Language

Lily's language is exploding lately. I think she understands quite a
bit of what I say. This morning I said "take this to Daddy" and handed
her something. She took it turned around found Daddy and gave it to him.

She also learned two new signs today. She learned "crocodile"-
clapping your hands together like the jaws of a crocodile. She also
learned "brush your teeth"- brushing your teeth with your pointer
finger. She loves to brush her teeth so this an important one.

She's a genius if I do say so myself.

13 months

Notice the new set up for her monthly picture--a little more informal. And Lily's new chair, that she loves and loves to use it as stepping stool to get into things.

Another month for the history books. Parenting a toddler is so much different than a baby. It's a lot less watching and a lot more doing. Once she hits the hay between 7:30 and 8 I hit the couch to decompress for a little while. It makes keeping the house picked up during the week very challenging.

Lily often seems more like a typical little boy than the typical little girl. She's not very dainty, although sometimes she'll grab the ends of a dress she's wearing and turn side to side a mix between a curtsy and a twirl. Until she pulls her dress up over her face to play peekaboo. She's a climber. She's a sneak. She's a jumper and a tumbler. She's wild in the pool and bathtub. She throws her body as wildly as she can and splashes. But at least she doesn't mind getting her face wet. She's starting swimming lessons in about 2 weeks and I know she's going to love it.

We can also see glimpses of what Lily will be like as a teenager. Even now, she talks all.the.time. Never stops. Most of it isn't words yet but she's always talking, talking, talking. In fact, silence is a pretty good indicator that she's either sleeping or getting into something, usually getting into something. She's also beginning to try and repeat what we're saying to practice talking. A few days ago she was stepping up onto a box and then down, we'd say "up" and "down" as she stepped up and down. After a few times she started saying it with us. Another day I was talking to her about how she was happy that day and she was trying to say happy with me ("hap-e").

Milestones
-Wears 18 months, 24 months or 2T clothes. She wears smaller sizes in pants and larger sizes in t-shirts and onesies. She's very long-waisted.
-Wears a size 5.5 shoe. She got her first pair of real shoes this month a Stride Rite. They measured her little foot and she tested them on in the store. Hot pink of course!
-Wears a size 5 diaper. We're considering adding some cloth diapers in while we're at home. We're feeling the guilt of the cases and cases of diapers we have contributed to the landfill.
-An exclusive walker. If she's tired now, she just refuses to walk and makes us carry her.
-Obsessed with her tricycle and Cozy Coupe walking toy. If she sees them she MUST have them.
-Loves her bunny, Charlie. She can open his cage and let him out to play. She also knows where his treats are and gets them out. She can't get a treat out on her own so she gives him the whole bag--he doesn't mind! If you hand her a treat she likes to give them to him though. He's so gentle with her.
-Loves puppets.
-Loves interactive books ("Where's the bone?" where you hide the bone somewhere on each page and "Where's baby?" where you lift up a flap on each page to find the baby, she's particularly fond of the page where baby's feet are behind the cat).
-Knows signs for: milk, all done, baby, good job, hello, bye bye
-Learning new words but it's still unclear if she knows their meaning completely. She knows "mama" (or "mom-mom" sometimes) , "dada", and "hi" (or "hi-ya") for sure. Seems to understand "up" and "down".
-Makes a dog sound when she sees dogs "woof" but sometimes woofs for other animals too. Makes an elephant sound and puts up her arm like an elephant when she sees one.
-Loves to read. Loves to be read to and will "read" through books on her own too.

Look a bird! In the aviary at the zoo.

Swimming in the pool in Bauby & Grandpa's backyard.

Throwing herself back into the water in the pool.

Playing with Uncle Gary & Aunt Cat at Bauby & Grandpa's house.

Getting too big for her crib.

Watching a cow at the farm. She notices pictures of cows everywhere, on milk cartons, painted on the wall at Trader Joe's. She loves cows.

Signing "baby"

Read this book

Riding in her Cozy Coupe at Bauby and Grandpa's house in San Diego.

She always has to see what I'm looking at lately--especially the camera and my cell phone.

It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to...

Lily was a very agreeable baby. She'd let anyone hold her as most babies do. In the past two months or so she's started to resist this a bit. She's very aware of strangers and cautious. If someone comes up to her while we're out, she'll stare with her big beautiful eyes but she won't crack a smile at all. She's loves to be out watching other people (especially young, rambunctious kids) but she likes to do this slyly. So what does this have to do with her birthday? She was a bit overwhelmed. Usually when she sees someone she doesn't see every day (even people she knows like her grandparents) she takes a few minutes to get warmed up. But in under 5 minutes, she's your new best friend and will bring you book to read her and puppets to play with. On her birthday there were over 40 people that she doesn't see that often. Plus she didn't get a morning nap before the party. So she was a little unsure about what was going on. For the first hour or so she just wanted to be held by mommy or daddy. And she completely refused to show off her new walking skills! Thankfully lunch warmed her up a little, and opening presents brought out her regular self (she's a spoiled little girl already).

It was a wonderful party. Despite running a little late, we managed to get everything set up and the food out pretty much on schedule. Thanks to my mom for keeping an eye on Lily while she was "resting" and getting her dressed in her birthday attire and to my dad for carrying supplies up and down the stairs, manning two grills for a while and washing every last dish from the party after I crashed on the couch. Thank goodness my parents and Anna arrived a couple days before the party because I would not have been able to do it all on my own. Simple things like running to Costco to pick up the last of the perishable items is so much more difficult after getting home at 5 and having to get a little girl fed, bathed and in bed by 7:30 PM. Thankfully my dad picked up the slack on that one and got the last of the food for the party too.

It was a great day though. So busy that I didn't have time to feel nostalgic about how big she's gotten so quickly. We were so glad to be able to share our joy over the past year with all of our friends and a lot of our family. This is the only birthday Lily will celebrate before we leave so we were glad that so many people were able to come, hang out, and eat. It was wonderful seeing so many of the friends we've made here in one place.

The death grip on Daddy.

Papa Jerry manning the grill.

Strawberry cake. Really yummy.

Lily's cake.

A little concerned about all the singing.

Eating the her cake.

A year of Lily.

Lily's loot.

Part of the crowd.

Opening gifts.

The favorite gift of the day? A giant gift bag!