1 Year

In so may ways, it is hard to believe that a year has past. I look at Olive and it amazes me that she has gown so much and mastered things like holding her head up, sitting and walking. In some ways this year has flown by and in others it has not. It is kind of sad to think that I no longer have a baby, but a toddler. But she is such a happy and fun toddler that I am enjoying these momemts very much.

Walking
Olive started taking steps around 11 months, but they were very tentative and mostly the beginning of a fall towards me. Around 11 1/2 months she really figured out that she could get from one place to another and as of last week, carry things with her. She does fall a lot. I mean a lot. But she is very good at catching herself and unless she is tired, she does not cry too much. She has the cutest little steps and still holds her hands out front when she walks. I will really miss this toddle when she masters walking. She loved being chased when she crawled, and will try and run away now that she is walking, but she usually just falls, and I feel bad.

Sleeping
For the past three weeks, Olive has finally slept through the night with consistency. No more 4am feedings!!! But there have been many 5:45 wake-ups :( That is ok, I can handle it if I just get to bed early. Which usually does not happen. I feel like we are in the middle of a transition from 2 naps to 1. Some days she will not be tired until around 11 and will sleep almost 2 hours and then not need a another nap and will go to bed around 8. Other days we are still on the two 30-40 min nap routine and bedtime is a bit later. She is still very easy to get to bed a night, even if the naps are a struggle.

Talking
"Dee" is the word of the week. I am not sure what it means, but she says it all the time. Da-dee is also a favorite and I feel they are related. I get a ma-ma every now an then. Mostly when she is unhappy. I think she is also learning her version of no which comes out nah. We get this mostly when she does not want to eat. She babbles all the time and will often pass 15 min or so just walking around the living room and kitchen talking away and carrying toys from one place to another.

Eating
We are most definitely in a transition here. We have made great strides in the past month or two in getting more formula in her. Heating the formula really helped us out. But lately, she really does not like being fed from a spoon and is not to thrilled about feeding herself. So, she has not been eating much. We are trying more people versions of foods and she really likes broccoli, chicken, pasta, and avocados. I hope this is just a phase and she gets better at eating. Her weight is still on the light side and I would love to get some meat on those bones.

One thing that she loves is ice. I know, not very fattening, but a good fine motor skill developer. I will fill a small bowl (suction bottom) with small ice chips and she will work on it till all the ice has melted. One side effect is that she comes "running" when she hears ice being dispensed out of the fridge.

Fun & Games
Now that she can carry things, Olive has shown more interest in dolls. She has a few that are getting the tour of the house these days. She also loves a good game of chase and will squeal with laughter if you act like you are going to grab her. I have been trying to teach her "please" and "thank you" and she has mastered handing toys back to you to make them do something. She still loves to eat paper and added a crayon tip to her menu today. I guess I will wait on the drawing games.

Olive loves music and has a little happy dance when it comes on. She also loves to "play" Brian's guitars. We have music loaded on her ipod and when I press play, she wants me to pick her up and dance.