One Year Old!

Today is our baby boy's 1st birthday!!  It's hard to believe that our little ray of sunshine has been here for an entire year.

At 1 Year, Henry is:

• Weighs 21 lb 12 oz (50th percentile) and is 30 inches tall (50th percentile).  He's the smallest of the Schmitt babies, so far.
• All smiles!  I swear, Henry is the happiest boy.  He is always full of smiles and laughter.  He loves to do silly things in order to get a reaction out of people (especially his older siblings).  
• Will play independently for almost 30 minutes at a time.  He'll go from toy to toy, room to room, playing and exploring.
• Loves music.  If music is on, then he is bopping and clapping and twisting.  His favorite bin in the playroom is the one filled with musical instruments.  His favorite is a wooden xylophone.  He will hunt for the mallet and "play" his music.
• Really seems to prefer his left hand.  Whether it's playing a musical instrument, hitting a ball, or pushing a toy car, he does it with his left hand.  He'll grab things with his right hand and then transfer them over to his left.  There are a few lefties in our family, so it's entirely possible he could be left handed.  We'll see!
• Is a great sleeper.  We finally dropped his dream feed, which means a slightly earlier wake up (between 6-6:30am most days).  He still takes amazing naps.  9:30-11:00 and 2:00-4:00  I'm hoping he'll drop his morning nap within the next few months so we can get out-and-about more in the mornings.
• Still enjoys his bottles.  He eats 7am, 11am, 2pm, 4pm, 7pm.  It's time to start introducing whole milk and eliminating some bottles, but I'm not in a huge rush.
• Is a great eater.  He loves bananas, broccoli, pancakes, crackers, blueberries, strawberries, cheerios, pizza, pasta and quesadillas.  The lack of teeth impedes him eating anything requiring bigger bites.
• Still waiting for those first teeth.  His older brother only had 2 teeth at a year, so Henry isn't too far behind.  I just hope he has teeth in there :)
• Is cruising along the furniture and will walk if we hold his hands.  He has no real interest in letting go and taking any steps, yet, but I have a feeling it's not too far off in the future.  And when he does, I think he's going to be running!
• Is really trying to talk and communicate with us.  He says "mom", "da", "ba" (for JGray), "de" (for Delia), "bye", and I'm pretty sure he said "Dus" (for Dusty) this afternoon.  It also sounds like he says "What's this?"  He is consistently signing "All Done" by shaking his hands and "More" by touching his hands together.  He seems eager to get his point across but doesn't get frustrated when we don't understand.  

Oh Henry, you bring such joy into our lives!!

Enjoying his third cupcake of the week.  He's got this birthday thing under control!