The Dax Man turns one

My baby turned one today. It has been such a full year. I love having Dax in our family. You know when you have another kid and you remember what life was like before, and it makes you realize how different life is now and how glad you are for it? No? Do you have dogs, then? Or geese? Now you know what I'm talking about, right?

I just wanted to jot some things down about Dax as they come to me:

He only wants to do naughty things. It's true. Put him down, turn your head, and chances are about 91 to 9 that he went straight to the bathroom and is playing in the toilet water. What is the deal with that?? Keeping bathroom doors shut consumes most of my days. Do you know how impossible it is to keep bathroom doors shut with a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old in the house? And do you know that 4- and 6-year-olds often don't flush?

8% of the time, when he gets to the bathroom and the door is actually shut, he turns on his heels and grabs remotes and phones on his way to the garbage can. Leif had to dig through all our garbage bags last week to find two remotes. I once heard my phone ringing and followed it to the trash. In his defense, we should get a can with a lid or put this one in a cupboard, but it doesn't fit. And when he's not throwing things in, he's taking things out.

The 1%:

He does lots of typical toddler things: puts everything small enough into his mouth, thrashes and screams during diaper changes, stands and climbs out of the bathtub, opens cupboards and samples/spills everything on the floor, climbs onto the fireplace, won't listen to a book but will tear it to pieces, throws everything from his high chair, climbs into the dryer . . . and I just love the crap out of him.

He says a few words: Mom, Dad, bye, all done. He says other random babbles. He nods and shakes his head. He just figured out how to clap, and he claps when he wants another bite. He loves bananas and raisins. When a song comes on the computer or radio or TV, he stops whatever he's doing, gravitates toward the music, and dances just a little.

He just started doing a "downward dog" position thing. If you put him on a bed, he gets all "rolly." He'll just start burying his head in the blankets and pillows, flopping around from one spot to another. He absolutely loves phones, but just the "real" ones. Put a pile of phones on the floor, and he'll pick the one that's an actual working phone. Same with remote controls.

Dax loves, almost more than anything in the world, having things hanging over his head: tents, blankets, blanket forts, umbrellas. The only thing he loves more is going outside. He never moves faster than when an exterior door opens to the outside world.

He's my only baby who has cuddled. Not as a newborn, but as he's grown. Paige became a cuddler later, but as a baby, Dax has been the only one who will snuggle facing toward you. I love this.

He has all of his teeth! Gavin and Paige also grew teeth pretty fast, but Dax had all of his before his first birthday. He is also my only baby to become a professional walker by age one. He started taking steps around 10 months old. He also loves to throw balls, which neither of the others ever did. I guess he's going to be the athlete. He wants to keep up with his siblings, which might be why he walked earlier, but he's always getting up in their business messing up their toys and games and angering them in general. They're usually pretty good with him and are fantastic helpers when it comes to the baby brother.

Dax was a fusser, but he was always quick with his smiles if anybody showed him attention in public. It was like he was showing off. The #1 comment from people in public was how beautiful and blue his eyes are.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but this is a pretty good summation of our Dax Man. I love him so much and am so happy he's a part of our family.