Aleksi is one!!!

Year ago I had a fresh new baby in my arms. Aleksi's birth had been a bit more work and pain than I had expected, but he was here and he was ours. I remember thinking that I didn't want to post anything on facebook for a bit as I wanted to keep him as our own private joy for a bit. 

This morning he woke up at 6 am. I nursed him for maybe 15 seconds and he was back to sleep. I kept holding him for another few minutes and enjoyed the moment of being so close to him in such a calm way. He is all over the place now. He is walking. He is babbling. He is crying or yelling when he doesn't get his way. He is laughing and exploring. He isn't still for very long. 

As a one year old, Aleksi loves to look at animals; especially dogs and birds. He has started to point at the Fruit Loops cereal box when he sees it. They have been used as a bribe to keep him happy while I make our meals. He lovess me. Oh how does he love me.  He has the innocent, yet fierce love for me. If I am around, I am the queen that no one else can compete with. He is content with Troy, but he much prefers me if I am around. If I am not around, he plays happily with Saku and Eerika and Troy. I even hear that he is much more easy going when I am not around...

He is not a fan of sleep right now. He knows when we are about to put him down for a nap and he starts to fight it. He doesn't want to read his books, he doesn't want you to sing to him. It is kind of tough. It is the same thing for bed time. And because he is pretty easy going when naps get pushed, I have become more relaxed about it and his nap schedule is kind of all over the place. He is up once a night. I should stop nursing him but I haven't done it out of pure laziness. I can be up for 3 minutes with him and nurse him and then go back to sleep, so I haven't had the mental energy to stop the habit.

We tried to transition to regular milk but it seemed to give him diarrhea so we are still doing formula. He also nurses once or twice a day, so basically the kid gets a bit of everything. He also lately figured out the whole "sometimes it is fun to spit out food" when I feed him things like yogurt or apple sauce.

I did just look at his newborn pictures and I will admit that I feel quite nostalgic and while I am not sad that he is one year old; I feel a certain longing for the first few days of having a baby. You aren't exhausted yet. They are so tiny. How could he be so tiny. 

Aleksi, you are a treasure. You are such a darling boy.