What I want to remember about James at 12 months...

* He can walk (when he wants to!). In most cases, he will start off walking then when he falls down he finishes out the journey by crawling. He can crawl much faster than he can walk.

* James absolutely loves being outside. He can be super tired and whiny inside and then turn into the happiest little guy as soon as you step outdoors.

* He can say quite a few words now. I'll see if I can remember all of them: mama, dada, byebye (buhbuh), baby, up, down, Beasley (Bee), bottle (baba), no no (nah nah), uh oh. Rod and I just went through his animal sounds tonight and these are the ones he knows without prompting: elephant, cow, sheep, bird, dog, cat, duck, snake (just learned this one today!), monkey, lion.

* When we start to sing "I have hands that clap clap clap" he claps his hands. If we sing "with James in the family" he says "hah" (his version of "happy happy home").

* One of his favorite activities is watching videos of himself on my iPhone. He probably spends at least 15-20 minutes every day watching his videos.

* He is still in love with books. The Pout Pout Fish remains at the top of his list. His attention span has extended and he will usually sit through about 4-5 books at one time. We usually save "Blub Blub" (as he calls The Pout Pout Fish) for last.

James makes us laugh constantly with his goofy faces and noises. He brings lots of joy (and entertainment) into our family.

Happy Birthday to my little sweetheart!

James turned 1 year old today. We are the luckiest parents in the world! This sweet little boy has brought us more joy than we could have ever imagined. :)

I love my silly little boy!

This week I noticed that James has started to take an interest in cars. Previously, we had thought he was going to be a tech geek like his parents, but now I see that he also has a mind for mechanics. :) He has taken to pushing cars all around the house. He crawls with one hand and two knees while the other hand is pushing the car out in front of him. Of course, he is not picky about what kind of car he uses. In fact, he has been seen pushing a remote control, book and cooking pot.

One of his favorite new games is sitting on my lap and then bending backwards so he can see the world upside down. He clearly says "up" and "down" to tell you which direction he wants to go!

He is really enjoying the warm weather lately. Every time we walk by the door he says "buh bye" and tries to grab the door. As soon as you walk outside he gets a huge smile on his face!

Right now he is very sleepy, so I must end this and put him down for a nap. I wish I could post a video of how he is telling me he is ready for a nap. He is rubbing his face as hard as he can on my face. One of us is going to get a black eye!