Here are today's pictures of our 13th month old beauty!
Our neighbors Mike and Irma were out of town over her 1st Birthday and wanted to celebrate with her and brought her some cupcakes. Luckily girl got to have a second go 'round of cake smashing fun!
I think she liked it!
I loved that her hair *was* long enough to put in little bows and she just looked so cute! It didn't take long for her to discover them, pull them out and deposit them in her mouth. Her bangs were getting in her eyes, so I had to take a snip...guess that counts as her official first haircut! Maybe we'll take another go around at the bows in a few months!
She is still much of a water baby and loves being outdoors. We're looking forward to some cooler weather, as we've been having heat advisories for much of this month and that makes it pretty hard to spend much time outside!
She was promoted up to the toddler room at daycare. This may not seem like a big deal, but it has been quite a change and adjustment for her (and for us!) Two of the big changes have been naptimes and meals. We were a bit concerned about how she would do with the naptimes, as she has never been a very good napper and there were some days when she was in the infant room where she would go all day without a nap. Well, in the toddler room, they all nap from 12:30 - 2:30...on cots! So, not only is she expected to nap, but she is expected to stay put in one small defined area for 2 hours. I dropped her off the first day and wished them good luck! All I can say is I wish I was a fly on the wall during naptime. The first week was apparently a bit rough, but she has adjusted quite well and is now napping on her cot during naptime. I guess this is may be the first time in her life where she has experienced peer pressure--look Madeline, all the other kids are sleeping nicely on their cots! :) The second big change has been mealtime. Up until now we were responsible for bringing our own food in for her, but now she eats the food prepared at the center. So she has gone from eating wholesome homemade (oftentimes all organic) baby food to whatever is on the menu for the day. The first week she was introduced to meatball hoagies, cheeseburgers, cheesy beefy raviolis for lunch and cookies for her afternoon ...among other choices! Brian and I were quite appalled at her meals. I've had to lighten up a little bit about what she eats and at least we know she is still getting a very nutritious breakfast and dinner! Wow, that was a lot of rambling about daycare...sorry!
Continuing on with other fun things...
She chooses walking for her exclusive mode of transportation now. Once she got up the courage to let go a week or so before her Birthday, she hasn't looked back!
To make things more challenging, she often needs to have something in her hands while walking:
She found the stash of paper shopping bags behind the refrigerator and they have become her new favorite toys! She loves to fill them full of toys and tote them around the house.
She's doing all kinds of fun toddler 'tricks.' She loves waving at people. When we go to Costco she rides in the cart and waves at everyone that looks at her. It is funny to watch everyone's reaction. She's clapping a lot, doing high-5's, dancing when she hears music and.....where's Madeline??? Peek-a-boo!
We haven't really been feeding her from a spoon much anymore as she eats mainly finger food now. This video documents one of the reasons why spoon feeding has become a bit of a challenge! You can also see her clapping her hands which she loves to do! In addition to biting the spoon she is now wanting to use the spoon by herself. She's actually doing quite well with this but it is messy!
This next photo shows a common face around here. There are a few places that she knows she is not supposed to go that we don't have blocked off. When we see her going that direction, we call her name and she turns around and gives this huge mischievous smile...and then usually darts really fast through the door!
She has nearly outgrown her infant car seat, so she now gets to ride in style in her big girl seat! It was met with much approval the first time she sat in it!
She finds anything you put on your head quite funny and you can see what fun she had one evening when she ran around with dad's big hat!
She still loves books and her new thing is bringing a book over to you to read. She sit on your lap while you read and once the book is finished, you can ask her to go pick out another from the shelf and she will return with another book. This can continue through about 5 books! I really hope she continues to love reading!
We took her to one of the splash parks one evening and she had fun playing in water even though she was the littlest kid there.
After splashing around she got to enjoy the swings!
She has grown into her 9-12 month clothes and so we got to go through the closet and pull out her next size of clothes. Look what we uncovered during that process! Brian and I picked out this costume when I was pregnant, thinking that she could be a panda bear for her first Halloween. Needless to say, her whole little body could fit in the belly of this costume on her 1st Halloween. Maybe it will still fit in Oct!
Look what arrived in the mail yesterday! Getting her a passport has been on our to-do-list for quite sometime, and we finally got around to filling out the paperwork and finding a time when we could all 3 appear together at the post office to apply. I feel like we need to plan a trip now that we have it! You can see that she is quite anxious to get that first stamp on those pages! :)
I think this month has truly defined the transformation from baby to toddler for us. Brian and I keep commenting on how she has turned into such a big girl lately!
