12 Months

The first month of Christopher's life was one of the hardest of my life. During the second, third, fourth and fifth months I was just thrilled if I got two hours of sleep in a row. The last seven months, though, have been an absolute joy.

And now he is one. He has started throwing tantrums once in awhile. The first time he did it - laying on his belly, hands slamming the floor, crying because I took away the rolling pin he was using to bash the floor - I started laughing. Now that they have become more frequent, though, I don't find them quite as funny. As my friend Kerry said, this is a disappointing development.

Christopher is just so full of joy about everything in life the rest of the time, though, and it is absolutely contagious. I can't help but feel happy when he flashes one of his 1,000 watt smiles at me. He cuddles. He laughs. He acts silly on purpose so I'll laugh. I must give him 100 kisses a day. I can't get enough of him.

At 12 months, his favorite things are balls and trucks. He plays catch with himself by throwing the ball across the room, crawling over to pick it up, and throwing it again. Sometimes he crawls around with a ball in his mouth like a puppy. He dances when he hears anything even resembling a beat, including my breast pump. His dance moves basically consist of rocking back and forth while sitting on the floor, smiling, of course.

He loves food. He'll eat basically anything, and lots of it. He loves fruit, especially peaches. He also enjoys bananas, cheese, wheat puffs and avocado. He does not particularly enjoy frozen mixed vegetables, but if they are the only thing on offer he will eat them. He has also eaten crayons, rocks, sand, unused toilet paper, and sticks. Oops. (Seriously though. What is with the eating of toilet paper? When he sees the bathroom door open, he beelines for it so he can get his hands on the roll and stuff it into his mouth.)

He enjoys looking at books, especially anything with different textures.

If he is crying in the car, he will always stop when Free To Be You and Me comes on.

I now hate Free To Be You and Me.

He adores Clare, even when she yells at him. He does not like it when she takes toys from him, but as long as he is given a replacement toy he is happy. So so happy, all the time.

He loves baths, and gets super excited when he knows he is going to take one. Usually bath time is Ben's domain, but I was on bath duty last week. Christopher stood next to the tub, and when I turned on the water he started grunting happily. His grunts started getting louder and more high pitched as the tub filled. He was just so excited. I plopped him in the tub and he splashed happily. I took a look at my phone (I know), and suddenly I saw something pink in the corner of my eye. I look over, and Christopher was standing in the tub, holding his pink elephant bath toy right next to my face and grinning like a maniac. As soon as I looked at him, he started laughing hysterically. Then he sat down and started splashing the water as hard as he could. By the end of the bath, I was as wet as he was, but it was worth it.

My little Christopher Lewis. How is it that you are turning one? Happy birthday to my favorite boy in the world. I love you more than I can say.