Much of a oneness

Jake is 1 (one)! It has been one whole year since we sat in that hospital room, breathing through contractions, pushing pushing pushing and then that surreal night with a whole actual baby in the crib beside me. That little baby that was a complete stranger to me. That tiny being who cried and slept and fed on a continuous cycle. It's hard to remember what he was actually like then, when I look at our little boy walking around, the little boy that I now know through and through.

On Saturday 5th July we woke up our birthday boy by singing happy birthday to him. We had bought a Little Tikes playhouse for him, which R had set up in the living room, so when we came downstairs, the first thing he saw was his new house. Wide-eyed, he toddled over to it, opened the door and went in. That was pretty much what he did for the rest of the day - door open, go inside, close door, crawl out through hole in side of house, door open...etc. When he went down for his nap, we put the house in the garden as it was a lovely, sunny day.

In the afternoon, loads of people came to celebrate Jake's first birthday. Family, our good friends, his little friends from church and my prenatal yoga group and our neighbours. I had baked 5 different cakes, including a special birthday cake in the shape of Pilchard the cat from Bob the Builder. All the kids were playing happily in the new playhouse and Jake was happy one moment and completely overwhelmed the next, so I spent quite a bit of time carrying him around so he could survey his party from the safety of my shoulder. We all sang to him and let him "blow" out the candle on his cake, after which he went down for a much-needed nap. In the evening (after he'd slept for 3 hours!) he was delighted to find that two families had stayed for dinner with in total 4 kids that he knows and adores. He got no shortage of attention as the 4 kids fought to entertain him in all manner of ways. Altogether it was a great day with lots of great company, super presents and loads of attention for the birthday boy.

Two days after his birthday, I was sitting on the sofa when suddenly Jake walked by. Walked all by himself without any encouragement from us! He had a huge grin on his face and walked so confidently. It was as if he already knew how to do it, but decided to wait until he was 1. For the rest of the day, that was all he did - walk, walk and walk some more. Since that day, he has gone from strength to strength and is walking better and better each day. Occasionally he drops to his knees and crawls a bit, but for the most part he chooses to walk now. His playhouse has been moved indoors now due to bad weather and he spends all day walking in and out of his little front door, occasionally even running a few steps if daddy is chasing him.

At the moment, Jake isn't a very happy bunny. He's getting two molars simultaneously and they are giving him so much pain. I remember what it felt like to get my wisdom teeth, so I sympathise. He wakes frequently during the night and whimpers in pain for a minute or two. He's also trying to chew his way through his entire toy collection - anything that will fit in his mouth gets given a good chew. Hopefully they will soon come through and we will get our sunny, happy little boy back. We've chosen not to take him to the daycare centre because he simply needs too much individual attention right now. He went there for his first 2 full days last week and loved it! The girls there were completely infatuated with him and he exhausted himself playing with all the kids and toys there.

All in all, lots and lots of changes for our boy Jake. I can't believe he's only been in our lives for a year - what a year it has been!