Twelve Months!

OLIVIA GRACE, you are TWELVE MONTHS old!
(Ok, so I'm a week and a half late--please forgive me!)

What have you been up to?

*Well, once again you were not into our little photo session.  Thank goodness this is the last one we have to do!  You even tried peeling your sticker off.  You've never done that before.

*At your doctor's appointment last week you were 24 pounds, 7 ounces (91%), 31 inches (95%), and your head was 19 inches (99%).  You are staying proportionate--healthy and strong!

(Michael was home for 3 days with her prior to her birthday and now she is making his "confused eyebrow" look all the time!)

*Oddly, you can still wear quite a bit of your 12 month clothing.  I still cannot figure that out.  In fact, the onesie in these pictures is a 6 to 12 month one! We have received lots of 18 month clothing as gifts, so we've started using more and more of those outfits.  However, some are still too big. (So strange to me!)

*You are still in size 4 diapers, but we have switched to size 5 for bedtime.

*Once again, your schedule has remained the same as the last few months.  Everyone tells us how lucky we are that you are a good sleeper.  We sure do appreciate it!  I thought your schedule might get messed up with summer and Little Man out of school, but it's worked out pretty well.  (However, a week and a half in to your first year of life and you seem to want to be giving up one of your naps?!)

*You are off bottles completely.  You drink out of sippy cups only.  You still drink milk 3 times a day.  I also offer water throughout the day.  You usually drink at least a little water a day.  You never quite make it through the entire sippy of water though.

*We were also able to pack up the bottle warmer with the bottles.  I'm not going to lie--I was worried about this transition.  One day you just started taking it cold and that was that. Thank you! :)

*You still eat almost anything given to you.  We have introduced a few of the high allergen foods that we were waiting on....like eggs and strawberries.  You love eggs.  You could live without the strawberries, but you eat them.

*Your top left lateral incisor tooth has come in.  It was on it's way in last month, so now it is fully down.  Your bottom right lateral incisor has just started to poke through.  For all I know, you could have more either in or starting to poke.  You are VERY stingy about letting us look in your mouth.  You are constantly chewing on things though, so I'm sure they are all working their way in.

*It seems like kiddos your age focus on one skill at a time when it come to verbal and motor skills.  Your focus has definitely been on the verbal this month.  You are not walking, but you have many words that you use on a consistent and appropriate basis.  Words you say are: uh oh (in correct context!), whoa!, hi, hello, bye bye, mama, boppa (the nickname you have affectionately given daddy), Go Go (Little Man), ball, book, and baby.  It also sounds like you say "gotta go" or something similar.  You also have a word that you say often (sounds sort of like "goya") that we don't know what it means.  You "talk" all day long, and string all sorts of "words" together.  Of course, non that we can make out.

*Even though you haven't officially taken a step, it appears that you want to.  You get close, but then chicken out.  We'll see what the next few months bring! :)

*You know and understand the word no.  Sometimes you listen...sometimes you don't.  When you are doing something you know you aren't suppose to (climbing the stairs, going to the fireplace at work), you shake your head no.

*Shaking your head "no" is also one of your new favorite dance moves.  You still love music and dancing.

*Besides music, your other love is books.  You LOVE them.  You will sit and turn pages for a long time.  You play, then go back to your books, then play, then go back to your books... Sometimes you like to be read to, but other times your attention span doesn't last.

*You are IN-DE-PEN-DENT!!!!!!!!!!  You like for us to be in the same room as you, but you are perfectly fine with doing things on your own.  You like to do things your way.

*You seem to have made the switch from being mommy's girl to being Boppa's girl.  I guess I got my one year....

*Your idea of play is to knock things over.  I don't know why this is fun to you, but it is.  If something is standing up, it must be knocked over by you.

(trying to get away)

*You love to climb.   At work you head to the steps as many times a day as you can.  At home you climb up on your chair, then back down again.  I call it your exercise.

*You are a little bit of a daredevil.  Yet another quality you got from your daddy.  I would like you to be a peaceful, calm, rule following, little girl.  Is that possible? :)

(Clearly thrilled!  Check out that hair.)

*You love putting things in and taking things out of baskets/containers, etc.  Your shopping cart with food from Grandma Hartman was a perfect gift.  You don't use the cart as a walker yet, but you stand there and throw the food out over and over.

*You started to only want to stand during bath time.  This just does not work.  So daddy just went to giving you showers.  You seem to really enjoy these.  You just stand at the end of the tub, play with the toys a little, and get washed while standing up.  I'm not sure if you'll ever want to take a bath again!

Things you love right now: eating, milk!, books, music, Boppa, being on the go, pulling things off a shelf, and your shopping cart and food.

Your least favorite things right now: diaper/clothing changes, being confined/held