Henry at One Year

This post is for Future Henry, so he can read about what he was like at one year old.


You really, really love books. Sometimes you flip through the pages so quickly that I can't even read the words, or you go backwards, or you take a book that I'm reading to you out of my hands and hand it back to me, or you try to get two books going at once.

You like to bite. Seriously, what's up with that? You take clothes or blankets in your teeth and pull hard, or you put your mouth on my skin and gently nip. I've tried saying, "Ouch! That hurts Mama. NO BITING," and you just do it again.

You're beginning to build and put toys together instead of merely knocking down and destroying. It's fun to see you try to put one block on top of another or unlink and try to re-link a train track...it makes me think ahead to the little boy who will no doubt spend hours setting up trains and building with legos.


You now only nurse maybe twice in the daytime, though you still nurse to sleep at night and nurse every few hours all night long. Seeing the nursing drop-off like this makes the idea of your eventually weaning hit home for me. I don't think either of us are ready, but the thought saddens me.

Although I'm trying to teach you the sign for milk, you're starting to indicate a desire to nurse by lifting up my shirt. I suppose that gets the point across, too, though I was hoping for a bit more discretion.


Your favorite noise to make sounds like a cross between "this" and "yes" -- "isth" is pretty close. You say it a lot, but especially when asked a question or when pointing at something (another thing you do a lot of). It seems to have replaced the bleating, which I guess is a step in the right direction..

You like to drop toys into other things -- the stairwell, the sink, out of your crib. It's not unusual for me to find a toy shaker or board book in the hamper when I'm sorting out laundry.

You've started furrowing your brow at certain things. The other day I was holding you and Daddy walked into the room naked. You looked at him, looked down...and furrowed your brow.


It's fun to see how your relationship with your (half-) siblings is developing. As you get older and more interactive, your brothers are really getting a kick out of you. (Your sister has always tried to smother you with her love...and now you're beginning to compete with her for toys.) As Harrison (almost eighteen) says, you're his "brutha from anotha mutha."

You make this funny "mahhhhhhhhhhhhh" noise while forming spit bubbles with your open mouth. The first time you did it I thought you were in pain; now I realize you think you need to do it to make the bubbles appear.


You're starting to do your "cute" face -- you turn your face toward someone, smile a big smile and scrunch up your eyes. "Look at me...I'm adorable!"

You've also developed a devious side. For instance, we have a mini-shower hooked up to the side of our toilet next to the wall for washing off dirty diapers. You know you're supposed to leave it alone (when you reach for it and I ask you not to touch it, you surprisingly back away from it). However, you have a habit of deliberately dropping a toy between the toilet and the wall so you have to retrieve it, putting you right next to the sprayer. Then you watch me while you position yourself closer and closer...


You love trucks. I swear I'm not encouraging this just because you're a little boy. Heck, I want to buy you a baby doll for Christmas. But when we're out driving around you always point to every truck and say "Isth! Isth! Isth!" until I acknowledge you and tell you what kind of truck it is. It's funny that you're developing such a big boy interest already.

Finally, the stats: You have eight teeth (with one on the way, I think) and weigh about twenty-six pounds. I don't know how tall you are, but I do know you dwarf every other one-year old you meet. You're still snuggly and baby-like, though, so it's all good.