Happy ONE YEAR Birthday Cavin!

HE'S ONE! We did it! We made it through the first year successfully - with a happy and healthy baby, happy daddy, and very happy mommy. I cannot speak for the animals but I think they are happier too.

This month has been very exciting! Cavin is a burst of energy and personality. When he is frustrated he lets you know by flopping to the floor and rolling on his back. When he is happy he bobs up and down on his knees while laughing. When he is bored he babbles about his day. He loves to be around his mommy and daddy and has become just a tad bit clingy. He's also shown some independence. Sometimes if we feed him a certain food he won't take it...but then he'll grab it off his plate and put it in his mouth by himself.

Cavin is also drinking white cow's milk, has 6 teeth, and added the word "light" to his vocabulary. It is by far his favorite word. Every single time he sees a light - I mean we are talking lamps, candles, light outside, pictures of lights - he says "light". The kid is fascinated! His vocabulary includes "light" (obviously), "dada", "mama" (but not as much as "dada" but definitely when he is upset still...sigh...), "dodee" (translated to 'doggy'), and "ca" or "kitty". He loves to point at everything, give high fives, turn lights on and off when you ask him to, brush his teeth, and play chase.

And the most exciting part is that Cavin has begun walking! Last week he walked up to 14 steps in a row. I gotta tell you, we were getting impatient. Since he was crawling at 6 months and standing at 6.5 months everyone had their bets on Cavin walking by 10 months. Well, that didn't happen. I kept trying to explain to him that there were more efficient ways of transportation but, as I've learned, everything is in his own time.

So see for yourself! Here's a video of Cavin walking to daddy and back. Also notice how Mr. Show-off walks blindly back to me with the football in his mouth and then celebrates at the end.

This month's Elmo picture proved much easier than in month's past. Something about being a mature one year old meant that Cavin would sit there for a long enough to time to actually give mommy a couple of great choices for Elmo shots (gasp)! But you'd rather see the funny ones so here we go:

I call this one 'Rockette Cavin':

And 'crazy Cavin':

And there's the J-Lo booty shot:

Now on to the stats:

Height: 31.5 inches (90th - 95th percentile)

Weight: 23 pounds, 9 ounces (50th - 75th percentile)

Head: 48 centimeters (95th percentile - still a Spruiell noggin')

Interestingly enough, our pediatrician said that if he continues to grow at these same percentiles he will be 36 inches tall, be 28-29 pounds, and have a jack-in-the-box size head (just kidding about the head part) by the time he is 2 years old.

Happy First Birthday Cavin! Here's to many more cakes in our future...