Happy Birthday, Jacob!

For the third time, I have blinked and found one of my babies celebrating a first birthday. I am fairly certain that I was handed a tiny newborn Jacob just yesterday. But the cake and balloons would seem to indicate otherwise.

Jacob must be one now, because...

• He's eating everything in sight. This is a very, very big deal. After months of feeding trauma and drama, after finding out he actually had an allergy to breast milk proteins, after spending a small fortune on specialty formula, after a number of trips to GI specialists, after one very awful barium-choking x-ray incident, Jacob simply decided one day that he was over his reflux. He started eating everything in sight, and he hasn't stopped since. His favorite foods are pizza (with pepperoni, pineapple and olives), bananas, cheerios, and lemon cookies. He does not want his food cut up into tiny bite-sized pieces, but prefers to gnaw on large choke-hazard-sized chunks of food that more closely resemble what is on everyone else's plate. He still can't quite handle whole milk, but all other dairy seems to be okay with his once-sensitive tummy at this point.
• There are no more bottles in my sink. As has been the tradition for the family of fish, his last night time bottle was offered to him on the eve of his first birthday. The others have faded away over time and been replaced by sippy cups of formula at meal times that he can drink himself. I'll be honest...Jacob's been my cuddliest baby to date. I'm going to miss feeding him his bottle. But since for the most part feeding time was starting to resemble my trying wrangle a screaming hungry octopus, I have a feeling Jacob prefers the new setup.
• He has zero interest in walking. Ability and desire are two very different things. The former he has, the latter he lacks. He'll stand unattended for minutes at a time without realizing it. He'll push his walker around then pick it up and sling it into a new position when he hits a corner. He cruises along the edge of the furniture like a champ. But asking him to put one foot in front of the other unaided is like asking an elephant to grow wings. It's simply not going to happen. Not yet, at least. When he needs to go somewhere, the one-knee, one-foot gorilla crawl is his preferred method of transportation. And he's darn good at it.
• He has a future in mountain climbing. I'm know, because there's nothing in this house he hasn't ascended to the top of. Chairs, boxes, stairs (lots and lots of stairs), the fireplace, mountains of laundry, his sister...you name it, he's climbed on or over it. He doesn't like to visit the same place twice, so when he disappears, it's a family effort to find him. This might be the baby that makes me break down and buy a baby gate.
• He's not much of a talker. Why should he be, when he's got a brother and sister to make all his decisions for him? He says "mama," which sometimes means me, and sometimes means whatever he wants at the moment. He used to say "baba" for bottle, but when we stopped giving him bottles that word disappeared. He barks at the dogs next door, which is cute, but as Abby reminded me, "Woofing is not a word Mommy." Justin's tried his best to get him to say "Dada," but Jacob just smiles and grunts back at him, or points and says "Mama!" He understands plenty of what we say, like "No," "Don't touch the dishwasher," "Get your hands out of the potty," "Where are the puppies," and "It's time for dinner." That'll get him by for a while.
• He's still a fantastic sleeper, in spite of the total lack of peace and quiet that comes along with living in this house. He sleeps from about 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. each night, and naps twice a day from 9:30 - 11 and from 1 - 4:30. (That afternoon nap is critical. Three kids sleeping at once is essential to mom's health and well-being.)
• He fits right in. Abby and Caleb love him, each in their own way. Abby is determined to protect him from anything she deems dangerous. Toys with parts that he might swallow are quickly removed from his hands, and crawling too close to the stairs results in him being picked up like a cat and dragged to a new location by his sister. Caleb has put himself in charge of making sure his brother doesn't embarrass him by playing with anything pink or doll-related, and he enforces some sort of truck sharing time limit that only he understands. They're both learning to be kind and patient with their little brother, even when he pulls hair, even when he destroys towers, and even when he steals toys. "He's just a baby," Abby will remind Caleb, "and he doesn't know any better." But if Jacob's going to make it around here, he'll learn pretty quickly.
• He's mild-mannered, fun, and full of personality. He loves to laugh, wrestle and snuggle, and he's friends with anyone he meets. He can sleep anywhere, unless there's a lot going on, and then he will forego whatever rest he might need to be a part of the action. He loves to wave, stick out his tongue at people, and thinks it's hilarious when we imitate the things he does. He's got a great personality, and I can't wait to see what it looks like in a toddler.

We celebrated his birthday with family and pizza and cupcakes, and he loved all the attention. We spent his special day doing everything he loves--the Chick-fil-a play place, the playground, and chasing balloons around the house. We even stuck a candle in a lemon cookie for him, just for grins.

It's been a fantastic year with our little guy, and we're so blessed to call him ours. Happy birthday Jacob!