It seems like there was such a building pressure to when you turned 12 months and now that we’ve passed that, it seems like time is flying by even faster if possible!  You keep me moving almost every minute of every day. You’re extremely curious and love to explore. You’re getting better at obeying when I tell you “no”. Although, sometimes you push this while keeping eye contact with me just to see what will happen. hah.

You are walking much more lately! On your birthday, you were only taking a couple steps here and there – unsure of the whole “walking” thing. Within a couple weeks you’re practically running.  Once you learn something new, you focus a lot of your energy on it and seem to quickly master it.  You also give out a lot of kisses – my favorite thing. You come at me with a big open mouth. It’s adorable.

Some noises you make include: high pitched puppy dog noises… almost like whining. You haven’t said any official words yet (that we can decipher), but  you constantly say “Dooh…. dooh… doooh!” and point passionately.

Your hair is growing so fast. You have adorable curls in the back… almost like a mullet. Dad doesn’t want me to trim your hair for a while. You are still nursing in the morning and at night. You eat 3 good meals w/ cow’s milk and a snack or two during the day.  You’re such a good eater, it’s a blessing! Keep it up. You’re still taking two naps a day (10-noon and 2:30-4 ish). Some days you randomly protest one of the naps, though. You live to play outside. I can’t wait until you’re old enough where I can just dump you in the backyard to explore without me having to play helicopter-mom hovering over you since you’re still learning what you can and can’t play with.

One of the cutest things you do when we say “sleepy?” is put your head down or lay down on the floor or cuddle with a nearby blanket. You do this on the big ottoman in the living room, especially while occasionally watching Sesame Street. Whenever you take a nap with socks on, they’re usually off by the end of the nap. You also thoroughly enjoy taking off at least one shoe and sock while in the car. It’s not long after I shift into drive that I hear the little velcro on your shoe being slowly pulled off – hah.

You understand so much of what we say. You’re very good at receptive communication  – you respond well with action. I’m pretty sure you understand “going outside” and for sure “No!” You’ve done a great job obeying when we say “no” or “spit that out”. Although, you still enjoy throwing your food on the floor – mostly because you like watching George eat your food. You will look us directly in the eyes while you drop food off the side of your high chair tray or place it into George’s mouth.

You like having a “job” or holding stuff. Doesn’t really matter what it is- as long as you’re holding something, especially while walking around the house – the plastic Cool Whip container, plastic yogurt container, your entire Fisher Price farm/barn. Oh, and the lid to either the Cool Whip or yogurt container. When we let you run loose in the house, it never fails that you return with the huge (nearly empty) bottle of mouth wash from dad’s bathroom.  You reach for the receipt after we check out at the grocery store(s). You only have two noisy toys (with batteries) – a toy fire truck and a toy remote control. You LOVE the remote control. You walk around proudly “talking” to it and clicking the buttons and smiling.   You mostly prefer non-toys to actual toys. You LOVE putting the Cool Whip container on your head. One day your dad and I were playing with you in the living room when you decided to walk around with it over your face. You started to giggle so, naturally I whipped out my iPhone to record a video of you. I captured one of the funniest moments of your personality thus far. I submitted this video to America’s Funniest Home Videos. hahahaha….

VIDEO of Brady running into chair 

One thing you do NOT like (most of the time) is getting into your car seat. You kick and scream and plank your body so straight which inhibits me from buckling you in. You prefer to stand in your car seat facing towards the front of the car. Some days are better than others and you giggle while I buckle you in.  Aside from those fits, you’re very friendly – especially to strangers in parking lots.

You enjoy opening and closing drawers, cabinets, and doors. We finally baby-proofed the cabinets beneath the sink since they have cleaning products in them. I also gave in and taped the glass cabinet doors shut under the tv in the living room. I used my photography black gaffer/electrician tape so it looks real nice. 😉 Luckily the wood is dark brown so it’s sorta camouflaged.

You’ve entered your climbing phase. Every morning after you nurse in bed with me, you “climb” our new wooden headboard. You’re so proud and declare “dooh!….Dooh!”. Also, you’ve entered the “bang your head on everything” phase… at least I hope it’s a phase. You purposely bang your head on wooden stuff… walls… toys… and then you giggle as I tell you to stop. Do little girls do this???

This month we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with Uncle Dan and Aunt Leslie and KB and cousin Alexis. Brian grilled bone-in chicken and I made some simple sides and bought a big ole pie from Sam’s. It was a nice gathering. You played with your cousin, Alexis. Y’all are both at such a fun age and even “talked” a bit to each other.  I will post a separate entry with all the fun photos from that day.  We also visited the arboretum again and explored the new Children’s Garden… it was so big and we were slim on time that we’ll definitely need to return to further explore. You liked the tee-pee and boat carved out a huge tree trunk.   All three of us traveled to Chickasha, Oklahoma to celebrate my friend, Kelsey’s wedding. There was a huge winter/ice storm all the way from the middle of Texas to North of where we were in Oklahoma. On top of that, you and I were both really sick with a massive upper respiratory infection/sinus infection. It didn’t help that we were all staying in the same room in a hotel, away from home.  It was so great being with my friends, but no fun that we were sick. We headed home a bit early from the festivities after the ceremony to beat the second round of ice that was to hit our travel path.

You are at the most fun stage so far. Dad and I are trying to soak up every moment of you that we can. You constantly make us laugh. I can’t stop kissing you and your sweet cheeks. We love you!

 

 

 

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