Hart Adventures: John David is ONE!

I want to post about Easter, Sara Beth turning 4, and about their super-fun bike birthday party, but we have been sooooo crazy-busy lately. I keep telling myself, "One step at a time." So, this post is the first step in getting all the rest finished. We were seriously overbooked this month! With Gymboree classes for John David and swim, soccer, and ballet lessons for Sara Beth. . . oh, and Bible study on Wednesdays and school every day. . . and Saturdays filled with birthday parties. . . you get the picture! Poor John David spent half of his life riding my hip or hanging out in the Ergo or stroller, just tagging along everywhere we went.

At 12 months old, here is what our cutie pie has been up to:

He weighs 21 lbs. 6 oz, which is only the 25th percentile. He is 29 inches tall (33rd percentile). His head is still in the "genius range" at 19.5 inches (97th percentile).
He wears 18 months clothes for the most part, especially anything that snaps in the crotch (he has a long torso) and in pants/shorts when he's in a cloth diaper. We always have to roll up his pants, though. He has some short legs!
He wears size 3 shoes and 6-12 month Robeez soft shoes. Those feet are still like short sausages!
He takes 1 or 2 naps per day. It really depends on where we are and what we're doing. He pretty much goes with the flow.
He is back to sleeping through the night most of the time. Although he is an early riser, which sometimes throws a wrench in our morning routine.
This month, he normally nursed 4-5 times a day. His sessions are really short though (5-10 minutes total). Now the weaning process begins! I'm sure I will cry when it's all over, but this little guy has been rough on my body since he was in the womb. He has never had a good latch and so I have not enjoyed our sweet little bonding times as much as I should have. I plan to drop a feeding a week until he's completely weaned. Hopefully, I'll have good news to report next month!
Our little buddy is walking! Well, he is when he wants to anyway. I've seen him walk all the way across a room. No problem. But, he definitely won't perform on command.
He climbs everything! His favorite place to climb is on sister's step stool in the bathroom. He likes to "brush" his teeth like her. We even got him his very own toothbrush in his Easter basket. Climbing often leads to crashing down. So we have had a lot of bumps and bruises this month too.
I haven't been very creative with his food this month (no time for that), so he has been eating whatever we can scrounge up for him. Sometimes it's what we are eating. Other times, it's this and that from the fridge (like cheese and fruit, or yogurt and canned veggies). Away from home, I've been giving him store-bought baby food. He pretty much turns his nose up at most of that stuff! It warms my heart to know that he already likes my cooking! Some firsts this month: puffs, ham, beef, mandarin oranges, and apricots.
He has 8 teeth! Two on the bottom in front, 4 up top in front, and now 2 molars on the left side (top and bottom).
Only one sickness to speak of this month. On Sara Beth's birthday, he woke up throwing up. He had to stay with Nana and Papaw while we took big sister to the zoo. We never figured out what was going on exactly, but we noticed his molars coming in the next day, so perhaps that had something to do with it. Hmmm....
John David is talking a lot now! He tries to name everything he sees or touches. His words aren't very clear yet, but he does try to say woof woof, balloon, light, uh oh, rain, Pap (Papaw), and Bahbah (Opa), in addition to his other words.
He loves to smell the flowers and eat the dirt, but is not a big fan of the water. Hopefully, with repeated exposures this summer, he'll warm up to the idea.
He had a great first Easter, visiting with both sets of grandparents and doing lots of egg hunting. He was more interested in tasting the eggs than finding them.
He is still such a mama's boy! He is perfectly content if I'm away, but if I'm nearby, I might as well get ready to pick him up or listen to him cry about it. This makes preparing meals really difficult, but at least he's super-snugly.
At his birthday party, he devoured his piece of cake! Yum!
Overall, John David is such a happy, outgoing, and inquisitive little boy. He definitely never meets a stranger.