1 year old!

we all survived the first year!

in mid-october i was making my daycare follow-up calls to see where we were on the waitlist, and was pleased to get a part-time spot at BACI.  J started his gradual entry at daycare on december 1, and he did really well.  also, being the second kid i had less sympathy for the clinging and crying (which actually wasn't too bad).  my biggest worry about daycare was the napping - i didn't know how he would adjust to a different crib in a strange room with another baby.  but to my relief he did ok.  his first nap there was only 45 minutes, but he has since worked up to 2 hours and 2 different naptimes. success!  the daycare staff have been great and accommodated J's schedule really well, so he usually has 1:1 time with the staff when the older babies are napping.  

as for the other kids, J is the youngest and the next youngest is only a month older than him.  all the other kids are over 18 months.  thankfully J is a great walker so he can keep up with the older kids and doesn't get trampled over.  much to my mom's dislike, J has figured out how to climb stairs. he is much more advanced than G at the same age!  J is also more determined than G ever was...whenever something is in his way, he'll use brute force to get through his obstacles - whether it's furniture to move around or toys to destroy, he'll do whatever it takes to get the end result.

we've been encouraging J to self-feed whenever possible.  he was always reluctant to hold mum-mums and feed himself...everything ended up on the floor.  but he's getting much better about gripping his food and eating it.  he's also good with his bottle and will grab it and drink on his own.  J adjusted well to whole milk, and now i'm weaning him down to nursing once a day.  because he's been sick lately, i've nursed him randomly throughout the day...it just helps to calm him down.  thankfully it hasn't increased my milk supply!

sleeping at night is still erratic.  with the boys sharing a room, it's a struggle to have a good night's sleep.  G is a light sleeper so anytime J cries out, G wakes up.  we usually let J just cry it out until he falls asleep again and we have set up a sleeping bag in our room for G if the crying is out of control. the joys of small condo living :P

as for J's birthday celebration, we just did a small family dinner with our 2 families.  having a christmas-time birthday is tough...between sick people, end of year activities at school, and shopping, it's hard to plan anything else.  in lieu of a party, i did have 2 cakes for J...a cake for his birthday dinner as well as a smash cake for home (which we never did for G).  turns out the smash cake wasn't required...J was sick on his birthday and didn't want anything to do with it.  so, we invited our neighbour over and we got to enjoy another HL Sweets creation :-)

now that J's birthday has come and gone, my maternity leave is officially over and i'm back on the payroll :P  jan. 12 i'm back to work!