Happy Birthday Colt!!

My little boy is one today! The first year has gone by much too fast but has been filled with so much fun, laughter, love and memories. Colt is a special special little boy and I feel so blessed that God chose me to be his mommy. Every day is a gift just to be around him, to see his smiles, be the receiver of so many kisses (open mouth and all) and hugs, to watch him see and explore new things. Colt is getting so close to being a full time walker, he really turned a corner today with taking more steps, he is getting to the point where he is actually trying to walk on his own rather than have us coax him. It will not be long!! I have been trying to teach him some sign language, I have been working with him on the words; more, dog, done, and milk. I think he prefers to just say them instead, when I say dog and show him the sign he just looks at me and says "dog" so I keep doing it over and over again trying to get him to sign it and Dave finally says to me "Care he does not need to sign it he can say it just fine:)" So then I try the word "more" and he says "mo." When he finishes his food he will say "dun." I am going to keep working on it but it seems the more I say the words and try to sign them he eventually just starts saying the words himself so there is no need for him to learn sign language. He is a pretty verbal little guy and most the time we can figure out what he wants just by what he says or what he points at. His one year appointment is not until next week, I weighed him on our scale about a week ago and he was 22.5lbs which if that is correct that is only a 1 lb gain from his 9 month appointment. I can tell he is starting to lean out a little bit, he is still big but not quite at chunky as he was, all that crawling and moving everywhere is keeping him slim:) He is a big fan of dogs, trucks and dirt right now, if he has one of those three he can play for a long time and be very entertained. He is in love with all dogs, he loves to take Byson's toys and play tug-a-war with him, Byson always wins and Colt just laughs. Colt also loves to give Byson kisses and he is very gentle with dogs, we have worked with him since he was little on how to pet animals and he has gotten to the point where he no longer needs to be told to be gentle, he is very good at petting them very nicely and not pulling on there hair. Colt eats pretty much anything and everything, some days he will try and be picky but we try to just keep giving it to him until he eventually eats it. He has a strong disgust for green veggies but besides that anything else goes. He is drinking whole milk out of sippy cups and has done fine without the bottle. The only time he wants a bottle is when he sees another baby drinking one, he grabbed his cousin Reese's bottle this past weekend and drank what was left of it:) He is still a good sleeper, good eater and easy going baby. My introduction into first time motherhood was such a smooth one because Colt was so easy, he slept a lot early on and I never felt overwhelmed or anxious about any of it. The hardest part was (and still is) working full time and trying to be a mom when I get home from work exhausted. I am nervous about having a second because I doubt I will get lucky enough to have one as easy as Colt has been. I am so proud to be his mom and I am looking forward to all the new challenges and growing he will experience in the next year.