15 month

NICKNAMES: No new nicknames. Still Dutchy, Mister, Dutch-A-Rooskie and Mr. Dutch.

 

STATS:
Height: 31.25 inches...................56% percentile..............Down 10%
Weight: 20 lbs. 15 oz.....................7% percentile..............Gained 1pound 10 oz.
Head circumference: 47 cm.......46% percentile............Basically the same-went down a little

FAVORITE THINGS: Grapes: he has eaten hundreds of these little, delicious, treats.  They are the perfect size to choke on, so mom always cuts them in 1/2, fruits.
-Climbing onto the couch by himself; falling off of the couch (by himself).
-Animals, especially doggies. Dutch "barks" whenever he sees a dog-or really any animal for that matter.  He is learning how to pet dogs and get licked by them.

-Throwing balls, toys and spatula's over the baby gate and down the stairs-then he wonders why he doesn't have any toys left.?.
-Still loves sucking on his soft blue blankey.

-Mowing the lawn with dad-don't worry we cut ear plugs in half for Dutch to wear.

-Jumping on his crib mattress. He holds on with both hands on the rails and JUMPS a good 8-10 inches in the air.
-Picking tomatoes and sometimes he eats them!

 

-Throwing rocks. He will take a rock from one window well and throw it into another.
-Taking off shoes and socks multiple times a day.
-Loves to put things "in" and "out", too bad the main receptacle that he uses is the garbage. He loves to "open" and "close", on more than one occasion he has locked himself in a room after he closes the door.  He is mom's helper for opening and closing the front door too.
-Slides. Dutch likes going down the slide as well as trying to climb back up the slide too.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: We have a walker and a runner! No more crab crawling for Dutchy.  He is on the move and mommy is having fun buying shoes.
-Gives kisses-rarely but still an accomplishment in mom's book.
-Says "au oh", "no, no no" and "addy". Ya, there is no "mommy" but then again who wouldn't love their dad the most if they got to mow the lawn with him.
-Knows how to feed himself with a spoon-it doesn't all reach his mouth though :)

 

-He's a stair master.  He can go up and down the stairs.  I credit this to all the stairs he climbed during the Utah Valley, Salt Lake and Park City Parade of Homes. Yep, my mom and I went to all 3 this year and Dutchy was drug along.

PLACES HE'S BEEN: PetsMart, Hogle Zoo, St. George.

 

 

WHAT WE'VE LEARNED:
Ness: Dutch is on the move and always wants to be doing something. He either has an ON or an OFF-this little boy doesn't have a middle ground and that means that mom needs to always watch him, listen for him and know where he is....or else!  Mom is boring, Dutch likes other kids, other houses, other toys and other places.

Bart: Now that Dutch is a walking champ, I have to be extra careful where I step - Dutch can quickly, and quietly, show up behind or in front of me in a flash!  It will be be very nice when Dutch starts using his words - Most of the time I guess wrong when I am trying to figure out what he is grunting at.  Dutch most definitely has an opinion!  He LOVES to go outside - and Dutch and I love to growl at each other (his growl is much better than dads).  Dutch is definitely a sponge. I know it is cliche - everybody says kids watch and learn from their parents every move - but to see it in action with your own child is both endearing, and somewhat frightening.   All the more reason to be sure your best behavior is your everyday behavior.

 

The LIST

  I am a list maker. I come by it naturally....both my parents. But over the last 14 months, I have been learning how to not get much done on my list. Everyone "knows" how much time and energy and attention children are but I'd still like to get something crossed off my list daily. I now have modified how I make my list. My list BC (before child) would have said "get new duvet cover and pillows". Now, it is broken down into small tasks that I might be able to manage and eventually get crossed off.  Hey, I really do like to cross things off the list.

