Updates

As promised, here's the (slightly belated) update after Theodore's one year checkup and birthday party.

Enjoying his cake!

The birthday party was a lot of fun. Grandma Eileen was here, and Dana, Cindy, Igor, and Sasha all came by. Theodore enjoyed being the center of attention! We BBQed and then had a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing that I made from scratch. Theodore was unfortunately tired by the time we did the cake so it wasn't a huge hit, but he did find it tasty! The picture above is as messy as he got. He doesn't like to self-feed so his mess was mostly all the cake he threw on the floor!

Grandma Eileen was here for three days, which was a lovely visit. Unfortunately Theodore caught a cold - his first! - and wasn't at his best, especially at night as he would cough, and throw up, and be very stuffy, but he really enjoyed her company and after sleeping a bit better he perked up and enjoyed playing with her very much. I also caught that cold so we were a bit of a sick household for a while. Thankfully we're all feeling better now, as Theodore being sick was very hard on everyone.

His one year checkup went very well. We have a new pediatrician and I was very pleased with her and her office. Theodore weighed in at 17 lbs, 12 oz, and 28". He's definitely still on the small side but the doctor was not worried. We are working hard to get him eating, and he's been steadily improving, so that's good! He is also still nursing so thankfully gets lots of nutrition from breast milk, even when he's not very interested in solids.

We did discuss Theodore's speech and gross motor skills (she was impressed with his fine motor skills - no problems there - as he was tearing tiny pieces of paper off the table when she came in!) We decided to be proactive and have started the intake process with the state Early Start program. I'm excited for this to get started and to hopefully learn new ways to help him learn! He does seem to improve every day, however. He can now scoot very fast - especially when he tries to catch the cat! - and just in the last few days he learned and then fully mastered how to sit up from a lying down position, a milestone we'd been concerned that he'd missed. This does mean that when I put him down for a nap today he woke up fifteen minutes later and sat himself up in the crib...but we're still happy he learned! Readiness is definitely key for this kid. When he's ready, he learns fast. (I also taught him to hold his arms out when someone scores a touchdown - it's pretty cute!)

That's about all the news! I did sign us up for a Gym Kids class, and we have our first class tomorrow. Should be a fun activity that may help teach more gross motor skills, and let him interact with other kids, which he has come to love. (We go to our neighbourhood park regularly, and earlier this week he started screeching with joy when it came into view, and he saw the other kids!) We are also heading to Seattle next weekend for a short visit with our friends Catherine and Anton. We're really looking forward to that! Now, as always, some photos - no new video this time, sorry, I've misplaced the camera I normally take video on!