Milestones and landmarks for Zachary's 1st year

1st focused eyes

The first time I remmeber him really focusing his eyes was after he had reached his due date. I have some photographs of him around the end of january where he look sas if he is looking straight at me but I know that he opened his eyes very rarely at that time.

1st followed an object with eyes

Because Zachary was so premature he did not focused his eyes properly until february. In this picture he is looking at the toys on the baby activity lotty ladybird. If you moved the toy he would try to follow it although his movements were jerky. This photo was taken at the end of february.

1st lifted head

This is quite hard for a young baby and something Zachary did not do until May when he was 5 months old. In this photo he was lying against pillows having his picture taken and he leaned forward lifting his head up.

1st found your feet

I was taking some photographs in my favourite baby blue suit when Zachary started to pull on the legs of the trousers. Then he noticed these things on his feet and he leaned down and tugged on the bunny rabbit ears. This was the first time he had really played with his feet at all. It was June so he was around 6 months old. The rabbit sleepers were a gift from Santa while we were in hospital after Zachary was born. All inmates / patients who are in hospital on Christmas Day get a gift. Mine was taking my baby home his was a blue rabbit with slippers. They are great as they are dead soft and comfy plus they actually stay on his feet.

1st rolled

Once again we were taking photographs when all of a sudden Zachary rolled forward from the pillow onto his tummy. Once he realised that he could hold himself up on his arms and that rolling would help him get places there was no stopping him. He rolled right off the bed one time luckily I caught him before he hit the floor but it gave us both quite a shock. It is no longer safe to leave him sitting on the bed. Now when you leave him somewhere you are not guaranteed he will still be in the same place when you turn around.

1st sat up

It is August so Zachary is 8 months old. He sat up on his own playing with the stacking plastic ring toy. This is the start of a whole new world of play now. Now he can sit and play with a range of toys that are spread around him. He can reach all around him and pick things up. It gives a very different perspective on the world. It is also great for Mummy because now he can sit and play on his own which I think is important. I think whilst he will always get lots of attention that he also needs to learn how to occupy himself and play sometimes without someone necessarily interacting with him.

Crawled on tummy

October 10th. Zachary has started to pull himself along on the floor. It just means that you have to watch him all the time now. The days of knowing that he will be where you put him 10 minutes ago are fading away.

Crawled on knees

Nov 15th. Zachary has perfected the Commando Crawl. Its a combination between Spiderman scaling a building and a Commando climbing under cargo netting. He can go quite fast on his stomach and is really happy now that he can get about but has also just started to wobble about on his hands and knees. Now we are in real trouble.

Starting to walk.

2007 - January 14th. It is a good job that Zachary is actually quite tall. Now that he wants to start walking you have to hold his hands while he tip toes around. He can coast about the furniture too and seems to know no fear at all. So far we have had some great bumps and bruises to show for his efforts which I am sure are all part of the learning process. He first stood up and tried to walk on my birthday which was lovely. He is always so happy and cheerful he makes my days so much fun.

This last year has been a lot of fun. Tiring and hard work at times and a big learning curve but lots of fun too. The one thing that I have learnt though is that no matter what the book says you have to do what works for you and your baby. As long as you are both happy and your baby is growing and thriving then all the books guidelines aside you must be doing something right. Whatever we do every day Zachary continues to grow into a gorgeous handsome happy little boy and that makes my life amazing.