Happy 1st Birthday, Sawyer!

Sawyer's very own birthday cake

Aunt Jonette and Cole sing "Happy Birthday" to Sawyer

Mmmmmm, pretty tasty!

Sawyer digs all the ribbons...

and the bag lights up and plays "Happy Birthday" too!

(Sawyer points out the candles that are lit.)

Sawyer gets his very own cell phone! Very cool!

Sawyer plays drums with his Dad. He really lights up around a drum set!

My very own drum sticks!

Little mad man, Dad has to lean back so he doesn't get hit with a flying stick!

Very intense

Did we mention how much he LOVES playing drums?

Well, Sawyer is finally 1 year old. Or as his Dad likes to tell him, "you're not zero anymore!" We had a small get together with family, nothing fancy. Sawyer liked all the presents and was thrilled to destroy his very own cake. We're not sure he realized it was even edible until about half way through the demolition. He did a good job getting cake EVERYWHERE and even managed to eat a little. He does not have a very big sweet tooth although I'm sure that will change.

As you can tell by the pictures, Sawyer enjoys playing drums. (He REALLY likes to play drums.) Some friends of ours actually got him a small set of musical instruments for his birthday, which included a drum and a set of drum sticks. Sawyer knew immediately what to do with those! He holds one stick in each little hand and goes to town. Of course, then he has to bang the coffee table and the ottoman and anything else that looks like it might make good noise. An extension of the drum stick obsession is the walking stick obsession. His Grandma Heide takes Sawyer for long walks and together they search for the perfect stick. Once they find the perfect stick Sawyer holds it high and waves it enthusiastically as they walk. Until of course he finds another most perfect stick...then he has to trade up. And so it goes with little boys; always in search of the biggest and best most perfect stick.

Stats:

• Height - he is still ~31 inches. Starting to slow down a bit in the growth arena. He is currently in the 90th percentile in height
• Weight - he is still 25 lbs, which means he's dropped to the 70th percentile in weight.
• Teeth - Holy cow! We're not sure how many teeth children end up with but we're pretty sure he's close to having them all. All four eye teeth are coming in simultaneously along with a couple more molars. It's hard to say exactly what's in there 'cause he won't let us look. (And he bites, hard, if you try) There must be at least 14 - 16.
• Physical skills - walking, walking very fast, tripping, falling (a lot), crawling (a little, usually after falling), signing milk when he wants milk (not just when mommy signs milk), signing eat (although it's hit or miss with that one right now)
• Verbal skills - da da da and a variety of other gibberish. He pretty much sticks to "da" for everything. He said "ma ma" a few times the other weekend, but only when he was crying and wanted to be held.

To all our loyal (Packers) fans...

Sawyer reading one of his favorite books, Tails, before the big game.

Such a handsome little man!

Hmmmmm, can I eat it?

"What was that Dad? Grab the ball and run where?"

Sawyer loves playing the piano

Sponge-Sawyer-NO-Pants!

Mommy's little helper

"Dog, dog, DOG!"

Sawyer shows us his "dog" tongue.

The "guys" and Kacie head out for some chilly fun.

Baby Nick and Dad (Scott)




"Check out my pipes!" (Miles - 7 months)




"Give me 5 Dad!" (Every, Michelle and Miles)

Sawyer picks a song....

And Aunt Jonette plays along!

Sawyer helps Daddy clean up the back yard.

" Hmmmm, what's in here anyway?"

Sawyer eating leaves!

This posting is dedicated to our Packers fans. The family is split between the Vikings (Wellhouse side) and the Packers (Milbauer side). Since we paid tribute to the Vikings fans a few months back, we felt it only fair to pay tribute to the Packers fans. (Especially, since the Packers at least made it to the playoffs!) So, enjoy!

Moving right along. Sawyer is finding his land legs. In mid-January he started taking a few steps (5 to be exact) independently. He is still very cautious and prefers to hang on to a finger or two , but will occasionally break out and walk across the room. (He also likes to RUN as fast as he can if he has two fingers to hold on to, which is quite odd. His Daddy taught him that....) In a pinch, he always reverts back to a speedy crawl. He likes to play chase (we chase him) and hide-and-go-seek with Mom and Dad. (Actually, it's more like Where's the Mama? and Where's the Dada?)

His other favorite game is Annoy the Labrador. Sawyer pesters Kacie incessantly; her response to which most of the time is simply to get up and leave...only to be followed by a very persistent antagonist. Kacie is very smart and has started to use this to her advantage. When John and I won't "play ball" she brings the ball to Sawyer who happily chases it down and brings it back to her. Yep, our dog has taught our son how to fetch...we are so proud! Kacie is also becoming more accepting of Sawyer's constant "hugs". He just can't get near her without wrapping his little arms around her and burying his face in her fur. To say he loves his "dog dog dog" would be an understatement!

Stats to date:

• Sawyer is now 11.75 months old (He'll be a whole year old next week, March 7th!)
• He weighs ~ 25 lbs (This hasn't changed much lately - he's pretty skinny)
• He is ~31-32 inches tall (I don't think this has changed much either. We'll see what he is at his 1 year check-up)
• Eight teeth and 3 gnarly molars. There is a top eye tooth working its way in too.
• Physical skills - crawling, cruising, playing piano, playing drums, clapping, signing for "milk", waving "hello" and "goodbye", walking with and without assistance
• Verbal skills - dadada (by far his most used word), dogdogdog (slight variation to dadada), rolling R's, bababa....