Well here we are, 12 months later...
What a sweetheart you are, Kate! You are active as ever and have learned to walk. Now, I will say, it wasn't officially by 12 months old. You apparently needed a party to get those legs moving. You decided to become an official walker at your birthday party 3 days after your first birthday! I guess you needed EVERYONE to see, so there would be no more of this "I saw her take 8 steps" business. We all saw you over and over again take those little legs and walk! Now, that's not to say you have mastered it, but you always give it a go. If you are super excited to get somewhere, say, like when you see Mommy picking you up at the Y nursery, you say "forget it, I'm crawling!" and come jetting toward me. But, you constantly are walking across the room and it still gets your sister so excited, and Mommy and Daddy, too!
Your 12 month checkup was a success, minus the tantrum you threw when receiving 5 shots, but who wouldn't throw one of those with that coming their way. You are in the 95 percentile on height (shocker!) and 90 in weight. Again, I'm not too shocked. You are a healthy baby and Dr. Lee was pleased with everything. You are becoming a bit of a picky eater, but Mommy's not giving up. You seem to only like fruit, oatmeal squares soaked in milk, avocado and mac n cheese. There might be a few other things out there, but you WERE eating everything, cheese, pancakes, meat - everything, but within the last 2 weeks have had a preference on what goes on your plate. Oh, well you do love some BBQ and, of course, spaghetti, so I guess you aren't THAT bad, but it has become a bit of an issue with meal times with you. We can't have spaghetti EVERY night, although your sister wouldn't mind it either!
You continue to love to dance at the sound of music and are now handing out kisses to a few select individuals. I have to say, it is SOOOOO stinkin' cute. Mommy gets the most, no doubt, but you've shared a few with Daddy, Mimi and a few others. Mammaw couldn't steal one from you, but I bet you will pass them along eventually... You are also very good about shutting the garage door. Mommy saw Jake do this a month or so ago and thought, hmmmm, let's teach Kate. Well, one time showing you and you've got it down! Just goes to show that I should show you more 'tricks', huh! Speaking of tricks, when you see your shoes you immediately put your feet up and when I take them off you stick them in my face to smell. You like the noise I make, which is 'SHHHHHHHEWWWWWWW' in a really high voice. And yes, they do smell. I had to warn the doctor. Something about you and your sister's feet. We'll blame it on the shoes...
You also LOVE to talk to Mimi on FaceTime. This has become quite the comical scene because once you realize she's on the phone you WILL NOT give up the phone without a complete meltdown. If I take the phone away, you scream, but when I hand it back, you start jibber-jabbering, as if you are having a genuine conversation with Mimi.
I've tried switching phones, like giving you my phone if Mimi's on the Ipod, but you know better and will just throw my phone down. Again, it's funny, that is, until we actually have to get off Facetime with Mimi and then it takes several minutes to calm you down.
You love climbing up the stairs and are particularly crazy about shutting doors or gates. It's fine except you something sit right where the door needs to open so you've been trapped in your closet a few too many times, with the lights out because the light automatically comes on when the door is open - not closed. It's been interesting with you around, to say the least :)
Sleep is still fantastic. You sleep from 7ish to 7ish, all night (yep, not gonna complain at all!) and are quite content to sit in your bed for 15 or so minutes when you do wake up in the morning. Of course, if your sister hears you, you will soon have company in the crib. Right now, you are taking a nap around 10 - 10:30 until 12:30 although I have a feeling that is going to be pushed back even more and sooner than later, you will be down to one nap. Right now you do the morning and then are back down around 3:30/4:00. This nap is usually about an hour and a couple times a week you straight up skip it.
You are saying Mamma and Dada and as of yesterdayish you've started saying "Mememememe". Sister got super pumped today when she heard you say "Mimi". Other than that, not too many words. You are very good with your sign language and make it clear when you are all done and you have the shaking of the head (signaling "NO!!") down to a T, particularly when I put eggs or cheese or anything you don't want on your plate!
Oh, and back to the sleeping - every single time we walk up the stairs you start crying because you think you are going to bed. And if we walk in your room, man alive, the tears start flowing! We're not always going to bed, but you always think it. If we are going to bed, you stop crying once I get the sleep sak on you, but it's a fight until then. It's so funny because it's like once that sak is on you, all your muscles go loose and you just relax in my arms while we read a book. Prior to that, I am barely holding onto you because you are wiggling like a wet cat!
You still love your sister and laugh at the goofiest things she does. I don't always get it, but it melts my heart to hear that little laugh of yours and see your sister near by!
Baby dolls are still a fave, but you've started to appreciate putting objects in things, like buckets or bowls. And nothing makes you more happy than a maraca! You love to shake shake shake anything that makes a noise when you shake shake shake it!
And, another big shocker, you like some chocolate! Mommy just caught you today with her chocolate covered pomegranates and you were NOT happy when I took them away!
All in all, you are growing into a beautiful, smart, sweet girl, but you are still my Baby Kate!
Aside from the awesome first birthday party, we celebrated your actual birthday, too! We started off with pancakes (when I thought you liked them!) along with some strawberries and eventually a nutragrain bar because you X'ed the pancakes...
Look how sweet your feetsies are - you ALWAYS sit like this and it makes me grin every time!
Next we let you open your presents from your sister. She was very excited about it because she picked it out herself.
And wrote you a sweet message ALL BY HERSELF!!!
It says "I love you - Abby". Very impressive, huh. I think she will be teaching you to write sooner than later!
What's that face for, you ask? Well, seems that your sister snuck in a Minnie Mouse in the shopping cart at Target and it somehow found it's way home....
I did check and we did pay for it, but I was completely unaware of it at the time. Sneaky sister - I bet she teaches you a few of those tricks, too!
Here's the present she picked out for you - a baby doll, with a paci, and she sings when she gets the paci. Sure, it's a bad habit to bring to your attention, but that baby sure is cute!!!
Later that morning, we headed to the Y and you officially moved to the "12 months and older" notebook. Everyone cheered for the occasion! Later, we got you prettied up in your "One" outfit and snapped a few pictures. This one with your sister ended up being the best one - you are an active little one year old!!
Unfortunately, it's kind of hard to figure out what to do 'special' for a one year old because you enjoy anything as long as it's not walking up our staircase, so we went to Goofballs. And, because I'm honest like that, the reason we went there was because Ellie was being rewarded for sleeping in her bed all night! Well, to be super honest, the real reason was because your sister is still scared of Chuck E. Cheese (even though he is a robot and does not come off the stage) and would not go there, which is where Ellie wanted to go, so Ellie decided goofballs would be better since Abby would go there! Shhhew, okay, glad that's off my chest. So, yeah, we went to Goofballs for your birthday :) You did enjoy it, I have to say and we even had pizza, which you were happy to eat! Later that day we all ate dinner together and we let your sister have a cupcake and you managed to steal a few bites yourself, even though I was saving your big birthday cake tasting for your party!
It was a sweet birthday for a sweet baby! Love you birthday girl! Love your sweet face, your sweet toes and your sweet kisses! Happy Birthday Kate!
