We made it to one year! Yahoo! I don't know who deserves a bigger high five, Evelyn. You or me?
I say this a lot, but every month is seriously the best. You were so much fun this past month as you continued to learn and explore the things around you. I am constantly amazed at how much you know. We've sure come a long way since this time last year.
While you still aren't saying a ton, you jibber jabber all the time. Dadda is still your most often used word and I recently caught you saying Uh-Oh. When we sing or play music, you often chime in with some sweet version of your own. You also do the "Ei-Ei-O's" in Old McDonald. Although you aren't saying a lot of words, it seems like you understand a lot more of what we say than we thought. These include outside, ball, dadda, milk, nurse and belly.
Probably the cutest thing you started doing this past month is kissing your stuffed animals. Mouth wide open you lean in to give them a big, slobbery kiss on the nose. And even sweeter is when you give me a few at night before I put you down for bed.
You are seriously so quick on those little feet. You've become rather fearless as well and don't think twice about trying to go up the stairs or run across the playground when mommy isn't looking.
You've been pointing. It is more like a limp reach, but you have started to point at things you want or like.
Perhaps the most frustrating behavior you've developed is food flinging. When you aren't particularly fond of a certain food I put on your tray or when you've become bored or full, you simply toss the item over the edge to splatter on the floor, without an ounce of emotion. Sometime it takes all I have in me not to laugh. I certainly don't want to promote this irritating behavior. The other day I bent over to grab the sweet potatoes you'd thrown, and the next thing I know you're dropping ground beef in my hair.
You enjoy taking things in and out of baskets, furiously flinging videos out of our TV console, putting food into our mouths and throwing toys over the gate. There is always a mess of something or other in each room you enter.
Teething is awful. If you give us a super fussy evening, we usually know it's because a tooth is working its way through. I noticed one molar on the bottom the other day and suspect more are on their way.
You love to mimic the things I do. This includes combing hair, jumping, laughing and coughing.... You received a toy stroller for your birthday and I was shocked to see that you knew the toy baby went into the seat, even if you do put her in upside down and stick her in your new play kitchen oven.
Such a ham you are. You love attention and seem to thrive in group settings when people are watching YOU.
You are getting 3 solid meals a day and usually 1 or 2 snacks. You still don't eat a ton in one sitting, but you are getting better. We've been working hard to move away from purees to strictly finger foods. I am also happy to say we made it an entire year breastfeeding, and are still nursing about 4 times a day at this point. While I never had an official goal, I can now honestly say that it has been one of the best experiences for me. It included a lot of sacrifices and hard work, but has been totally worth it and I have nothing but sweet, sweet memories.
Sleeping has been so much better. Even just three months ago had someone asked me about sleep, I would have told them that I thought you were never, never going to get the hang of it. And here we are, finally at one year, and you are ALMOST always sleeping from when we put you down (around 6 or 7 in the evening) until somewhere between 4 and 6 in the morning, in which case you nurse and go back down for another 3 or 4 hours! If anything I hope I can be of encouragement to any other mommas out there who are pulling their hair out thinking they will never ever get a full nights sleep again.
We celebrated your first birthday here this year with your grandparents and aunts and Uncle. You got some pretty fun toys, a ton of attention and love.... and even a few bites of cake!
Cousins at Bethany Beach
