12 months old! (that's one whole year!)

Finn is now one year old, and I can barely believe it.  We've had a lovely time over his birthday so in a few days I'm going to devote an entire post just to that... but I wanted to do a general monthly update first.  So here it is!  First up, his photos side-by-side (and yes, he is holding a glue stick. He had decided that he desperately loved it and was carrying it around and I wasn't about to take it off him... don't judge me.)

11 months old

12 months old

A couple outtakes:

He got weighed when we went to see the allergist a couple weeks ago (all previous problems are now gone! yay!) and he was bang on target for around the 65th percentile - which would put him now at

10.2 kilos
or 22 lbs7 oz
or 1 stone and 8 pounds
depending on your preference.

He also had his other measurements done and he was around the 80th percentile for length which would put him now at
78 cm
or 2 and a half feet
depending on your preference.

So all pretty normal - but his head?  His head was above the 91st percentile!  47.75 cm around (or 1 and a half feet).  We've always joked about his big head, but now it's been confirmed.  He has a BIG head.  It's just all the brains...

What else?
He's got all four of his 'first molars' now bringing the teeth total to 12! Here you can kind of see them:

He's still very musical and now includes the harmonica in his instrument repertoire:

And you will often find him "singing."  LOUDLY!

We still have the keyboard out and it is a very useful distraction when trying to get things done... like cooking dinner.  (And yes, those are carrot peelings all over the floor - he was also finding those very entertaining! Don't judge me!).

He only commando crawls now if he needs to get somewhere fast - otherwise it is the normal sort of crawling:

(This is from the photos we took on his birthday... more to come in a few days but here's one of my favourites:)

He spends a lot of the time standing up and using the furniture to move about.  There have been quite a few instances where he thinks he can walk and will let go - but he can't walk.  And he falls.  And cries.  Siiigh - one of these days it will work!  He loves walking about though.  Here are some pictures from when James' Manx mates, David and Leanne came to stay with us for a week.  We had lots of London fun! (Please note, I did NOT choose his outfit.  This is clearly a James created ensemble. Feel free to judge.)

My parents got Finn a bike seat for his birthday and we've been getting lots of good use out of it!  I love it, Finn loves it, James loves it - and Finn just looks so CUTE in that helmet!  I can barely stand it.

Nursery is still going really well, though Finn has been ill off and on over the past month so hasn't done a full week in a while.  But he seems to really enjoy it, and loves the people there - which has its downside.  When I go to collect him in the afternoon, I don't say hello straight away.  Because he wants to be picked up immediately, I quietly go in and make sure I've got the sling on and everything sorted before I go over to wherever he is.  And today when I arrived I could hear him crying.  I then watched as Sharon, his key-worker, came to him.  He immediately reached up to her and she picked him up.  He rested his head on her shoulder and stopped crying.  Of course, when I went over he wanted to come to me but there was something about watching him ask for comfort from someone else that bit into me with jealousy.  I'm also so so happy to have seen how much he likes Sharon and how well looked after he is... but it was a hard truth to see, I must admit.
Apparently today he was in a particularly joyful mood.  He found a toy with buttons that played animal sounds when you pressed them.  He found one that was a monkey noise and seemed to find it hilarious!  He kept pressing it and laughing until he was laughing so hard he had to lay down! And then Sharon kept pressing it because he was just being so funny :)
Stories like that make me feel so much better about leaving him all day - though again it's hard to not be a little jealous that I didn't get to see it...

Anyway! Nothing left but the obligatory 'extra photos that I just really like!'
Enjoy!