Happy 1st Birthday Elliott James!

Happy 1st Birthday to my youngest son, Elliott James! I'm not sure I'm quite ready for you to be one yet, this year went by way too fast! We had a nice day celebrating with Gramma and tomorrow we'll celebrate a bit more with friends at our house. We went for a walk, to Swansons Nursery to see the reindeer and trains and finished up with a trip to the toy store before his afternoon nap. In the evening he opened a few gifts (and big brother Oliver was more than happy to help!), had birthday pulled pork for dinner and finished up with grain, nut and egg-free cupcakes (yes, it's possible to make such a thing). Both of my boys are obsessed with pulled pork and were drooling over it all day as it cooked in the crock pot. Gramma also made the cutest birthday shirt for Elliott and a matching one for big brother (see pictures below). Such a wonderful day and I hope the next year doesn't pass so quickly!

Here are 12 fun facts about my new 12-month old:
1. He's a book worm, already! He is so obsessed with books that it's nearly impossible to have them all picked up at any one time. This doesn't mean he necessarily will sit still for it to be read to him, but he loves to flip through pages and take them off the shelves. His current favorite is Baby Boo! (which was also a big favorite of Oliver's at this age).
2. still breastfed!
3. eating like a champ! loves pulled pork, ground beef, bacon, veggies cooked in bacon fat and grapes, to name a few!
4. He loves to follow his brother around. Sometimes he has his mouth wide open and tries to mouth Oliver, which sends big brother squealing in the other direction. This just makes Elliott crawl faster.
5. Not walking independently quite yet, but he's a super fast crawler! And he can walk anywhere as long as he has a finger to hold on to.
6. He's starting to say a few recognizable (to me) words: Dada, Mama, Dog, Bye, and Book.
7. We haven't been nearly as on top of teaching him sign language as we were with Oliver, but I have seen him sign milk, water and eat.
8. When he gets excited by something he'll point and say "ooooh!", so cute!
9. He gets very excited when Nick comes home from work and loves to watch from our front window.
10. He loves preschool co-op. I go with him once a week for 90 minutes and he clearly enjoys himself. He especially loved the dried rice in the sensory bin last week.
11. His favorite snack is beef jerky, which also makes a great teether.
12. Still using the potty like a champ! I just hope he doesn't try to pee standing up anytime soon like his brother recently started doing, or things could get messy. . .

We love you so much Elliott James! We had a wonderful first year with you and you were the perfect addition to our family!

Some pictures from the day:

I had a really hard time getting him to sit still for a few pictures. He kept crawling towards me!

"oooh"

i used birthday candles to try to keep him in one spot

happy to be one! and Penny really wants her ball

his maple tree

classic. cute matching shirts, but someone is a bit tired of having his picture taken

my three-year old has been refusing to wear jackets this winter, leaving his sometimes to cold to talk!

enjoying a wagon ride at Swansons!

Oliver is happy to finally have found someone to ride in his wagon

not sure about that birthday cake

another "oooh"!