One Year New!

Yesterday was Will's first birthday! Since I never got around to writing down all the adventures of his first year in an actual baby book I've decided to keep track of things here. Maybe I'll catch up on the last year at some point, but for now I better just start with today.

Will's first birthday was a momentous occasion for several reasons...one being that we finally turned his carseat around from rear-facing to front-facing. Will seemed to enjoy the new view on the way to Wal-Mart. Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Mollie and Aunt Meg sent him a card which he highly enjoyed...he spent the ride to Wal-Mart picking off pieces of the card and eating them. At the store we picked up some stuff for Will's birthday cake and then headed over to the toy aisle to pick out something with the money Grandma sent him. We eventually decided upon a metal dump truck and a little keyboard. {I almost tripped some annoying kids that were riding the display bicycles up and down the aisle while screaming "move it" to me, but refrained mostly because I was afraid druggy mom might come around the corner and see me.} When we got up to the register I discovered a plastic dinosaur in the cart under Will which apparently he wanted so he got that too. (It was only 88 cents and it was his birthday after all!)

Some of the neighbors, Uncle Kyle, and Doug, Jo, and Sophia came over for cake and ice cream in the evening. Will wasn't sure what to do with his cupcake at first and tentatively picked off a piece of frosting to test things out. He must have decided he liked it though because his next move was to stuff the whole thing in his mouth. We opened presents after Will got a bath. Grandma said to buy Will a truck or something "meant to be pushed around on the floor" which is what he does with everything so I complied and bought him the aforementioned metal dump truck. Will did indeed push it around the floor...however, he didn't see any need for it to be taken out of the box first. Once I took it out of the box he was thrilled to find that it made a loud noise every time he rammed it into the glass sliding doors in the family room. Will ended the evening conked out on the family room floor with a bottle.

Today Will had his one year check-up at the doctor's office. His usual doctor didn't have any available appointments this month so he was seen by a physician's assistant. I was standing up and holding Will and trying to keep Will calm while the P.A. talked to me and asked me questions to make sure Will was normal. Will was playing with a plastic straw that he's been carrying around for days. Somehow while the P.A. was talking to me Will managed to poke himself in the eye with the straw and make his eyeball bleed (didn't know this was possible). Will screamed bloody murder for the next 15 minutes and the P.A. had to come over and check out his eye with his little light. I was rather embarrassed. Will had to get 3 shots so he didn't particularly enjoy his visit either.

Here are Will's stats from today's visit:
Weight: 21 lb 2 oz
Height: 31.1 inch
Head circumference: 47.2 cm

Will isn't walking yet, but he stands on his own whenever he wants to see something. Sometimes if there is music on he stands up and stretches his arms up and closes his eyes and bends his knees and does this funny dance kind of thing. He looks like a tv evangelist. Will is desperate to get at the keyboard so here is a message from him:
[p TYVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV T