Well, it's a week or so later, but Amelia has turned one. I wasn't wistful about this until the day she actually turned one and started walking non-stop. She started taking steps at 11 months, but it wasn't a full time thing. She walked here and there, but when she really wanted to get somewhere she would still crawl. Then, on her first birthday, she woke up, started walking all over the house, and hasn't crawled since. And then I saw a toddler and not a baby and I got a little misty. It's so cliche, but I just can't believe how fast her first year went by, and I really can't believe where she's at in comparison to where she was this time last year. She walks, she doesn't take bottles anymore, and I think she's even officially said her first word: "Bear." She's just not a baby anymore, and it's a little harder to take than I thought it would be.
At the same time, it has been so fun and exciting to see her grow and develop, and I know we have so many more milestones and fun in our future. She's a joy every single day, and we're so lucky to have her in our family.
The day of her actual birthday wasn't nearly as exciting as her parties in Oregon from the week before. We got home from Oregon on Sunday, and her birthday was the next day. It also happened that Tom had to to on a little trip for a few days starting Monday afternoon, so he didn't even get to see her that day.
She slept for around 15 hours to make up for the lack of sleep on the red eye flight the night before. This may have also contributed to the energy she clearly had to start walking all over the place.
So, after an extra late start to the day, we basically just played all day. For her birthday we gave her a little shopping cart and she enjoyed pushing it around all day long.
We also got her a chunky wood puzzle, and a little race car.
Towards the end of the day, I decided to empty the basket that was holding her outdoor gear and use it for toys instead. She acquired several new toys through the week and I needed a place to put them all. And I was also done with picking up all the hats and sweaters every day, because she loves to pull them out. Some of the items hadn't been worn in awhile and we had to try them on to see if they should stay in rotation or get packed up.
So, this was her stylish outfit for a good 20 minutes, because she kept running off. She actually pulled the hood up into place, and kept it there. (The sandals were deemed too small by the way. The sweater fits, though the arms were a little short.)
We ended the day with a fun bath and new birthday jammies! She found some fabric and chose to drag it around a bit. Also, please ignore the mess on the couch. We had just gotten home the day before and it took awhile to unpack and get everything put in it's place.
So, that was her big day. Hopefully it was an ideal one for a newly one year old little girl.
Now that we've had some time to spend with her as a one year old, here are some facts we know about Amelia.
1. She loves to dance. When she hears music she stops what she's doing to do an adorable knee bend /bounce type of move. Her hands go in the air, and she gets a big smile on her face. We have no idea where she got this, as Tom and I don't dance. It's definitely her personality, and something she just feels the need to do. Her current favorite is a Bravo commercial with a Madonna song playing in it. As soon as she hears, "Ooh La La," she's done doing whatever she's doing. It's hilarious.
2. She's not a big eater, and is going through a phase where she won't eat chunks of fruits and veggies. It's all about purees, bread, pancakes, crackers, and cheese. And peanut butter. She'll eat anything if there is peanut butter on it. Even oatmeal.
3. Her first word is "bear." She babbles a ton, and can say "mama" and "dada" but it's always a long chain of sounds like, "mamammama." As near as we can tell, she doesn't relate the sounds to us yet. But, a week after her birthday, she said bear.
Whenever she wakes up and I go in to get her, she starts pointing at things around her room, and usually says "Uh!" at it. It seems pretty random, and I think she's just trying to prove she's really awake. For several days though I noticed that she was really pointing at this teddy bear of mine from when I was a child. It's on her bookshelf across the room. So I would pick it up and give it to her and she would grab it and hug it with both arms and squeeze it tight. Which I've never really seen her do. I would always say, "Do you want the bear?" Here's the bear." One day after saying that to her she repeated, "Bear." It's not super clear of course, but it's definitely bear and she definitely means it. She has said it almost every day since that day. Also, if we ask where her bear is, she'll go get it. She's taken a liking to the thing, and drags it around the house.
Sorry about the lack of clothes. She really does wear them, but this was right after a meal where we stripped her down to eat, and she got away for a minute be we got clothes on her.
4. She's a tiny bean. At her one year appointment she was 16 lbs 11 oz and 28 inches tall. She's been representing the 3rd percentile for weight her whole life and doesn't seem to be getting bigger any time soon. With the way she runs around and never stops, I'm not sure that all the peanut butter in the world would put a pound on her. She burns every calorie she takes in.
5. She's very, very easygoing. Meeting strangers is never a problem, and it takes a lot for her to cry and fuss.
6. Her sneezes make her smile, and sometimes giggle.
7. She loves to climb stairs. Or slides. She would climb all day long if we let her. She gets so excited, and laughs the whole way up. And she's fast :)
8. She's ticklish in the exact same spot as Tom: right on the front of her thighs, just above the knee. If I ever want a giggle, I just give that spot a squeeze. If I want a crazy laugh fest, I give it a few more squeezes.
9. She is happy all the time. Seriously. I really don't think I've seen a happier kid.
10. She loves hanging around other kids, especially if they are older. Every thing they do that she can't do yet, like jump and cartwheel, makes her laugh. I think she's really going to enjoy having a sibling.
And I'll end this little love fest with a slew of photos, as per usual. These are some photos we had taken for her one year birthday, done by Shannon Griffith and taken in Schenley park. She was running from the camera quite a bit, but Shannon was able to get some great shots out of her anyway. I love them all of course :) We also did some indoor ones at JC Penny, which is what follows these.
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