One year old

Duplo had his birthday on Friday. I wanted to share a few things about him so that when he asks what he was like as a baby, I’ll be able to find this and share with him.

1. Duplo is a sweetheart. He loves his family and will tolerate quite a lot from us, especially Lego, and especially if Lego is laughing. The look on his face is often, “Is this supposed to be fun? I’m not totally happy with it, but Lego’s laughing, so I guess it’s a game and I’ll laugh too.”

2. Duplo loves walking and climbing. He can climb up onto Lego’s bed, and from there, he could reach the pictures on the wall above it (well, until we hung them higher). He once climbed up onto a little picnic/sand table in our back yard. I turned around from pulling weeds to see him on top of it! I think my heart stopped for a moment.

3. Duplo likes lights. If you ask him where the light is, he’ll tilt his head way back to see it and point. If you ask him where Mommy or Daddy is, he’ll point to the light. We’re still working on that.

4. Duplo is a little carpet cleaner. If there is something on the carpet, he will find it. And put it in his mouth. And then bite whoever tries to remove it. Dozens of times every day. I will be so glad when he outgrows this stage. The grossest thing he’s put in his mouth so far is a pillbug/roly poly.

5. Duplo still likes to growl from time to time. He also says “muhmuh” meaning “milk” and “mum-mum” (yum-yum) meaning “solid food.” He said “dada” a few times when we were sure he meant Daddy, but I haven’t heard it for a couple of weeks.

6. Duplo loves his bath. Further, he gets really annoyed if anyone is in the bath or shower and he isn’t allowed to get wet too.

7. When Duplo pushes cars around like Lego does, he makes sound effects. We’re not sure if this is an innate skill that all young boys possess or if he learned it from watching his older brother.*

8. Duplo is starting to mimic our actions with certain objects around the house. He’ll brush his hair with a brush, hold a phone to his ear and babble into it, rub things with a rag, and scribble with a pen. The cutest ever was the other day when he pulled a piece of toilet paper off the roll, held it to his nose, and “blew” his nose into it, in and out.

9. Duplo is still not sleeping through the night. I’m hoping part of that has to do with frequent illnesses. At his one-year checkup today, we found out that he once again has an ear infection. He was throwing up over the weekend. Last week (or was it two weeks ago?) he had a bad cold. When will he just be healthy? Poor little guy.

10. Duplo can follow a few basic commands, though only when he wants to. These include “Come here,” “No,” “Don’t eat it,” and “Wave bye bye.” Today, he was playing with a pen and paper, so out of curiosity, I asked him, “Can you color?” He immediately squatted down, put the pen to the paper, and scribbled, then looked up at me for praise. Smart boy!

Here are some pictures from the birthday celebrations, for those of you who haven’t seen them yet:

*Some obstetricians have reported hearing “vroom vroom” sounds when trying to listen to boy fetuses’ heartbeats.