Happy First Birthday!!

M's first birthday was a lot of fun. It was pretty much everything I wanted it to be, which isn't that hard to achieve because I'm a minimalist with modest expectations. No giant theme party for us. The best birthday memories from my childhood involve my mom baking a cake, good ice cream, family, and getting presents. That's the ideal I aimed to recreate for my boy, and I think it came together nicely.

We had our local family come over after school/work, which means Mr. I's parents and brother and his wife and three kids. We had pizza, played some simple games, sang happy birthday and had cake. Miles cracked everyone up by picking up his entire piece of cake in two hands and eating it like a sandwich. He got some books and gift cards and a toy drum from us (we don't mind noisy toys, and he loves music!). He was a total trooper staying up two hours past his bedtime... sometimes you gotta bend the rules a little.

Of course, we kinda paid for it that night because he slept like crap. Oh well.

The next morning we had his 12 month well baby visit. I was glad that Mr. I had another day off work to come with, because man it's so much easier to do those appointments with two parents present. Miles remembered the place from 5 months ago and was upset pretty much the entire time we were there. Sigh. I hope he grows to love our pediatrician as much and Mr. Ibis and I do. He's a really great doc, very gentle manner, explains everything and answers all questions big and small. I also love him because I feel he's very much in line with us on various issues... he is very supportive of us not circumcising and still breastfeeding, but he is also very balanced in terms of conventional AAP-style medicine and whatnot. For instance he made a convincing case for getting the varicella vaccine, but he did NOT make us feel uncomfortable about deciding to hold off on that one and the flu vaccine, which we did.

I will tell you, the 12 month vaccinations were the easiest yet in terms of side effects. I guess the DTaP is the one that bothers most babies... Miles was always feverish and cranky after previous shots, but this time he was happy as a clam as soon as we got the hell out of the doctor's office!

It was a bear getting him down for a nap today, but other than that he's been in such a great mood for the past few days, despite the fact that he is getting more teeth (top incisors). I think he is happier when Mr. Ibis is home, which makes sense of course, but having him here for two days definitely made an obvious difference in the little guy's behavior... it is great that he loves having his dad home but a little sad that he gets so cranky when he's away.

By the way he is definitely saying "Mama" and "Dada" with purpose now. At the doc's office while I was holding him still for various pokings and proddings, Miles kept yelling for "Dada! Dada!" Ouch.