12 Months (11/21/13)

12 months, 1 whole year.  Where did the time go? It was the fastest, most enjoyable year of my life. 

I laid the blanket down to take pics and she automatically went and sat down

and then refused to look at me and sit still the rest of the time

 At 12 months, miss Collins is 19.6lbs and 28.7in.  According to our scale, she's been 20lbs for 2 months but apparently it's not correct.  It's no surprise to us that she's short. I mean, her parents are no basketball players.  Doctor wasn't concerned at all about her weight and said she was right on track.  And since she's always on the go and literally runs non stop, she's burning lots of calories. 

As far as her calorie intake goes, she is officially weaned and on whole milk.  We did the transition at 11 months (read about it here) and she has done great.  She rarely drank from a bottle to begin with so we went straight to a sippy cup.  As far as eating, she eats anything and everything. She loves all fruit but vegetables are a little tougher.  Peas, corn and sweet potato fries are the only for sure vegetables she will eat. I think her appetite is going down a bit and one day she'll like something and the next she won't.  All normal toddler things so we just keep offering her food and if she doesn't eat it, she doesn't eat.  I offer her 2-3 foods a meal so I try to always do 1 thing I know she will for sure eat. She eats 3 meals and 2 snacks. She only drinks milk and water. I'm not big on juice and I let her try it the other day and she didn't even like it. 

Like I said earlier, she is constantly on the move.  Running, going up and down stairs, climbing things, etc.  She is definitely a climber.  And she can climb high.  Our fireplace is pretty high up and she climbed right up one day like she had done it 100 times.  A new thing this month is stomping.  Just 1 foot though.  I think she thinks it's dancing but will do it if you tell her to stomp too.

She gives the best hugs.  Arm around the neck, tight squeeze kind of hug.  I loooove it.  Sometimes she'll pat your back when she "gives loves" too.  Kisses are still open mouth and lately have been with a side of snot.  Good thing I love her and her snot. 

 

 Her vocabulary is finally picking up.  She can say dada (and does so all.day.long), mama, ni ni (night night), mmmmm (for when she moos like a cow), dat (that, complete with a finger point), Aiden (I can't describe how she says it but it's definitely what she's saying. She literally squeals when she sees him and says it), no, nana (banana), da (done), eye! (hi. Said in a very high pitch voice) and noe (nose). We're working on body parts and she correctly points to her nose and ears about 60% of the time.  She loves touching my eyes and playing with my eyelashes. 

 We are finally getting some sleep in this house!!! During the whole weaning process, we did the cry it out too.  After months of attempting it, she finally learned to just fall back asleep. She goes to bed at 7:30pm and usually sleeps straight through the night till at least 6:30am, usually around 7am. Occasionally I'll have to go in once in the middle of the night to find a binky but it's not every night.  She is still taking a morning nap around 9am but only for about 45 min.  She's fine if we skip that nap but if she isn't going to fight it, I'm going to let her keep taking one.  Then she naps around 1pm for 1.5 hrs. 

 

 I know I say it every month but we have been so so blessed with this little girl. She is always happy and is sssooo easy going.  She doesn't know a stranger and is so go with the flow.  She's started to cry sometimes when she doesn't get her way but she'll run to you and hug you while she cries for all of 5 seconds.  She's learning her boundaries and that she doesn't always get what she wants.  Nobody wants a spoiled brat.  Usually she thinks the word no is just funny though.  And if she's doing something she isn't supposed to and you try and go get her, she'll just take off running and laughing.  Stinker. 

I'm so thankful to be this girls mama and to be able to spend every day with her. She is my entire world and even though I can't believe she's a year now, I can't imagine what we did before her either. We love you baby girl, don't ever forget that.