Micah Owen, You are one year old!
We celebrated your birthday as a family at home with a "One Wild Year" theme. It felt like an incredibly accurate description of the past year. Not just making it through the first year with a baby, but making it through during a pandemic. Your first year of life has been so unlike any other. While it has been a hard year to be cut off from family and friends - we are so grateful to have this special time at home to be with you, to watch you grow and to slow down and take delight in what you are learning.
Micah once you started walking, you have not slowed down. You are picking up speed and trying to run. You now use walking as your mode for getting around, we rarely see you crawling. The weather is slowly starting to change and we have seen more days filled with sunshine. You have been loving getting outside and exploring the backyard with your brothers. You love swinging with mama and going down the slide. You are also very happy when we have bubbles outside.
As you have approached 12 months you have definitely been experiencing developmental leaps that can lead you to feeling moody and sometimes that feels unpredictable to mama and papa. One minute you might be happy and giggling and the next minute you are crying because you don't have a pacifier or no one is picking you up, or you see food that you want. It can make the days feel long, but after a good nap you're usually feeling better.
Micah, papa had the best idea to help you sleep at night. We bought lots of pacifiers and at night we give you one and sprinkle another four or five around your crib. Our hope is that if you wake in the middle of the night you don't have to reach far to find another pacifier. This method generally works well. We have noticed though that some nights you will have a night terror and need one of us to come into your room and hold you for a bit to calm down.
You continue to love bath time and at the end of a hard day, this is one way to end the night on a good note. You especially love taking baths with your brothers. You are fearless with pushing them around or splashing them in the water.
Micah you have had some constants when it comes to your favorite foods. You love yogurt, bananas, oatmeal, pea crisps. You have mastered the sign for 'all done' but you are very stubborn with using it. We are hoping you will keep working on learning a few more signs to communicate with us.
Some other cute things you are up to these days: giving open mouth slobbery kisses, sticking your tongue out when you see yourself in a mirror or when the camera is in selfie mode, and throwing your whole body into dancing to music.
We are so excited to watch you grow and see what you learn to do next. We think in the next few months you are looking forward to celebrating Easter and taking a family trip to the Oregon Coast.
Here are a few photos from your 12th month.
