Hellobee

Baby Oats turned one yesterday, despite all of my requests that he stay a tiny baby forever. I know things don’t typically change overnight, but I look at him now and see a little boy instead of my squishy little guy. Maybe it’s the haircut (which is adorable, but I totally regret because it makes him look so much older), or maybe it’s the fact that he’s only 5lbs lighter than his 3 year old sister, but even the moniker ‘Baby’ Oats doesn’t quite seem to fit. I’m sticking with it though, because he’s my last baby.

We’ve been through a lot in this year, both as a family and with Baby Oats specifically. At 4 weeks old he was diagnosed with reflux disorder, at 6 weeks old diagnosed with a dairy allergy. At 8 weeks old we found out he had a hearing loss, and at 12 weeks we saw an ENT to chat about the fluid built up in his ears. By 16 weeks, we were starting to get concerned about his weight, and by 20 weeks we were very concerned about his weight. At 24 weeks, the fluid in his ears had cleared up, but by 30 weeks, he’d had two more ear infections. We dealt with croup, with roseola, with painful teething, with accidental dairy exposure that lead to projectile vomiting and awful diaper rash. We’ve used disposable diapers and cloth diapers, we’ve baby-worn and used a stroller, we’ve exclusively breastfed and supplemented with formula. And through it all, regardless of what has been thrown his way, Baby Oats remains the happiest, most laid-back and easygoing kid I’ve ever met. Nothing fazes him, except for people who are unwilling to share food, and the odd time his sister sits on him.

At a year old, he signs ‘more’, ‘all done’, ‘eat’ and ‘milk’ (you wouldn’t guess he likes to eat…). He says ‘rawr’, ‘dada’, ‘eat’, ‘book’, and sometimes ‘Deedee’ (Kennedy) and ‘mama’. He’s extremely good at letting you know what he wants – usually through a series of growls and shrieks. He loves books, dinosaurs, and music, and has this awesome hands-in-the-air dance that cracks me up every time. Baby Oats crawls everywhere, and he can speed up like crazy when he’s got something he shouldn’t. He’s pulling to standing on anything available, and we recently discovered (through lack of baby gate) that he can climb an entire flight of stairs. He puts everything in his mouth, and since he’s a little chipmunk, we periodically do a cheek sweep to make sure he hasn’t hidden anything in there. The most common phrase in our house at the moment is “Max, what’s in your mouth?” The answer is anything from paper, tin foil, dice, rocks, shoes, puffs, random things from under the couch, or whatever part of his sister’s breakfast he can steal.

He absolutely adores his big sister, and wants to be wherever she is. Little Oats doesn’t love the constant shadow she has, but is usually wonderful with him. He thinks he’s as big as she is, and often joins her on the trampoline, in the bathroom, or in any number of troublemaking pursuits. I’m kind of thankful that he can’t walk yet; otherwise, we’d be in a LOT more trouble.

I can’t believe he’s been in our life for an entire year now. We’re so lucky to have him, and I can’t wait to see what adventures the next year has in store!