Fenn at Twelve Months Old

This is Fenn at Twelve Months. This is the twelfth (and final) installment in the "12-month" onesie" series. {Be sure to click on the "12-Month Onesie Photos" link over in the right-hand column underneath the heading "More Photos of Fenn" if you want to see all 12 photos together.} I normally post this right around the 10th of the month, but this time I waited until now so that I could include the information from Fenn's 12-month visit to the pediatrician this morning.

These are his stats at 54 weeks:
Weight: 23 lbs. 9 oz. (57th %)
Length: 30.75" (73rd %)
Head: 47 cm (64th %)

Compare this to his stats at 41 weeks old:
Weight: 21 lbs. 14 oz. (67th %)
Length: 28.25" (44th %)
Head: 46.4 cm (77th %)

It's funny that he actually dropped down from the 67th percentile to the 57th percentile for his weight, because everyone who sees him comments about what a big boy he is. He's not fat, he's just solid. At the same time, he had quite a growth spurt, jumping from the 44th percentile to the 73rd percentile! So it looks like he might be tall, or at least taller than mommy and daddy.

I was looking back at the post I did for his 12-month onesie photo when he was 9 months old. At that time, he had 5 teeth. In three months time, he got 7 more teeth. By the time he was 12 months old, he had the first 8 teeth and all 4 of his first molars. And Dr. Herron said the gums are thin for one of his upper canines to come in soon. We're worried that since he's been early for all of his teeth so far, he'll be cutting those 2nd molars about the time piperbean #2 comes along. That should be fun!

We're having lots of fun (and getting really exhausted) chasing Fenn around the house now. He's completely mobile and walks all over the house. In a matter of two or three weeks, he went from taking about 6 or 7 steps at a time to taking off and walking down the hall, turning around, coming back, walking around the island in the kitchen, and back into the den. One of his favorite things to do is open and close cabinet doors and bedroom or bathroom doors. Let me clarify... He doesn't really close the doors all the way (since he can't reach the doorknob), but he'll push it so that it's partially closed and then open it again. We are slowly getting the cabinets in the kitchen baby-proofed. We've had fun watching him try to open cabinets or drawers he was previously able to open. He'll stand there and keep jerking on the door or drawer and then finally give up and look for one he can still open. Then once he finds one, he starts pulling things out (like his Yogurt Melts, Fruit Snacks, or anything he can get his hands on). Over the weekend, before we baby-proofed the cabinet where the trash cans are kept, he managed to get in the trash and pull out a plastic applesauce container. He was so proud of himself walking around the kitchen with it. Something else he's able to do now is climb steps. One day recently, Dan was playing with him in the downstairs den. Before he knew it, Fenn had walked over to the stairs and was starting to climb them. Dan stayed behind him and let him do it just to see how far he could get. And he made it all the way up.

As for talking, I think we can safely say that Fenn's first word is ball. He also knows bath and bye-bye. Of course, all three of those words sound kind of similar. But he definitely knows the difference. If you mention anything about getting a bath, he starts repeating the word and looks toward the bathroom. He has finally learned how to wave (while saying "bye-bye") and how to blow a kiss. He still doesn't call us mommy and daddy (or ma-ma and da-da), but he makes the sounds. He just doesn't associate it directly with us yet by calling out for us. However if you say ma-ma or da-da, he'll look at whichever one you mentioned.

I'll finish up by telling one funny thing he did the other night when we were feeding him. I had cut up some grapes for him. He doesn't love grapes, but he'll eat some. Then I went and got some blackberries (which, by the way, are one of his favorite things). I was about to give him a piece of one, and then noticed he still had some grapes in his mouth. I told him to chew them up, but by this time, he had already spotted the blackberries. So he did what any smart toddler would do... he opened his mouth and let the half-chewed grapes fall out and leaned forward (with mouth wide open) to get a blackberry!