12 months old

Ugh…I don’t even want to sit down and write this. Not because I am not proud of all the sweet things my little one has learned/started doing in her 12 short months of life, BUT because it is still hard to face the realization that I have a 1 YEAR OLD, a toddler, not a little baby anymore. L At 12 months, our sweet pea is a bubbly, vibrant, little firecracker and we continue to love (and laugh at) her more and more each day.

At 12 months:

Just started wearing 12 month clothes

Wears size 3 diapers

Has been completely off bottles, formula (still finishing up one box (about 4 oz/day) at school), and pacis

Refuses to drink ANY milk now (we have tried every kind and she hates it all! Can’t blame her though as I think milk is pretty gross myself and have never been a milk drinker). We are just making sure to get her dairy in other ways—yogurt, cheese, oatmeal with milk, etc.

She waves All.The.Time. and to anyone and everyone. She usually double fists her wave too—with both hands. It is quite adorable!

She says more, mama, daddy (All. The. Time. And for everything), hi, bye.

We have started allowing her a tiny bit of diluted (healthy) juice 2-3 times a week. She likes it.

She has 8 teeth-4 on top and 4 on bottom. One year molars have started developing which is making for runny nose, nasty diapers, coughing, and a little ear tugging. These seem to be the only teeth that have ever bothered her coming in.

She definitely lets you know what she does AND does not want these days. We have had a handful of little fits/tantrums and sweet girl is a little strong willed like her momma so we have had to be real patient lately! J

 

Her favorites:

 

Food-Definitely greek yogurt with strawberries or blueberries & just strawberries

Drink-WATER—it is all she wants and now that she is a year old we no longer have to limit the amount so she is happy!

Toys-BABY, books, & balls J Little baby goes everywhere with us AND now that she is 1 we got the OK to allow baby to stay in bed with her at night. (We always put her to bed with baby and a blankie, but then go and remove them as soon as she is asleep). Santa already also purchased her an entire set of things for her baby (Santa will be out of commission as Christmas nears J) pack-n-play, carseat, high chair, etc. so she will be on cloud 9 when she has the same things for her baby as we will have for ours.

We also got the ok to leave a light weight blanket in the bed with her. I want to sooo bad (because I know she would love it) just not so sure I can get any sleep if it is in there with her. I will start taking baby steps to get there. I still go in her room at least 1-2 times every night to check on her (even though the monitor screen is literally less than a foot away from my face). Maybe I can start baby steps this weekend by allowing a blanket during her naps. We shall see! J

She still is not allowed to “watch” TV…but loves dancing to any and all songs/music she hears.

She still points all the time.

She loves looking at pictures. It is so cute, because she intently stares at each picture she pulls out, then puts it down, gets the next one, talks to it and points at it, then keeps going with more. J

At her 12 months check up her stats were:

Weight-19 lbs 13 oz (25%)

Height-30.5 inches (90%--not sure where she gets this tall gene from—definitely not her mama J)

Head-17 1/4"  (0-25%--still has such a tiny head)

The Dr. stated everything about her looks absolutely perfect—yay!! She has absolutely no concerns and said developmentally she is ahead in a lot of areas—yay! So proud of our little punky! She does want us to continue offering her milk—I’m over it—I didn’t drink milk as a kid, and I turned out fine. We do feed her a very well balanced and healthy diet (and she will literally eat anything you put in her face AND a lot of it) and she was ok with it since she is very well rounded when it comes to food. The only sugar she gets is natural sugar from fruits so she is a healthy girl.

Even with as much as she eats (and trust me, some portions she eats are as big as mine!) she either has an extremely fast metabolism or it is just the fact that she NEVER sits still, so she is staying tiny. I’m happy with where she stands though.

 

Still 100% Daddy's Girl! :)  Even though I don't always think it is fair, I am thankful as hopefully it will make things a little easier once the baby arrives.  I know she will go to him so I can feed the baby, etc.

 

She has started to become very lovey.  She always wants you to pick her up (with the most adorable little hands that open and close towards herself meaning "pick me up" and when you do she puts her head down and her hands around your neck and pats your back).   Such a sweet little hugger!  We have the hugs down, so now we are working on blowing kisses.  She does give me kisses (the big open mouth, wet kind, with her tongue out too. LOL!)

 

She pats everything, her babies, stuffed animals, even her sippy cup she holds to her chest and her little fingers just pat it away. :)

 

The little stinker also knows when she has done something wrong.  When she knows she is doing (or has) something she shouldn't she will literally run from us and laugh.  It is quite cute, but oh boy it is going to be trouble down the road.  If we are getting on to her for something she will also put her hands behind her back and put her chin down...it is like her pathetic puppy face and can make you feel pretty bad.

 

Getting her diaper changed and getting dressed are struggles these days.  She wants to flip over, get up, turn the light off and on (the switch is right at her changing table and she always wants to turn the lights off and on).

 

She still does not nap at school.  We are good to usually get a 30-40 minute nap at school  per day.  OMG--this makes for some rough evenings.  By the time we get home we can only play for a few minutes, then she is whining and crying and just wants to be held.  We make it through supper, then bath, and she is trying to climb in her bed as she is so tired.  At home, on the weekends, we can get a good 2-2.5 hours from her.  But it is dark in her room (very lit up at school), quiet here (we play her soothing CD's always when she is sleeping), and definitely no other kids up and playing, screaming, etc.

 

She has this little game my mom taught her on her birthday.  Now she wants to do it all the time and just thinks it is so fun and funny.  She squats down and you say "down", then you say "up" and she stands up, and it just continues, up, down, etc. until someone gives up (usually it is us first).

 

She is still scared of loud noises; vacuum cleaner, mix master, blender, loud trucks/cars....but the interesting thing is she will run to whoever has it and cry until you hold her then she is okay watching it do whatever it needs to do. :)  Silly Girl!

 

 

Happy 1 year baby girl!  We love you so much and are so proud of all you have learned in your short life!