Pete turns one!

I was feeling so sad and depressed about not being able to remember Pete's little baby days and about how I never wrote about them.  And BAM! I surprised myself with having written about him at four months old!  Sweet!  I think two blog posts in one year is perfectly acceptable for a fourth child, right?

Pete.  He really is sweet.  I am telling you right now that he is THE.BEST.BABY.HUGGER.IN.THE.WORLD.  When I (or Matt, he doesn't discriminate) pick him up in the morning or from his naps he wraps both arms around my neck and squeezes tight.  He makes sure to press his cheek right onto mine and will be perfectly content with a 1-2 minute hug. One morning I picked him up, got my tight hug and laid back down in bed with him.  We laid there on our sides, my arms around him, his arms around my neck/shoulder with his cheek pressed on top of mine for probably ten minutes.  I started to get a kink in my neck so I moved my head out from under his and looked at him.  He smiled at me and then moved to put his cheek back on mine. We laid there for a few more minutes until Jane came in.  It was HEAVEN.**  Sometimes he will instigate hugs at other times.  When he wants to be held he will stand up holding on to your legs and reach up on to his tippy toes trying to get you to pick him up. Often he just needs a few moments to connect and then he will let you put him back down.  

He was our first (and need I mention he is also our last?:) baby to not walk at ten months.  He has been taking just a few steps here and there for about a week now.  Then he either dive bombs with complete trust that the person in front of him will catch him or he loses confidence and gets down to crawl the rest of the way.  I can't really remember when he started crawling. I think it was around the normal age.  He slithered forever using just his arms.  I tried it once--that is hard!!  But eventually he started going on his hands and knees.  He has started clapping and will play the, "How big is Pete?" game by lifting his arms up with a big grin.  

So far he is a great eater.  Well, I don't know about great.  He's good.  He likes a variety of flavors but he is picky about the texture of his finger foods.  He pretty much still likes to be fed with a spoon.  But he LOVES cubes of pear.  And freeze-dried strawberries.  He could eat those all day.  

He doesn't really have any favorite toys yet.  Unless you count my iphone, ipad, and remote controls.  His favorite room in the house is the bathroom.  If that door gets left open he will crawl to the bathroom in two seconds flat.  He will open the cupboards and pull everything out.  Then he will go the bathtub and knock all of the shampoo bottles and toys into the tub.  He will pull on the toilet paper and he will even open the toilet lid and play in the water if he hasn't been caught yet.  He absolutely hates it when someone spots him making his break to the bathroom and shuts the door before he gets in there.

He also loves to unload the dishwasher as fast as you can load it.  Surprisingly he hasn't taken much of an interest in the Christmas tree.  He does climb the stairs (our very steep and dangerous stairs).  We have tried to instill major fear into our kids if they were to forget to close the gates at the top and bottom of the stairs.  But really it's only Hank that consistently remembers.  Hank gets very nervous about it and will check it a few times if Pete is around.  Hank is even better than Matt and I at remembering to shut the bathroom door.

Pete really is so sweet.  We are so lucky to have him.

**This has become our morning ritual.  I'm never ready to jump out of bed so cuddling with a one-year old is pretty much the best.