Introducing Henry: One Year review

My how time flies! From tiny newborn to big boy on his first trike, I'm not quite sure where this last year has gone!

Milestones

- First smiled at 4 weeks, but loads from 8 weeks

- Lifted head off the ground at 7 weeks

- rolled at 13 weeks front to back 

- rolled at 19 weeks back to front

- Sat with support from 13-15 weeks

- Sat independently from 22 weeks

- Got up into his crawling position at 23 weeks

- Pulled himself to standing at 26 weeks

- Cruising at 7 months

- Standing independently (off and on) from 9 months

- Babbling at 9 months

- Says Mama, Dadda and what we think is Hiya as well as "der" for birds. 

Phew, a lot has happened this year! We did think as he was a early crawler and cruiser that he would be walking by now but he seems perfectly happy to get around crawling and holding onto furniture (and boy is he fast!). He has taken one or two steps just to tease us but I'm sure he'll do it when he's ready, I'm not in any hurry for him to turn from a baby into a toddler quite yet! 

Teeth

He has only just cut his first tooth at 12.5 months old although it feels as if he's been teething since 4 months! There are plenty more just round the corner too, his gums are bulging!

Eating

He eats fantastically well for his age, according to my childminder which I credit to using the Baby Led Weaning method. Basically, in short it means that he's eaten what we've eaten since we began weaning at 5.5 months- no purees, no spoon feeding, no jars. Granted it's taken months for him to actually start eating a considerable amount, there was a lot of sucking to begin with but it's paying off now and he'll give anything a good go. He still has 3-4 bottles, one at about 10 am, another about 3pm, one before bed and one during the night. He will skip either the morning or after noon bottle occasionally though! He has a dairy allergy which contributed to us stopping breastfeeding at 6 weeks, and it's only now we're starting to introduce it in baked goods after seeing our dietitian. I do feel that it is something he's growing out of though, which is good news! He's never tasted cheese yet! Cheese! Me and Loz are huge fans so can't wait till he can try it!

Sleeping

Henry slept really well from 10 weeks, usually 8/9 till 5/6 in the morning but that all changed around 6 months and he has been waking up multiple times a night ever since. Not quite sure why, sometimes it's obvious like teething, other times for milk and sometimes just because he feels like a 2 am party in Mummy and Daddy's bed. If he wakes during the night now we usually bring him in with us and he sleeps through till 7, although nights like last night there's an interval where he shrieks the house down because of his teeth coming through. 

Nap-wise he's cut right down to two naps, usually one after his snack time at 10 am and one in the afternoon though he will skip one every now and then!

Weight

Henry was born 8 days early and weighed in at 6lbs 12oz, dropping to 6lbs 5oz and started regaining- he's always been at the smaller end of the scale but started to drop centiles when he was around 5/6 months from above the 25th to just above the 9th centile (in lay mans terms, 91% of babies the same age weigh more then him). This was due I think to him starting to become more mobile at an earlier age and the chart not reflecting that. He currently weighs 19 lbs and is in mostly 6-9 month clothing with a few 9-12 months thrown in!

General

He has turned into such a cheeky monkey! He's very determined, loves being centre of attention and is so sweet and loving- giving us cuddles and kisses! He's so clever as well, he can put all his shapes in the right shape holes, if you ask him to find his favourite soft toy (aka Lambie) he'll go searching high and low till he finds him. If you ask him where birds are he'll point out the window. He bops to music and claps his hands when you sing "If your Happy and You Know It" (more often then not changed to If Your Henry and You Know It) and he's started sharing things with us, putting objects into our hands and food into my mouth.

I'm loving this age as he's so much more interactive and beginning to understand more and more. He babbles all the time, unless he's doing something he shouldn't and he'll go so very quiet-that's when you have to worry! I do miss the newborn stage and all the cuddles and the exciting few months of massive physical development but watching him become his own person is fascinating!