out to be. It was at that moment I realized, with a pang of guilt, that I had forgotten to write a post all about Riggs as a 12 month old, as I had promptly written and posted every other month of his little life.

So now here I am thinking about all the bits and pieces that make up my little one year old.  At this very moment, he is sitting in my lap in a rare moment of stillness that his first real cold has brought about.  It is so sad to hear him struggle a little for breath and to cough so pitifully, but there is a small little part of me that has enjoyed these last few days just a bit, because he has been so cuddly and apt to crawl over and just rest his little (well, actually, it's rather large) head on my lap for a moment before continuing on in whatever mischief he is involved in.

As far as milestones go, there isn't really anything new to report.  He loves crawling around and does not seem inclined at all to even think about trying to walk.  The funny thing is that I know he could at least stand without holding onto anything, as I have seen him unconsciously do so when standing next to the couch many times, but he does not try to stand when there is not something to pull up on, and if you stand him up manually, he will promptly drop down to his knees and crawl away impatiently. I'm not sad at all, to be honest, as cute as it will be to see him take his first steps.  It's quite a bit of work as it is keeping an eye on him as he crawls around.

Here are ten things I want to remember about twelve month old Riggs:

1| He has the most endearing way of calling Steve 'dad-n', which just thrills Steve to death.  It is pretty cute.
2| Speaking of words, he talks to himself nearly all the time now and will 'speak' quite earnestly to us in his personal form of gibberish when he is really passionate about something.  For example, he will often stop what he is doing and crawl over to one of us, then pull himself up to stand and hand us (quite forcefully) some token that he has been playing with, raising his eyebrows and saying 'ah!', then dropping down to his knees and crawling a way with a mischievous little smirk.
3| He just started signing 'more' when he wants more of whatever it is he's eating.  Although sometimes, he just wants more so that he can feed it to the dogs.
4| He has really started saying 'mama' when he actually needs/wants me, and it is so sweet that I smile every time I hear it, even when he is being quite whiny and unnecessarily pathetic.
5| Just yesterday when he was crawling in the snowy driveway, he discovered his first rock (the first of what I can only imagine will be a long line of interesting - to him, that is - rocks).  He kept it in his mittened hand as he crawled around outside, and then brought it in to share with Tutka.
6| His favorite food is still definitely soup, he just loves the stuff!  We have been eating soup about 3-4 nights a week and I'm glad that Steve and I aren't sick of it yet, as it makes it so easy to feed Riggs and for us all to get lots of healthy veggies too.
7| Books are still very interesting to Riggs, and he loves to point to things on the pages, like dogs and babies and the sun and clouds in the sky.  He will sit the most still and listen the longest when Steve reads to him, which does make me a little jealous.
8| He still bites everything, so if that cute little face gets too near, we have to be very careful of those eight sharp teeth!
9| He is starting to play with toys 'the right way' now, and can actually match up the shapes to their corresponding slot in the shape sifter toy and can pound the 'nails' like the most skilled of carpenters on his little wooden pound-a-peg toy.
10| He loves music, especially Celtic music or folk music.  It is so cute to look over and see him bobbing his head to the fiddle or flute.

His hasn't grown so very much over the last month, at least not on paper.  He only gained 14 oz and about an eighth of an inch in the last month, which puts him at 22 lbs 2oz (41%) and 31 inches long (86%).  But his dimensions have changed enough that he has completely outgrown his 6-12 month clothes and is solidly in 12-18 month clothes, although many of them are still a little baggy on him.  We use cloth diapers at home, but I keep disposables on hand for leaving the house and when I'm feeling lazy, and when I went to buy the last box of them, I had to upgrade to size 4!

Here is a little letter I wrote down for him in his baby book, as the last entry in that journal, which only has space for the changes he went through from birth to twelve months old.

Our Dear Little Riggs,

Where to start?  We love you so, so very much.  You have completely changed our lives and we can't believe how blessed we are to be your mama and daddy.  Today you are one year old, and I can't believe how much you have grown and changed.  You have turned the corner into toddlerhood, and are so busy every single moment that you are not asleep.  You are quick to smile and laugh and you just light up any room you are in.

I hope you will always know how much we love and cherish you, and how happy we are to have you as our son.  No matter where you go or what you do, I hope you feel our love and keep a little bit of home in your heart.

xoxo, 
Mama and Daddy