Tuesday, July 30, 2013
12
Months/1 Year Old
Dear
Mackenzie,
Happy 1st
birthday Smiley Girl!! I can’t believe that you are now officially a toddler.
What on earth is going on around here? This has been an emotion week for me
(and your Daddy though I think he doesn’t like to admit it) knowing that you
were getting ready to turn a whole year old and you were leaving infancy and
entering toddlerhood. I just can’t believe that it has been a whole year since
we first met you face to face and fell in love.
 |
| A few minutes old... |
Your year
appointment at the doctor isn’t until tomorrow so we are still unsure of your
exact weight and height. I figure you are around 20 lbs and 29 or so inches.
That is the same as what I said last month I think but your weight and height
gain have slowed a lot in the last couple months, especially considering how
fast you used to gain weight and height. You are still the happiest baby I have
ever met. Just yesterday you had a few different giggle fits. Sometimes things
are just hilarious to you and you collapse in the most adorable giggles.
You are
still crawling. We seriously thought you would be walking soon but you just don’t
always seem to feel the need. You crawl ridiculously fast though. You still
pull up on everything and cruise around the house. You have also learned to
stand on your own without holding on to anything. It is the cutest thing. You
will put your arms out in front of you like you just landed after doing a long
jump or something and balance for a few seconds before lowering yourself ever
so slowly to the ground in a sit. You have such control when you sit. It makes
us realize that you could definitely stand up for longer but you are still
gaining confidence. I think you will be walking within the next couple of
months though. You will now walk if we hold your hands. That is a big change
from last month when you would just try to sit down if we would try to get you
into a standing or walking position. You also have this push toy that you just
love to push up and down the hall. Sometimes your Daddy and I will stand at
each end of the hall and when you reach one end, we just turn you around to
head back the other way. You will go back and forth for 20 or so minutes
sometimes. Now we just need you to gain confidence and try it on your own. We
got you your first real pair of shoes for your birthday so now when we are out
you can practice some walking. At home you still don’t wear shoes because that
is better for learning to walk, but we can finally let your feet touch the
ground outside of the house.
Nursing
this month has been very similar to last month. Most of the month you nursed
four times a day. Just a couple of days ago we dropped a nursing session and
introduced some whole milk. Just a bit though. We are ready to wean off one
more nursing session but I am waiting until after your doctor’s appointment
because I know you are getting shots and want you to be able to nurse
afterwards if you need to. After that though, we are dropping one more. A few
days after that we will drop the morning. As for the evening… I think we will
keep that one around a bit longer. I don’t know yet when we will stop but for
right now, I am following your lead on that one. You did okay with weaning off
the one session and took to the milk fairly quickly. You eat three meals a day
and often have a snack (especially now that we are dropping a nursing session
and getting ready to drop another). Your
favorite meal is currently spaghetti. It is hilarious to watch you eat it and
you end up covered in spaghetti sauce usually. You have decided to protest
almost all meat we try to feed you this month. I’m not sure what is up with
that, but you just haven’t been into it. You are getting a bit more finicky
with what you will and won’t eat. You were such a good eater and tried any and
everything. We are apparently entering the picky toddler stage.
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| The spaghetti aftermath |
Naps ran
fairly similar most of the month as well with one around 11 and one around 3 or
3:30. We are in the process of dropping one of those naps though. You are just
ready, I think. Yesterday was the first day with one nap and you did
phenomenal. I know that there might be some days during the transition when you
need two naps but I think you are just ready to get rid of one. It happened so
quickly though. I’m amazed. You still go down to bed between 7:30 and 8. Our
evening routine is the same as it has been.
I’m
realizing that this last month has been a lot of same old, same old. Nursing,
naps, and what not. It is all very similar to what it has been. We are getting ready
to hit some big changes though with the weaning, dropping a nap and you getting
ready to walk. Life is getting ready to
change drastically, I think.
You have
started to do more “talking” this month. You seriously never stop talking to
us. Most of what you say is something we can’t understand but you do have some
select words you use a lot. Dada is still a favorite though you are saying mama
more often. We notice that you say mama more when you are upset. Probably
because I am with you all the time and I am more often the one that comforts
you. Just this week you said doggy for the first time. You have said dog a few
times before but you said doggy clear as day about a friend’s dog. You were
taught how to say it and were shown the dog, but you said it spontaneously when
you saw the dog again later. You still say Jack a lot. Now, it sounds more like
“ja” though without the ck sound. You will say “hey ja” when you see him. If we
ask you where he is you will point to him or say his name. You also learned to
say fish (which you say as “ish”) and will point to the fish tank when asked
something about the fish. Yesterday Daddy and I were convinced that we heard
you say “I love you”. It wouldn’t surprise me because we say it to you so
often. You said it to Daddy though when he was cuddling you after work. Both of
us heard it, so we are pretty sure that is what you were saying.
We had
your first birthday party this past weekend. We had quite a few guests and had
a luau theme. You were a little social butterfly during your party and I think
you really enjoyed it. We had a lot of yummy food. You opened up all your
presents. Really, I opened most of them and you played with the bows. You
seemed to enjoy your cake. You were fairly proper with it, but at least you
weren’t afraid of it or anything. We got a lot of great pictures and I think we
have a lot of great memories. Next weekend we are going to Honeymoon Island to
take your 1 year pictures. It is full circle because it is where we took our
maternity pictures before you arrived. I’m excited to see how they turn out.
You are really photogenic so I think they will be great.
We are
still at 8 teeth, but there is at least 1 molar coming it. It is the first time
you have had problems with teething. You randomly fuss and are chewing on all
sorts of things. I can see the tooth as a gray mass under your gums and can
feel some bumps and swollenness under the gums. I think we will see that tooth
in the next couple of weeks. I don’t know how quickly its partner will follow
on the other side but I’m hoping it doesn’t hurt as much as the one you have
coming now.
I can’t
believe you are a full year old. I want to be the first to welcome you to
toddlerhood. We are all set to begin the next chapter of your life. I can’t
wait to see how you grow and what you learn. You are the light of our lives and
we love you bigger than the sky.
Happy 1st
birthday baby girl. I love you to the
moon and back.
Love,
Mommy
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