Our sweet Anders celebrated his first birthday last week. We had so much fun celebrating him, and I’ll admit as I tried to focus the entire day on him I was surprised at how rarely I give him that kind of attention. I appreciated focusing on his interests and teaching Scotland the importance of prioritizing others.

Pancakes for breakfast amongst the renovation mess!

Free slices of pizza for lunch the weekend before his birthday.

Anders, how old are you?

Legos while his brother was at school

Sleepy eyes, and a battle wound under his eye- but still smiling as he shows off his standing skills.

This picture reminds me of the quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou

Outdoor playtime!

Scotland helped me make, taste, and decorate Anders’ cake.

Traditional birthday measuring. Sorry Scotland, he’s got you beat! The other tradition that we started this year was watching an encapsulation of the short video clips of Anders from the year. Tom edited them and put them together into an adorable 30 minutes. You can view it here if you’re interested. It was so much fun to see his growth and development.

Opening birthday cards from Grandma and Grandpa Foutz, Aunt Ann and Uncle Tim and Aunt Bev and Great Grandma Foutz.

Tickle wars with Uncle Derek, who flew all the way from Phoenix for the occasion. What a dedicated uncle!

Oh, and of course, the cake. He was a big fan!

Anders is a darling child. He’s incredibly happy, smiley and fun. He loves to play. He adores his older brother Scotland. Here’s his latest and greatest:

-Wanting to walk everywhere, walking holding one hand. He’s taken 8 steps on his own, but he’d still rather hold your hand just yet.

-Blowing kisses, on demand

-Holding up one finger when asked “How old are you?”

-Says: Momma, Dadda, Jesus, Ah dah- “all done,” Ha- “hot”

-Signs: please, all done, bread

-Climbing- he loves our step stools and is always super proud when he pulls his little head up over the counter to see whats going on. (Today he climbed from a step stool to a chair to stand up to the bar in our apartment, and then climbed down!)

-Throwing balls- he plays pass very successfully. He also loves kicking balls- whether sitting or standing.

-Patting your back while giving you hugs

-Playing coy

-Tilting his forehead in to touch mine as a gesture of affection

-No more passy

-He has a really hard time soothing himself back to sleep if is he is awaken prematurely.

-He’s crazy about his sippy cup. He can drink out of straws.

-Sleeps in “child’s pose”

-Rolling around (There were a few days where he kept rolling around on the ground- just for the fun of it.)

-When he’s upset he screams- really loudly! There is nothing sweet and pathetic about his tone when he’s mad.

-Pointing and chatting chatting chatting!