One Year Milestones

Introduction
To confess up front, I am stealing this idea from my friend Timbra Wiist. She keeps up a cute blog about her family (mainly her little girl- Alani). Alani is about 7 months Canaan's senior. Anyway, Timbra does a post on Alani's month birthdays (15 mos, 18mos, etc.) that records all her milestones she's reached. I thought it was a great idea. Since Canaan just had his first birthday, then I can tell you all about where he is at in the baby world. Though I am very convinced that Canaan is my little genius, I do know all babies reach different milestones at different times. Even Canaan seems a bit behind on some things (like he doesn't point or gesture at much now), but I think he is ahead on other things. So I guess it all evens out in the long run! So, here I go at bragging!

Up-to-Date Stats
Height: 30 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 20 lbs 6 oz (20th percentile)
Head Cir: 19 inches (85th percentile)
7 Teeth
Light Brown Hair
Green(ish) Eyes
Beautiful!

Physical Feats
Canaan was a late crawler, starting around 9 1/2 months of age, but started walking at about 11 months of age. He would walk with his hands stretching out straight in front of him for about a month; many people thought we should dress him up as Frankenstein for Halloween because of his entertaining walk. Now that he is 12 months, he is toddling around without any hand balance. When he gets really excited, Canaan tries to run. It is adorable: we'll pretend to chase him and he starts walking/running away as fast as he can. But he is so excited, his legs get a bit stiff-which makes it hard to get anywhere fast.
Canaan also has started throwing a ball. It is just an excited hand thrust-and-release. But it gets the ball rolling forward for the most part. He also loves pushing around his big truck and small trucks.

Vocabulary
Canaan has been our little verbal genius. He started with uh-oh at 7 1/2 months. When he turned 9 months, he already said 4 words. Now, at 12 months, Canaan has about 23 words. They include: book, Bible, truck (uck), tractor (trator), daddy (dad), bye-bye, up, sock (ock-usually he calls his shoes socks), uh-oh, auntie (a-tee), UD (stands for Uncle David), Gran-nan (Na-nan), Grand-dad (dad-dad), thank you (da-doo), ba-ba (any animal except cat), hi kitty cat (hi key-tat), ball (ba), teeth (teet), elbow (e-bow), bath (bat), all done (all), peek-a-boo (a-boo), drink (nk).
We've also been signing with Canaan. Although his verbal vocabulary is so big, he relies on the signs to help communicate these important words: help, more, please, eat, milk, more, elephant, all done, and (waves) bye.
Canaan has started putting together random syllables lately. I think this is the beginning of babbling. He hasn't really done this yet. He always has been intentional with his words up until now.
Canaan also can point to certain body parts. He can identify his toes, ears, head, teeth and fingers (by wiggling). This must be attributed to his Gran-Nan buying him a flip book with body parts. He loves to read it, so we go through everything as he does. The first time he heard the word elbow, he said it and can identify which picture is the one of the elbow! Kids are so funny as to what they pick up on.
Canaan also gives high fives and claps when asked. (He's been doing both of these since he was 9 months old.) Canaan thinks clapping is TONS OF FUN! He always smiles and cheers up when we clap. If we are having a hard time getting him to smile for a picture, we start clapping with him and he smiles instantly! He even claps for himself if I tell him he's a 'good boy.'

Favorites

• Even now, Canaan definitely has some preferences. He loves books. Often the first words that pass his lips after we get him out of bed is: a book. He loves reading. This past week he's been sick and has constantly asked for a book. He just likes to cuddle on your lap and read. Right now, Grand-Dad is his favorite book pal. If he is around, then that is who Canaan wants to read him a book.

• Trucks are his favorite toys. He calls anything with wheels a "uck" (despite mommy's efforts to help him identify that some are cars or trains). He does recognize a tractor (ta-tr) with little or now prompting. But trucks are the light of his little life. I have decided they are a wonderful and pure boy toy. So, we are all about trucks these days. This is actually the one thing that will distract him from a book! Balls are also a big hit lately. He loves to carry two around and throw them toward us.

• Baby Einstein. We bought him a movie about a month ago. It is "First Signs." We thought it would help him with his sign vocabulary. Until recently (since he's been sick), he would only sit for 15 minutes of this 27 minute video. His favorite part about it is this little blue puppet. I am in a quandary as to what animal it is supposed to be, but I think it is supposed to be a cat. I have included a picture of it so you can ponder as to it's identity as well.

• He is definitely a home boy. He loves being at home. We can keep him out late, past his bedtime or nap, but when we get home, he has to have some 'unwind time' before bedtime. He just loves playing with his toys and being amongst familiar surroundings. He is pretty good at independent play, though he has started wanting more interactive play with mommy here lately. He also loves helping mom around the house. He goes behind me and shuts all the doors I open, including the fridge door and all cabinet doors I try to open. Often he shuts the doors before I am finished digging in them. Ummm. He also likes to help with the dishwasher. He will pull in and out the racks. We've begun learning not to touch the silverware, because he always reaches for the sharp knives. When he thinks I should be finished with the dishwasher, he closes it all up for me. The other day, he was helping me with the laundry, carrying around two empty detergent bottles. What a big helper I have! :)

• Animals. Canaan gets very excited when he sees our cat. He squeals delightedly as he says hi kitty cat! He also likes dogs, horses and other animals. He clumps all other animals (besides the cat) into the word: ba-b0. Very strange. I haven't figured out yet where that came from.

• Canaan is an excellent sleeper. However, he has become attached to his pacifier and blanket for sleeping. The pacifier is a good thing; when he doesn't have it, he sucks his fingers or thumb. The blanket was an accident. I think we are going to have to get a 'back up' blanket for when we move- just in case mommy accidentally misplaces his favorite one.
  

Culinary Delights
Canaan is still hanging onto his bottle. He loves his milk. Right now I am mixing it half formula with half real milk. He is doing well with that. He loves to drink our drinks- especially from a straw. He like pretty much anything we are drinking. In his own cup, he likes water and some watered down cranberry juice. That is all so far.
Eating is a bit of a challenge right now. He still loves his baby oatmeal (the stuff that tastes like paste and cardboard). He does like cream of wheat and regular oatmeal too. He likes Mommy's homemade rolls (who doesn't?). Yogurt is a big hit now. He will eat up all you'll give him! He is currently not eating baby food anymore, but will try a lot of what we eat. He'll eat many cooked vegetables. Spaghetti is also a favorite. However, he almost refuses to even put fruit to his lips. He's never been real big on the baby food fruit and that has carried over into regular fruit. He used to like bananas, but he'll have none of those anymore. In fact, whenever I put something into his mouth that he doesn't like, he starts gagging. He even started gagging the other day when I brushed a grape across his lips to see if he'd like the flavor. What a silly boy!
I haven't been brave enough to let him feed himself with a spoon yet. I think I will be starting soon though!

I'm sure I could write TONS more about our little boy. But I will stop myself. I hope you enjoyed reading ALL ABOUT CANAAN!