Look Who's 1

You'll never know how fast a year can go until you spend one watching a baby grow.

From this:

To this:

 We had a MASSIVE birthday bash for Jamie on his birthday ... haha.  The elegant dinner began with the pre-nibbled bagel, leftover from Lucy's lunch.  Jamie found it and was desperate to eat it; I couldn't tear it away from him.  Who doesn't love nutella, right?  Even when all that's left is whatever soaked into the bread before Lucy licked all the good stuff off the top.  Let it sit for a few hours and voila - a dinner fit for kings, or first birthday princes.

 On to a delicious yogurt with a dogged determination to feed yourself, no matter how messy you might end up.  We're building spoon skills here.

 Continue by opening the one gift left that Lucy didn't already sneak away to open under her covers in her room.  Oh, wait.  Continue by letting your big sister open your last unopened gift.

 But, hey, at least mommy got a little creative with the cake.  Jamie loves loves loves playing with balls.  We got him a tiny fisher price basketball hoop that lights up and sings when you get a basket, which is why I thought of the basketball cake.  So far he's unimpressed with the hoop, but carries the two balls that it came with around like prizes.  As I write this Jamie's going back and forth in our kitchen with a ball - toss and chase, toss and chase.  I kind of wonder if this baby obsession is at all a preview of how many years I will spend sitting on bleachers. 

Finally, what's better than a personal serenade by Lucy followed by digging into that basketball cake?  I didn't hold sweets and junk from Jamie like I did from Lucy - I was more relaxed this time and he was a much better eater from the start, giving me less reason for concern about eating habits.  Pair with the sharing that happened (Lucy started shoving things like Doritos and brownies in his mouth at about 4 months when he was upright in the exersauce or jumper) and the cake wasn't necessarily totally new, but he hasn't ever been able to chow down a big slice like he did here.

The aftermath.  Thanks for the wonderful year, baby J, and many wishes for a hundred more.