Friday 12 December 2014

Everything fun when you're nearly one

Duck is one in a couple of weeks. Poor Duck, not only is he our neglected second born but we also landed him with the terrible affliction of a Christmas birthday. Despite these trials he is the cutest, happiest, loveliest little person I know.

I think nearly one year olds are my favourite age of baby. They still snuggle up with you at nap times and bedtime, and in my case they still breastfeed, but not so often that it's annoying! You get all the lovely warm fuzzy feelings of holding your baby while they still (just about) fit in your arms, but they are also growing in confidence and independence every day which makes entertaining them less intense and exhausting.

My favourite thing about nearly one year olds is how easily pleased they are! 
Duck's face still lights up when you sing action songs, or make clip clip horse noises. You can have him in fits of giggles with an elaborate sneeze and the old classic peekaboo still gets a great reaction. He finds me and Daddy pretty funny but his giggling turns right up to 11 when Bambi 'does a turn'.

Here's some of the things Duck LOVES to do when he's not being sung to or entertained by his trio of clowns. You can tell he loves them by his massive grin, hand clapping and general happy noises or by his amazing infectious laugh.


Opening and shutting.
A favourite pastime of my nearly one year old is opening and shutting the doors of the fridge and freezer. Those are best but any door or drawer will do. Apparently opening and shutting cupboard doors and drawers is amazing fun. It goes hand in hand with...

Putting in and taking out.
Once you've opened a cupboard door you can heighten the joy by removing something from the cupboard or putting something inside. This is most fun if the item doesn't belong where you are putting it! See below: 

The face on him when he put the tv remote in the toy kitchen was pure JOY.


Similar to putting in and taking out but different enough to do both for several hours is:

Emptying and filling.
Give him an empty box or container and he will fill it with whatever he can source. Give him a full box or container and he will remove every object for you. 
Repeat ad nauseum. 


Posting. 
Yes, it's a BIT like filling, but the joy of posting is the smaller entry point and the disappearance factor. Good places to post are post boxes, under the sofa, between sofa cushions and radiators. 


6am posting. Doesn't he look great in yellow? (Like a duckling!)

Getting in and out.
Once you've mastered posting objects you can start posting yourself. Duck loves to get in and out of cardboard boxes and to try to climb inside cupboards, and the fridge!  

Baby in box. Also baby in tights! I LOVE him in tights.


And last but by no means least:

Getting outside. 
Duck's main ambition in life is to be able to open the front door. Sometimes he just sits with his face pushed against the glass longing for the freedom of outdoors. If the front door opens he runs out of it whatever the weather and usually without socks or shoes. 

"Hey Grandpa! Going to play golf? Can I come?"

    



2 comments:

  1. I love this post! Nearly one year olds are so incredibly easily pleased but I am loving the 18m+ stage of being able to say yes and no - knowing what they actually want! AMAZING! x

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    1. Oh yes! I do love it when they can talk a bit!
      Bambi can talk TOO much ;) x

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