 The list now reads-
Go to Joann's
Find coupons
Find material
Buy pillows
Buy pillow forms
Unpick pillows when you realized they aren't exactly what you want
Go to another fabric store
Buy more material because you decide to make pillows reversible
Buy buttons
Buy thread
Put on new sheets
Buy mattress topper for bed
Have Bart sew all my ideas
Go back to fabric store
Buy Bart new scissors-since he is the tailor
Take old stuff to the DI
Find new pillows that I bought 2 years ago
Take pictures of bed
Blog
Tell Bart how grateful I am that he sews

 

I bought the square European shams from JCP, but then decided to unpick them and have Bart sew different material on the back, so that they could be reversible and I could have different looks to the bed.

 Moral of the story: It would have been cheaper and easier to buy a duvet and pillows, but I couldn't find anything I liked and so I am in debt to Bart for helping me make a duvet and pillows that I love!

 

THE birthday party

If a picture says a 1000 words, I don't really need to write much about Dutch's 1st birthday PARTY. We had good company, good food, and patio misters to help with the heat! 

 

 

 

To give you a few details:
I made the invitations from a free template from ontobaby.com.  I narrowed down the photo to just one but I maybe did 2 or 3 different invitations and I sent them in the post-because I like getting real mail. I doubt that I will hand make birthday invitations again because they took way too much time and cost way more than they should have :)

  

 

I wanted some sort of cute...cheap decoration for the table and the shade tent. SO once I found beach balls, that was my color and my theme.  Obviously Dutch (and Bart for that matter) didn't care about decorations. I did this for me and the few guests that noticed. Loved them!

 

 

 

 

I love the little flag banners-aka buntings, that are all over pinterest, so I bought the paper and started cutting. Hours and hours and hours later, I had buntings to my hearts content.  (I saved these, so every other birthday party I may do, for the rest of my life- I'm going to use these).

 



 

 

 

One of my favorite things that I did- I mean, that I commissioned and BART made, was the DUTCH subway art.  Bart put his stats, plus some of his favorite things and our saying over the last 12 months.  I love it and now I need to frame it for his bedroom.  I may commission Bart to do this for all our future children's 1st birthday's :)

 



 

The food was great-in my opinion and SIMPLE.  Sandwiches, chips, fruit, veggies drinks and a dessert buffet.  For the labels, I had lifesavers in baby food jars.

All homemade treats! Thanks to my mom for bringing/making stuff for fruit pizza, Kathy for her snickerdoodles and Hillary for her chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting.

 

 

These are the before and during photos! We are so glad that everyone would drive down to be with us and celebrate Mr. Dutch.

 

The kids loved playing in the patio misters and I think it helped cool things off a bit. The real saving grace was all the shade from the trees.

 



 

I have a confession. I've only been to one other 1 year old party beside Dutch's and it was 3 years ago.  I didn't take a gift.  I didn't think to take a gift. I didn't know I was supposed to take a gift (Sorry Holly).  So, when people showed up with gifts, I didn't really know what to think or say. Everyone was very kind. Dutch got great toys, balls, books, bath toys and clothes. We are very lucky/spoiled.

 

 

 

Well, if you have made it this far, I applaud you. Dutch loved the party, the people, the attention and the fun. Thanks.

 





ONE year OLD

NICKNAMES: I can't think of any new nicknames, Dutchy and Mr. Dutch are my favorite. A couple of his cousins called him Dutcher for an hour...
Nicknames that stuck from last time: Dutchy, Mr. Dutch

STATS:
Height: 30.5 inches...................66% percentile..............Went up from the 24%
Weight: 19 lbs 5 oz.....................5% percentile..............Basically the same-went down a %
Head circumference: 46.6 cm.....52% percentile............Basically the same-went down a little



FAVORITE THINGS: Dirt, water, mud, rocks and balls. Do all babies love these things or just boys? And why? He loves throwing rocks. He has this little routine for the backyard, it goes like this; get a rock from one window well, crawl over to the next window well and throw the rock, get a second rock from that window well and then crawl across the lawn to some stairs and my plants. He then throws the rock and tries to pull my plants apart.

