J and M + j + s: Sam's 1 year stats!

Sorry we have been so slow to post, but we will try and catch up a bit. Sam had his 1 year check up a few weeks after his birthday. He is 30.75 inches tall (79th percentile for height), 21 pounds and 4 ounces (46th for weight) and 66th for head size. He is doing well over all, and was a very good boy at the doctors!

He is starting to talk, just a few words so far. Honestly, I'm not sure I would have recognized them as words when Josh was learning to talk-because they are more like sounds. He says, "ba" for ball, "mama" for me, "bo" for book, and an "m" sound for more. Around 13 months he has started saying, "Ja!" for josh. He doesn't say these things all the time, but it is noticeable when he does. We know he can say, "Dada" as well, but I haven't heard it lately.

At 12 months Sam had not taken any real steps, but was cruising on furniture and a very speedy crawler. He is now taking steps (13.5 months) and I think he will be walking pretty soon! I know I shouldn't compare my kids, but I think at this age Josh had stronger gross motor skills but Sam has stronger fine motor skills. Sam is able to play with toys that Josh wasn't at this age, but Josh was walking by 12 months. It is interesting to me to see how each kid develops so differently!

Sam has been a pretty picky eater. I talked to the pediatrician, and he basically said to keep offering him food and he will eat when he is hungry. We find that Sam will eat fruit, sometimes vegetables, most carbs, but zero protein (no cheese, no meat). I've been able to get him to eat soy beans (edamame). And I recently discovered this AMAZING soybean spread that Sam LOVES. Don't Go Nuts is the brand, and it has the flavor and consistency of peanut butter, so even Julian will eat it! Sam also will not drink whole milk. He will drink water out of a sippy cup, but shakes his head no if you try and give him whole milk (or even breast milk) in a sippy. This wouldn't bother me as much, except that he will not eat anything else with fat or protein in it. He will eat yogurt, so I give him that every day.

We also had Sam tested for allergies, and we think he does not have any! The cashew test was a light positive, so we are to feed him the other nuts first and go from there. I am supposed to try peanut butter on him, but I haven't quite figured out how to balance a nut free home with feeding him peanuts. We are doing blood work for Josh soon to see how his allergies are doing, so that will also help us decide how careful we need to be.

I'm still breastfeeding Sam, although I think my goal would be to start cutting back soon. It has been tricky to do that since he will not drink milk in a sippy cup. He also won't really take a bottle if I am around at all, so we haven't had luck putting whole milk in a bottle either. Sam seems to be both patient and stubborn, which is a dangerous combination :-P

Overall, he is such a smiley happy little guy! He loves splashing in the bathtub and during water play. And he loves anything that Josh is playing with.