Month: September 2011

I obviously totally forgot to do these last week, when D turned 13 months old. Whoopsies, bad Mommy.

I noticed, too, that sometimes I listed out separately her likes, dislikes, stats, etc., and sometimes I just made 1 list of everything. I can’t remember which I did more often, but I think I’ll just stick with a master list this time. That way I can think of everything at random instead of having to categorize. Sorry – thinking out loud there for a sec. But here is where our little girl stands now:

• Walking like it’s her job! She actually runs, too, which is utterly hilarious. Her balance still isn’t the greatest, so when she really gets going she’s all pitched forward and looks like she’s going to take a header straight into the floor at any second. Fortunately she rarely does, though, and just continues on her merry way. She started walking the day after her 1st birthday.
• Lots of new sounds are coming out of her little mouth. Still not really any actual words yet, but in about the past 2 weeks I’ve noticed many more sound combos. “Bdyaps”, “bdips”, “bdis”, “dat”, “bla-la-la” (that’s flicking her tongue in and out of her mouth, wan’t sure how to type it phonetically) are some of her current favorites. They must have been working on “b” and “d” sounds at school lately.
• She always starts talking as soon as she wakes up in the morning, which I absolutely love. If she’s not crying awake (like she usually is when she wakes up too early), she’ll either be standing in her crib when I come in her room or else she wakes up when I turn on the light in her closet, and then the jabber begins. It’s always accompanied by her pointing at something in her room. What she’s pointing to and talking about though, I rarely know. I just pick her up and smother her in kisses to begin the day.
• She loves carrying little toys around now. My mom got her a little wooden tool box for her birthday, and she loves getting the bits and pieces out of there. She also loves carrying around the plastic balls from her gumball machine, as well as her little plastic Sesame Street characters that some of our friends got her for her birthday. She still doesn’t have a sleep toy or blanket, like many kids do.
• Books remain some of her favorite play things, and she loves to get them out of the pockets of the glider in her room, where I store a couple of them. For some reason, her favorite thing is to find a page that has something furry or fuzzy on it, pick at it with her little forefinger and thumb pincer grip, and put her fingers right in her mouth likes she’s grabbed something and is eating it. I don’t know why she does this, or why the fur entices her to do this, but it’s really funny to see. Sometimes she actually does pull a piece of the fur/fuzz off though, and then it’s amusing watching her try to figure out what’s stuck on her tongue. She also loves books with babies in them and laughs every time she sees one. Pages with little mirrors so she can see herself she also digs.
• She’s down to 1-2 bottles a day, 1 in the morning (sometimes) and 1 at bedtime. I think the bedtime one will be around for awhile, but I’m slowly trying to morph the morning one into a cup of milk. I’ve had some small successes, but she still much prefers a bottle in the morning.
• She can feed herself pretty much everything now. Sometimes I’ll still give her spoonfuls of really messy stuff or things she can’t easily pick up, like cottage cheese, but for the most part I try to feed her foods that can be served in 1-year-old bite sized pieces. She doesn’t seem to be too picky either, which is great. The other day I carried her outside as I picked some tomatoes, and she dug right into one and ate half of it. And the other night she ate an entire whole banana in under a dozen bites. Then she barfed as I was putting her to bed.
• She loves to be outside, and on these warm summer days we’ve had she’s had a ball playing at her water/sand table and in her little inflatable whale pool.
• Her last doctor’s appointment was on August 3 and her next one isn’t until November, but at that appointment a month ago she weighed almost 20.5 lbs. and was 30.5 inches long (i think). So right now I’d say she probably hasn’t grown too terribly much from that. We can certainly tell that she gets heavier more quickly now carrying her around.
• This week we go on her first plane trip, out to Denver. I’m a little anxious about it, but I honestly have been able to keep a fairly relaxed attitude so far. It’s a 2.5 hour flight out and 2 hours back, so hopefully that doesn’t become too unbearable for her. I think the noise of the plane might scare her a little at first, but I’m hoping that since she’ll be right on our laps with us we’ll be able to comfort her quickly. The flight out is late evening, over her usual bed time, so maybe she’ll even be able to have her bottle, snuggle in, and sleep for most of it. I’m planning on taking 2 bottles of milk, some blueberry puffs for a snack, and a couple little books and toys to try to keep her entertained. I’m staying hopeful that she does as well as the little guy who was behind me on my flight out to Denver a few weeks ago.
• We’re starting to get into the discipline stage, which can be challenging. She likes to look right at you, smirk, and do exactly what you just told her not to do, and I’ll admit that can drive me crazy after a couple times in a row. Right now our big thing is trying to teach her that her chair is for sitting, not standing, but she usually climbs right in it and stands up tall as can be instead of obeying. Greeeat. This’ll be fun. She also does the splay out on the floor and cry when she doesn’t get her way or you take something away from her, which is also just a ton of fun.
• R got a new seat for his bike so he can pick her up from daycare in that instead of with the stroller or bike trailer. She loves it! R said she gets especially excited when they see a dog go by, as puppies are one of her favorite things.

We’re so lucky, because overall, she is a very happy little girl. Seeing that little face light up when I walk in her bedroom each morning to get her is a certain kind of magic, as is kissing her head as I rock her and give her her bottle before bed each night. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 40 million times on here, but I love her more than I ever thought I could possibly love a child. Thank you, Squeaker! It is so fun watching you grow into this awesome little person.