Our one year old

So much of our lives has changed in the past year. Scott's graduation and the move were pretty big, but becoming parents was definitely the biggest adjustment to our lives. I'm still amazed that I can function without sleeping through one night in well over a year (pregnancy kept me up a good bit). We may be a bit tired and cranky at times, but we have this amazing little spring of joy and sweetness and ENERGY who is almost running around though he's not officially walking.

Riley's Gramps and Grandma Pokswinski came to visit us for almost a week. It was wonderful. The Saturday they were here (March 14th) was Riley's first birthday. We were so glad to have many family members come to celebrate with us. Surprisingly, Riley was hesitant to take his first taste of cake, but then again, he was being watched by a room full of people. He just kept staring at Mama Jewell and her faces. When he did finally dive in, he seemed to like it. Later, when I gave him a taste of ice cream, he really enjoyed that.

While the grands were here, we went to the beach in Destin for a few minutes. It was Riley's first time to the beach. He LOVED it!! He kept giggling every time the waves came and covered his feet. The water was actually pretty cold too, but he was having a blast. The weather was mostly rainy and yuck while the Poks were here, but we enjoyed just spending time together. Gramps went to work with Scott one day digging trenches in the pouring rain. That was a rough day for them.

The day before Gramps and Grandma arrived, Riley had his 12 month appointment. While I was holding his diaper bag, a computer for patient information entry, and Riley, one nurse had me undress Riley. When he was undressed, she weighed him and measured his length and head. While she did that, another nurse asked me lots of questions, so I really didn't hear his measurements that well. The doctor mentioned that he was short for his age. It surprised me a little, because I figured he was about average. Anyway, Riley had an ear infection, so we had to schedule his shots for another day. We went to a different doctor to check up on his ears and for his shots. While we were there, I asked about his measurements. They told me what was recorded for his length was 29 1/4. I was pretty sure he was 29 1/2 at his 9 month appointment, so I thought that was weird. The doctors around here stink so badly, that we have to drive to the next town for a passable exam, seriously. (Disclaimer: Scott wrote the previous sentence, though it is true). Later that day, Scott and I measured him three times the way the nurses typically do. We got 30 inches. I think that is closer to average for his age. He was about 22lb, 4oz at 12 months.

Before, I said he's not officially walking, but he is walking from the wall to the table or the table to us. He has even walked all the way across the room several times, but he still loses his balance a good bit. He gets better pretty much every hour though.

Riley's molars are swollen and seem to be bothering him a lot. At night and during some of his naps, he's very restless. The night wakings are not so fun, especially because he tries so hard to go back to sleep but just can't seem to fall asleep for a while. All the usual tricks are out the window. During the day, he walks around constantly with a grip spoon and chews on the handle. If he doesn't have the spoon, he sometimes has his finger between his upper and lower molars chewing on it.

New things: Riley loves to play hide-and-seek with Mommy and "A-Booga Booga Booga" (basically, "I'm gonna getcha" or chase) with Daddy; Riley's learning how to put toys in and out of things and on top of each other; he loves Veggie Tales music but also likes Switchfoot a lot (or whatever is in the CD player); when he watches "Potter Puppet Pals - Mysterious Ticking Noise," he does movements now like shaking his head when Harry does; he loves to sit and flip through his books; if you start to quote a book, he will go find it and expect you to read it to him; If he's looking through a book and it's a book that's a song, he starts rocking and lately humming; he loves playing with toys he can walk with or push; he also likes to push around chairs, his high chair, laundry baskets, basically anything he can push; he likes to flip light switches; and he hates it when Daddy and Mama play the Wii, so he turns off the TV and just smiles at us....and WON'T turn it back on.