12 Months: "It's the Grand Shawshi's Birthday!"

It's true! Mr. Shaw is one year old.

Dustinn & I are so grateful for his sweet little personality.
He fills our apartment with happy noises. He talks while playing with his toys and if he sees either Dustinn or me watching him, he'll stop and smile up at us. He'll sit attentively and listen to books and laugh at certain pages (I can't figure out what he is finding funny!)
He makes us very happy.

Also, at 12 months old:

• He plays destructively! (Maybe that's all little boys?) He'll grab an object, swing it around his head several times, proceed to the hardest surface he can find and smash it repeatedly, then chuck it in the corner. And, of course, he does this all with a big grin.
• He is also really into "un-doing." This is fine when it comes to unpacking boxes but less pleasant when I am carrying armfuls of wet clothing from the washers to the driers. (He stands like a sentinel at the drier door to pull the clothes out onto the floor.)
• He'll meet eyes with me, hold the stare, and slowly bring something he is not supposed to eat (quarter, rubber band, etc.) to his mouth.
• He lifts the toilet lid and sucks on Daddy's discarded nose-blown tissue. Gross! (Note: I do not freely permit him to do this. It only occurs in the door is left open and he makes a dash for it.)
• He can turn on our gas stove.
• He takes wobbly steps.
• He is a sturdy stander. He pushes himself to standing and free-stands for long periods of time (while examining a particular toy, being dressed, etc.)
• And, when being dressed, he gets his arms through the sleeves by himself.
• He has begun to mimic. When he says Mama, my reply is always "Yes?" Sometimes he echoes "Yiis" in his high teeny little voice. It is so cute.
• He can say cow, dog, up, coo (cookie...we think), hot & car.
• He will address Dustinn or I (Dada/Mama) and then directly demand BABA (bottle.)
• He loves to point at things...like the squirrels in our complex.
• He can find a beat anywhere. He does the baby bop to the Mexican Polka downstairs, the phone's dial tone & the tick of a hospital CAT scan. In addition to the up-&-down bop, he began swinging his diaper side-to-side. (It's super cute.)

Thank you for celebrating his birthday with us. Here are the cake pictures:

#1. He started out pretty clean

#2. Then he rubbed frosting into his eyes

#3. Daddy came to the rescue and wiped the frosting out of his eyes

#4. Then into the bathtub