13 months

Enjoying the sunny day at the park

Spending some time with Poppy!

Family :-)

Celebrating Mommy's b-day

13 months and a week old...this post is a week late because, well, that's the kind of month it's been! Callie turned one and for the next week, I was pretty sure this was my favorite stage ever. She was the sweetest, most adorable kid all through the day, sleeping all through the night, making us laugh when she was up and when she was asleep and we reviewed all the adorable things she did all day, AND THEN, one year and 1 week came and, a different kid emerged :-). Actually, I didn't know it at the time, but what really emerged was her first MOLAR! Suffice to say, I have now decided 11 months is my favorite stage thus far!

Along with the molar came tantrums and lots of them! And not just any tantrums, the exact kind that her mother used to throw-kicking, screaming, hitting, rolling all over the floor banging into things, tantrums! (I have absolutely no recollection of this, and were it not for documented evidence in the form of very UGLY photographs, I would deny any knowledge of said behavior). So, I have been listening to my mom yuck it up, as it's now payback time for my former disgusting behavior :-). Actually, Mom has been an encouragement, assuring me this is normal and all my frustrations are the same ones I go through every time she's teething-it's just compounded 'cause these are big teeth! We recently discovered her 2nd molar coming through-pretty sure she's going to get all 4, one right after another.

SO, with the yucky reality out of the way, here are some sweet things!

• Callie adores music and dancing! Whenever she hears music-and sometimes when she's just happy, she breaks into "happy feet" (aka: footfire if you're familiar with basketball/football drills. We think it looks a lot like the penguins in the movie, thus the name :-)). She also does some very cute bobble-head movements. We went out to a Mexican restaurant for my b-day and she spent the whole time grooving in her high chair to the background music! Later, we got in the car and Dave said, "Callie, what do you do to Mexican music?" She immediately, broke into a smile and started "dancing" in her carseat!
• She is still not saying many words, but her comprehension is amazing. She knows the names of all her favorite stuffed animals, toys, food items, people, etc. and will go to them or get them when we ask. She will also respond to "do you want to do this?" with "yeah!" or shaking her head. Dave's mom got Callie a little stuffed animal puppy, which she loves since it's a dog, for Easter. When we got home Dave told her to go show puppy her tent. She looked at him, grabbed puppy and marched him right over to the tent!
• She's been growing-she is now whacking her head on things she used to walk under. She's still confused why this is happening! It seems like she's constantly hurting herself regardless of how close I am-I can't predict her crazy movements! She's sleeping extra, and I'm loving that! Solid from 8pm-7:30am most days and still 2 naps. Mostly 1 1/2 and 1-1/2 hours each, but some days she's taken 2 two-hour naps-AWESOME! Lest anyone think I'm bragging, I'm not! I'm counting my blessings and am all too aware that it could change again at any time-and in fact, wasn't so great just yesterday!
• She wants to run everywhere and do everything by herself! I can't keep her in her stroller very long because she wants to get out and push it! She now starts in the stroller for our walks but ends up doing half the walk herself!
• She is still very in love with animals-especially dogs. All animals get a "Woo, Woo, Woo!" from Callie (we think she's trying to say "woof" like a dog).

I'm sure there are other things I will remember later, but I want to get something accomplished during her nap, so I'll close for now-hopefully, I'll get the Easter post up soon!