Asa is 1!

 And Just like that, my baby is one! It really isn't fair how fast it all seems to go. 

Asa is really good at imitating us: coughs, blowing kisses, growling, blowing on his food, waving hello and goodbye. He's like a sponge these days. He's trying to figure out some sign language but usually only does his attempts after I have done them. It sounds like he is saying "mo" at times too. He can say mamama and dadada and usually uses them in the right context. His main form of communication is urgent yells and grunts until we figure out what he wants. 

Whenever he goes to bed we have him blow kisses to everyone, and then I nurse him before laying him down. Now when he wants to nurse he blows kisses...good old classical conditioning. 

We did a beach day on his birthday and he didn't eat the sand by the handfuls...so he must be growing up.

He finally decided that crawling is much more effective than dragging himself around and he has gotten really fast. He loves stairs but isn't very good at going down, Aunt Brittany's stairs into her white room are his favorite because they are wide, and covered in cushy soft carpet so it doesn't hurt when he falls down them. The perfect place to practice. 

He is starting to cruise around on things and has moments where he'll stand unassisted, but they are very short. 

Church is a challenge lately because he spends most of his time trying to get to Dad on the stand. Tanner is fine with holding him but he isn't content with just that and wants to explore. So we spend a lot of time in the foyer right now. 

He really wants to be an independent eater but usually just grabs his food, sticks it on his fork, and then puts it in his mouth. He also thinks he should be able to eat his oatmeal all by himself, but ends up looking like this: 

Pictures just don't do justice to how much oatmeal he had on him, this was a straight to the bath mess. Josie, however, was thrilled with everything on the floor; this is her favorite stage...sometimes, Josie does not love when he screams in her face and bats at her. But she does love when he grabs one of her toys and waves it around in her face. Asa thinks it's hilarious when she tries to get the toy. That is when we get the best belly laughs from Ace. 

He tried whipped cream for the first time and loved it. 

His hair was getting a little out of hand so I gave him another haircut. I really didn't want to get rid of his curls in the back so he ended up with a mullet situation. 

Haircuts on babies are hard...he kept grabbing the sink handle and switching it to hot and then trying to bat my hands away as I cut his hair. So don't be judging when you see his new 'do. 

Showing off his haircut with dad. It's always exciting when he gets home from work. 

This boy is such a joy, he keeps us on our toes but we all just adore him so much. Now to see if we can keep him out of the dog food and away from the stairs...