The Flergers!

Beautiful Starfish Girl,

So many changes in your life since your first birthday and we are amazed by all of them! You are still an amazing eater, a good sleeper (though there are times now when you cry at bedtime because you don't want Mommy to leave), and you are still super-strong (not just physically, but your will is strong too.)

You clap your hands, wave,  blow kisses and pull yourself up on side of the couch. You have a whole new vocabulary and you are even making some two-word phrases. Some of the words you've said: Hi, (also, Hi Mama) kisses, cracker, shoes (sounds like choose), baba (your name for brother), baby, Mama, Dada, banana (na-na-nuh), bye-bye (and sometimes bye-bye Dada), outside (ow-side), popcorn (pawco), and a bunch of other words that Mommy can't remember right now. :)

You can point to your tummy when asked where to locate it, you attempt to make a quacking noise when asked what sound a duck makes, and you hold things up to the top of your head like they are a hat. You put on my sunglasses and pretend to talk on the phone if I let you hold it. You give me kisses (when it is your idea but rarely when I ask) and you love to pull my arm close to you and snuggle against it when I'm sitting near you at the table. You recognize your family in pictures (you point and say Mama, Dada or Baba)  and you adore your brother (often following him around even when he wants to be alone.)

You army-crawled for about a month before you figured out how to crawl in the typical fashion, though you often still army crawl from time-to-time. We had to put a baby gate up in the livingroom at the bottom of the stairs because you are a very curious girl and figured out how to climb the first three stairs to the landing one morning. You love to follow your Baba up the stairs and he will wait for you to climb up with him.

You are so close to walking but aren't quite there yet. You pull yourself up on the side of the couch all the time, scale the walls and sides of the kitchen cabinets, and I've even seen you lunge to get from one place to another without having to take any steps to get there. For brief moments you can stand unsupported (until you realize you are standing by yourself and will promptly sit down.) You will walk if we hold one hand and you are getting more confident when we make you walk from one parent to another.

Your curiosity and desire to know everything about everything around you is amazing to watch. You love to put things into a box only to pull them all out again again and start over. You love to poke and prod and toy with everything that you can get your hands on, and stick them in your mouth.

We are so in love with you and we relish each smile, giggle, point, kiss and snuggle!

Dear Time...please slow down...my sweet Starfish is having a birthday...

It hurts my heart to write this! I can't BELIEVE you are ONE YEAR OLD already!! I have spent the last year marveling at you and trying to absorb every baby moment because I knew all too soon it this day would come. Something happens after babies turn one--they start transitioning into toddlers and busy-bodies and we Mommies lose our snuggly little infants.

Happy Birthday my Starfish!!

So many amazing things have happened in your one year already and every day it seems that you grow and change and become one day closer to whomever it is you will be. Even in the last month you've gotten bigger and changed from who you were when I last wrote to you.

We went BACK to New Mexico a second time for the family reunion where you got to meet a bunch of your crazy relatives. They are a fun bunch and it was nice getting to introduce you to them. You also got to meet some of Mommy's very good friends from high school. You were completely adorable and when we offered you a Frontier Roll---you got very demanding and I could hardly get a bite of my own!!

While we were in Ruidoso you FINALLY got brave and started taking steps (while one of us holds on to your fingers.) You would just stand there before but you finally got brave enough to do a little stepping and now it is something that you love to do. You also FINALLY started crawling. It is more like an army-crawl (you face-plant whenever you try to crawl regularly) and you are getting extremely fast!! It just goes to show that you are going to do things when YOU want to and not when we think you should.

We've said goodbye to bottles and hello to cups! You actually do pretty well with a sippy cup and you even TRY to drink from a regular cup (though that is slightly more messy.) You are also drinking whole milk now and you like it a lot. It wasn't a hard transition from Mommy's milk at all for you. I finally gave up on trying to nurse you on your birthday after several attempts. You are just so busy and you look around everywhere and you are much more interested in what is going on around you than in nursing. It was a sad time for Mommy, but we had a good run and I got to spend a lot of quality time with you.

You try to drink water from your bath pitcher all the time as well (which usually results in you getting water up your nose.) Speaking of bathtime, while you were waiting for the tub to fill you peed all over the floor (which both surprised you AND was fun to splash in...apparently.) I guess I'll be keeping your diaper on just until I put you in...thanks for teaching me that lesson!!

You are certainly trying to get more independent and go places on your own. You'll walk all over the place with hand-holding help, and you are getting to where you will let go to reach for something you want (like a toy, or your cup.) You also try to help put on and take off your clothes (which is actually kind of nice.) You copy sounds that you hear and you are trying to use more words. Milk is "mmmm" or "muuuu", cheese is "ch" or "chee" and fish is "shh." You like to imitate other things too, like your Daddy's burps!! Whenever he burps you try to copy the sound that he makes. When Lucas makes sounds or sings, you concentrate on him and you try to make the same sounds.

You are fascinated with bellies--not just yours but ours too. Whenever I am changing your diaper you like to lift up my shirt and look at my tummy. You do it to Daddy too. When you are getting your diaper changed you also like to tap your tummy with your hands like you are playing a drum.

Your birthday party was so much fun. We had SOOO many people come to see you and celebrate your day. Mommy made you a scrappy tutu, a matching bib, and a very snazzy hat to wear for your party. The cake smash was the best--you literally tried to pick up your whole cake several times. You LOVED the icing and we had to take the cake away after a while so you didn't make yourself sick (otherwise you might have tried to eat it all.)

A few days after the birthday party we found you sitting up in bed so we decided it would be wise to drop your mattress all the way down to the bottom. You are getting so strong and pulling yourself up on things now so we decided it would be a good idea to make that happen BEFORE you tried to fling yourself over the side of the bed.

You are the owner of two new shiny molars--one of which cut through without much fuss at all. But the other one gave you hell and you were cranky and restless for a few days while it worked its way through. My sweet girl--you have a mouthful of teeth--you just cut #11!! I am certainly glad you are a foodie baby because you'll need all those teeth to be!

I love you and everything about you. You are so amazing and I love being your Mommy. I look forward to the many, many years of your life to come.

Here are some of my favorite pics from this past month: