Thirteen Months

   My-oh-my, what a little mover!  Photographing a 13 month baby is so much harder than photographing a 12 1/2 month baby.  She has completely given up crawling and is walking everywhere.  It seems like walking has doubled her energy.  She can't sit still any longer, which means no reading, no cuddling and no high-chairs.  She's fearless and indestructible.  She wants to run, but doesn't quite have walking down, so she takes a lot of tumbles, but she never cries.  She always gets back up to try it again.  She loves slides, swings and stairs.  I'm already having a hard time catching her at this pace, I fear a little for the time when she learns to run.

   Despite not cuddling, she seems to have become more affectionate.  She's learned how to make kissing noises, give hugs and blow kisses, and she hands them out like candy on the Fourth of July.  She usually gives kisses when you ask for them, and she loves to give her animals hugs and kisses, too.  Sometimes she'll even offer up a few kisses, completely unsolicited.

   She loves to play games and invent new ones.  Some of her favorites are hiding in boxes, playing peekaboo and getting squished between me and the couch.
   David and I seem to have worked out a good bedtime routine.  We give her a bath, read her The Big Red Barn (with David cleverly executing every animal noise),  put on her jammies, sing a song, lay her down, say her prayers and leave her with a lullaby playing.  This was working well enough that we could get her to sleep without a single tear, so we decided to start taking her pacifier away at night.  Now she absolutely loathes bedtime.  The moment she sees one of us holding her book, she throws a royal fit, so we have to skip all the fun stuff and just leave her in her crib until she cries herself to sleep.  It breaks my heart, because singing to her before bed is my favorite time of the day, but I'm afraid if I give her paci back at this point, she will just depend on it more.  Eventually, when she gets used to sleeping without it, we will take it away at nap-time, then in the car, too.  Here's praying that she comes to terms with it soon...
  She's still as social as ever.  She loves Sundays when she gets to see her Sunday-school friends, and lights up whenever she sees her buddy in the morning.  It's so much fun to watch them play peekaboo together and share their toys with one another.  She still loves to go on walks, go shopping, watch us when we play Ultimate Frisbee, and visit the Alexandria boardwalk.

  I'm really looking forward to being able to introduce her to more activities.   Finger-painting and Simon-says are the big ones.  I'm not sure if she's quite there yet, but there's no harm in trying until she gets it.

Cool stuff she can do:

stack 2 blocks

stack rings

walk

climb up and down stairs

go down slides

roll a ball

blow kisses

draw with chalk

pull on hats, necklaces, shirts and bracelets

Favorites:

tomatoes of every variety

eating grape tomatoes straight off the vine

cottage cheese

playing Squish

doggies

musical pull-horse

classical and alternative music

playgrounds

Tooth Count:

still working on #5 + 6 (slowly)

Words she can say (and mean it):

Hi

Mama

I am not a Baby

I eat my cereal.

I sit in a chair.

I walk wherever I darn-well please.

 

11 Months

   So much has changed in the last month, I feel like I have a whole new baby!  She is a speedy little crawler, and she could get into anything if I'd let her.  Our house is officially Baby-Land, with gates, corrals, outlet covers, toys and cheerios everywhere.  She is constantly moving.  She can walk one-handed and stand up on her own.  She cruises around everything and she has even taken one step on her own (although I think she might have just lost her balance).  Her newest thrill is dancing.  Whether standing or sitting, as soon as she hears music she bobs up and down or back and forth.
   She has also started "putting away" and sharing her toys.  I have found her filling buckets, bread pans, orange cones and shoes with toys.  She loves to move things back and forth and fills my lap with toys.
  She has a growing fascination with her feet.  If she is standing, she likes to pat things with her feet or she will put her feet up when she is sitting at the table.  She loves when I play with her piggies.
   She is becoming so goofy, and I think she has her parents' strange sense of humor.  Sometimes she will laugh just because of the way I look at her.
   I can't believe that this is my last monthly post before her first birthday.  Every day I wish that I could just press Pause on her and keep her from growing just a little while longer.  Just long enough to catch up.  I don't think I'm ready for her to keep growing and I'm so afraid that I'll miss something or that I'll forget the most beautiful little moments.
   It makes me sad to know that she won't remember this time.  She won't remember all the cuddles and story times, or how she fits so neatly between my arms, pressed against my chest. 
   People might make fun of moms for being cheesy and emotional, but there is never any time that I have been more happy and fulfilled and full of love than when I'm holding my child.  I never understood that before I had her, and I never would have.  That's also why moms have ladies retreats and go to Mama Mia together.  We need to be around other people who are the same kind of crazy.

  Emotional mommy stuff: CHECK
  Up next: BRAGGING

Cool stuff she can do:
   crawl
   walk while holding one hand
   stand alone (while clapping, too)
   dance
   make monkey and elephant noises, and woof
   fill things with toys and share
   drink from a cup
   wave hello
   play peekaboo and hide and seek

Favorite things of assorted varieties:
   wheeled push toy
   blocks
   pictures of people, especially babies and people she recognizes
   tomatoes, asparagus and cheerios or any food on the floor
   emptying the dishwasher and the pantry
   kids
   being carried on our shoulders
   being tickled by feet
   streaking

Tooth count:
   Two on the bottom, two more on the way on the top
  
 

Ten Months, and Then Some

 

 

Little has been a busy little lady since our last progress report.  She's crawling everywhere!  Creeping is her most effective mode of transportation, but she can also crawl, cruise, and walk while having her hands held.  No place is beyond reach for her anymore, not even the bathroom.  I have been interrupted during a shower more than once in the past month, and finally convinced David to fix our bathroom door.  
She's also developed quite a personality.  She understands "No" now, but she doesn't like to hear it.  She's so curious and always wants to see what I'm doing, particularly when it comes to the toilet.

Here's some cool stuff she can do:
 Sign "up," "more," and "milk."
 Say "Dada"
 Wave goodbye

 Knock on doors

Stuff she likes:
 Peek-a-boo
 Being fanned in the face
 Swinging
 Chasing me across the floor
 Emptying the cupboards
 Having the butt cheeks pinched
 Flying

I never did get around to month eight's pictures, but I did manage a nine month photo.  This is the only tolerable picture I had out of about 50.  I nearly gave up photography for good, but I gave myself another chance.  Orange you glad?

A toof! A toof!