Dutch still loves food, except green beans and broccoli. He is not a big drinker though.  He hasn't ever drank a whole cup of milk at a meal or snack and I've tried bottles, sippy cups, straw sippy's and a cup. He CAN drink from all of them, but he CHOOSES to take a drink or two and then open his mouth allowing all the liquid to drain out on his chin, outfit and floor.  Of course he is smiling and thinks it's really funny.  Oh by the way, he also spits his food now.  He takes a nice bite and makes you think that he's eating, but really he's just mashing it up and storing it on the roof of his mouth until he decides to push it out with his tongue or spit it out. Lovely! We are loving apricots right now thanks to our tree in the backyard.

He loves to look and books and flip the pages. He doesn't care if the book is right side up, upside down or side ways, just as long as he can turn the pages back and forth and back and forth!

Dutch loves going to the daycare at the rec. center for an hour. He never once has cried when I drop him off or pick him up.  All the girls know him by name and tell me all the cute things he does, and supposedly their is a little girl around his same age that he loves to play with :)

He loves his soft blue elephant  (that we named Ellie).  He snuggles with it and chews on the ear or the foot and sometimes he will rub his face all over the elephant while on the floor-with his little bum in the air.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Since Dutch's 9 month review, he's started Crab Crawling-as we call it.  He's on one knee and one foot with the leg straight out to the side.  I think its darling and he's a little speed demon but I've had multiple people ask me if that's "okay".  He also pulls himself to a stand and walks around the furniture. Grammie gave him a push and ride toy for his birthday but he can't keep up with it and ends up falling flat on his face- so our solution is an empty box that he slides around.  He is fairly stable standing and can stand by himself.  He thinks he's very big and is proud that he can pull himself up to a cupboard and open and close, open and close and open and close it.
He likes to walk around with your fingers too.

 

 

 

He's started to cuddle and give hugs.  This is more of an accomplishment that Bart and I appreciate.  He's never been a cuddly, content to sit and rock baby. He's on the move, "I've got places to go mom". He is starting to put his head on my chest/shoulder to read books and sing songs and he will nuzzle up to your neck on occasion-which is heart warming.

He talks up a storm BUT no real words.  He will have full conversations with himself, his stuffed animal or me.  I'll ask him questions and he will answer but it's "lucka, luga, kuku, digadiga dig, mamam, rrrrrr,  aw oh."  I do think he says "aw oh" when he drops something or throws something-for that matter.

Dutch now points and is very expressive.  He sticks our his thumb and first finger and gestures to things he sees and things he wants.

Dutch likes to be a helper and always wants to be right where mom and dad are.

 

 

PLACES HE'S BEEN:
I can't remember and I haven't been keeping track of new places. I do know that we haven't been on any vacations or international travel :)  Bart still hasn't recovered from Cancun- 5 months ago.


WHAT WE'VE LEARNED:
Ness: Child proofing is an evolving process- are you ever done?

Mommy is mean because she loves her plants and  won't let me kill them and rip off their leaves.

 Mommy is boring. Kids and animals and other peoples toys are more fun than sitting and playing with mom in the living room.

It's hard not to laugh and giggle when he spits his food and is smiling at me with broccoli on his nose.

The Baby Einstein DVD's aren't working well for us yet. He likes the music but the toy or whatever picture they put on the screen- he wants it and wants to touch it and play with it.

Dutch gets mad.  He closes his fists and his eyes and turns red while growling or screaming.

 

Bart: More like what I haven't learned, or am "un-learning":  I felt like I had feeding down... Nope, now more of it lands on the floor, in his hair or all over his face, rather than in his mouth.  I felt like I had diaper changes down.... Nope, nobody told me our angle baby would eventual not want to lay still on his back and coo while I took care of the poops, now its kicks and rolls and screams and smears!  I thought we had a routine.... Nope, well kinda nope, he's not really that bad. 

Now for the mushy...  I thought I had self-control.... Nope, its hard not to laugh and smile when he blows carrot mush bubbles all over the aisle and shopping cart in Walmart.  I thought it wasn't manly for a dad to think his boy is cute.... I was wrong - he is cute, and keeps getting cuter.  I thought I couldn't love him more than I did....  Again, I was wrong, I keep loving him more and more.