Little explorer

Owen has started taking his curiosity all of the house. I think he has opened every door and looked in every corner he can get to. He also learned how to climb the steps recently. One day I looked away for a minute and when I looked up again I just saw 1 little foot peaking out from the bottom of the stairs. He slipped on the third step and bumped his face a little bit which stalled him for a few days but he tried again and made it all the way up!
He's been nursing more often and eating less table food and I'm not sure if one is causing the other. I have no intention of weaning him any time soon since that is not a battle I want to deal with. He's nursing usually 4 times a day but usually asks more often than that.
He's been signing a lot lately which is fun but he has about 3 signs that mean 6-7 things.
I counted the other day that he knows about 10 signs but doesn't always use them. He'll properly sign milk, eat, all done, fan and used to say more correctly but now more, please and eat are the same. He'll occasionally sign bird, dog and water. Owen also learned to pray before his meals which we love. We'll put him into his highchair then say "let's pray!" And he'll put his hands together while we pray. We borrowed some Signing Time DVDs from the library several weeks ago and he seems to enjoy them and I think they've helped him learn.
Owen hasn't been feeling well all day. He's been running a fever of around 101-102 which is sad to see but I'm loving the cuddles I'm getting. I think he may be getting molars in because he's been trying to chew on stuff in the back of his mouth. He ran a fever when his top teeth came in too so maybe that's all it is. He slept about 4.5 hours today so I'm hoping he still sleeps tonight and feels better tomorrow. Since we were traveling 2 days in a row he didn't get a real nap in either of those days which probably wore him out as well.

Parenting is not for the weak or the lazy

Have I mentioned how difficult it is to parent a 1 year old? The last few weeks have been extremely trying. I look at the pictures above and wonder what happened to my sweet little boy. I frequently wonder if I'm being too strict and and always worry that I'm being too harsh. Our most frequent battles are over not touching the dvd player, throwing everything off the highchair tray and diaper changes. He gets his hand swatted when he disobeys but he cries for 5 seconds and is back to doing what he was just disciplined for. I know he's worse when he's tired so this morning I put him down for his nap a little earlier than normal but he's just screaming in his bed. I'm hoping (probably naively!) that we're just getting the terrible 2's out of the way early. One of the hardest things I think is looking back at the day and realizing that the bad outweighed the good. It's difficult to swallow. As a mom you think it's your responsibility to make your child's day great so when you have a not so great day you feel at fault. I keep reminding myself that this is a season that will pass. There will be easier (as well as more difficult) days ahead. Raising a child is not like babysitting. I'm not always going to be the fun one.

I realize that the above paragraph was mostly word vomit and possibly doesn't flow well but my brain is mush and that's what happens. I am up for any advice from parents on how to handle screaming, discipline and expectations!

Now on to good things! Owen has slept through the night 5 nights in a row! The best part is I didn't even do anything to train him. He's been going down at 7:30 and getting up around 7:00 which is great. He then naps at 9:30 and again around 2:00. Lately the morning nap has been at least an hour and a half and the afternoon nap is maybe an hour.
Owen is also doing pretty well at following directions when he wants to. He was playing with a Tupperware bowl the other day and put it on his head which was really funny. After that happened I started asking him to put things on his head and he will try! Most of the time it just gets to his ear but he tries. He'll drop his paci in his crib when I ask him to and he'll look for his owl blanket.
He enjoys putting things in containers then dumping them out.
He loves playing with my phone and figure out how to push the button that will bring up the photo of him and I.
He's obsessed with buttons. I was holding him the other day and he kept pointing at Pat then we realized that he wanted to touch the buttons on Pat's shirt.
He likes broccoli and pasta but not a lot else. He's still really picky which is frustrating. Even his beloved Cheerios have lost some love.
He signs "more" for everything. Signing "all done" is usually flailing arms and a disgusted look. Instead of signing "milk" he beats my chest and looks down my shirt.
He loves dancing to music.
Banging the cabinet doors is fun but when mom says "bang!" it is hilarious.
I gave him milk for the first time last night. He is not a fan.

Pasta night

Valentine's Eve dinner

Just driving around the mall on my birthday!

I tried so hard to keep his mouth off of that thing but no luck.

1 Year stats

Owen had his 1 year check up today and here are the results:

H: 30.25 in (70%)
W: 22.33 lbs (48%)
HC: 19 in (90%)

He had to get 4 shots today and these were the worst since the very first set. The needles were huge and I should not have watched her shove them into my babies legs. At least we're done for a while!