One year old!
Andreas celebrated his first birthday on December 26. It was a simple affair; we were in Georgia, so Oma and Opa got to be there for the big ONE. Simona enjoyed helping him open his gifts, and the guest of honor enjoyed playing with his new toys and new wrapping paper.
His first cake was fun all around. I enjoyed making it, though I must say that it didn’t turn out quite as I had envisioned! He ended up with a round, snow-ball looking creation (chocolate cake & coconut icing), while the rest of us enjoyed similar-looking cupcakes. (Hey- I never claimed to be Betty Crocker!)
Simona got to blow out the candle and lick the icing off of the #1. She also decided to bite off a bit and quickly learned that candles look prettier than they taste!
Andreas, for his part, started off skeptical, dipping his finger into the icing and cautiously licking. He quickly progressed from handfuls of icing to diving in face first, fulfilling his obligation to show enormous enthusiasm for his first birthday cake. Guess the funny looking snowball cake still tasted good!
A is crawling FAST, climbing and pulling up on everything, and starting to vocalize much more. (He even took his first few steps on January 2! But because he’s such a good crawler, he much prefers that mode of transportation.) He loves looking at books and pictures, making lots of little cooing noises while pointing at various pictures. I’m pretty sure he knows what the word “Katze” means (cat), and he definitely can identify various people. I whistle to him while I change his diapers, and he usually tries to whistle back at me, pursing his little lips and making sweet noises. His big sister can make him laugh at the drop of a hat and is by far his favorite person to watch. He loves baths, being chased, banging on things, and fruit. He hates vegetables, being scolded, and being strapped into his car seat. We are working on his sleeping habits- he take short naps because he’s such a light sleeper, and he STILL wakes up in the night pretty frequently. This is a huge contrast to Simona, who literally has slept through A stepping on her face.
His eyes are doing very well, though he still has three little granulomas (the bumps visible on his left eyelid) that lead to plenty of questions from strangers. He will need an additional surgery in a couple of years, at which time the granulomas can be removed. More important, though, is that his December ophthalmology check up went very well; he was right on track for visual development for a one-year-old. His ophthalmologist noted that he had made at note in the chart at his first appointment (at one month old) that Andreas would likely need glasses by his first birthday. We’re fortunate that’s not the case.
Hard to believe a whole year has gone by already. Your little dimples light up our house, and your laughter is contagious. We are lucky to have you in our family. Happy Birthday, Andreas!
