This update took me forever to write because 1-there's so much and 2-I've been insanely busy. So a lot of things have changed since the beginning of me writing this but I'm going to try to keep it as true to where she was when she was just turning 12 months, ok? Ok! (Also-MY BABY IS 1 *sob*)
Date: February 20, 2021
Height: 28 inches (this is approximate, we measured her ourselves when the measurement from her doctor's appointment didn't make any sense. They said she was 29.5 inches-no way lol)
Weight: 20 lbs. 15.1 oz. (as of her doctor's appointment on the 22nd)
Sleeping Pattern: Same 2 nap routine (10-11am nap and 2-3pm nap)! She started taking a little longer to fall asleep/waking earlier recently-ish so now we're working on a 1 nap transition but this past month
has been mostly smooth sleep-wise! Rose's sleepy time pose is still here, also, if anyone was wondering. Right thumb in mouth, left hand twirls her hair. If she's tired (or sometimes if she's upset or teething) she'll assume the sleepy pose.
Eating Habits: Pretty much the same-she definitely is starting to wean herself and not nurse as much though, especially during her middle 2 feedings (since writing this both of her middle of the day feedings have been dropped). She drinks and then tries to roll away or just play with me when she's done (she's a particularly big fan of sticking her fingers in my mouth, eyes, nose, etc.) Solids are good too! She's been doing 3 meals and 1 snack. She'll eat almost anything, she is always impressing me. The other night she went CRAZY on some (pretty spicy) guacamole and she'll happily gobble up veggies, fruit, and carbs. Meat is still a little more meh for her but she'll still eat some. She has unfortunately fully entered the food throwing stage (usually when she's either done, isn't into the food right then, or wants attention). She is generally happiest though when she's eating like us, so she prefers to have adult utensils and even requests a plate sometimes. Her yelling for food requests have been helped slightly by teaching her the signs for "please" and "thank you"--now she'll earnestly sign please (or sometimes a preemptive thank you lol) to ask for something or more of something. It's VERY cute.
Eating Habits: Pretty much the same-she definitely is starting to wean herself and not nurse as much though, especially during her middle 2 feedings (since writing this both of her middle of the day feedings have been dropped). She drinks and then tries to roll away or just play with me when she's done (she's a particularly big fan of sticking her fingers in my mouth, eyes, nose, etc.) Solids are good too! She's been doing 3 meals and 1 snack. She'll eat almost anything, she is always impressing me. The other night she went CRAZY on some (pretty spicy) guacamole and she'll happily gobble up veggies, fruit, and carbs. Meat is still a little more meh for her but she'll still eat some. She has unfortunately fully entered the food throwing stage (usually when she's either done, isn't into the food right then, or wants attention). She is generally happiest though when she's eating like us, so she prefers to have adult utensils and even requests a plate sometimes. Her yelling for food requests have been helped slightly by teaching her the signs for "please" and "thank you"--now she'll earnestly sign please (or sometimes a preemptive thank you lol) to ask for something or more of something. It's VERY cute.
Development & Firsts: I remember this from James, too-something about turning 1 seems to just come along with lots of firsts and big development leaps! Obviously, Rose celebrated her 1st birthday! She really enjoyed herself, lots of attention=happy Rosie. She had her 1st chocolate chip cookie (her reaction was thoughtful, unsure, and overall pretty mild lol). She also smashed her (albeit only fruit and maple syrup sweetened) cake with great enthusiasm. We had a little Zoom party with her grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins for singing Happy Birthday and watching her eat her cake. She got her 4th tooth (top right central incisor) on 1/22 so now she has an even 4 in her cheesy little grin. She starting standing for a long time independently and then on 2/12 took her 1st (two) steps! She's still only taking a few steps at a time and overall seems not terribly interested in it. She usually does it when reaching for something and then she either gets it or decides to plop on her bottom and crawl to it. She is also now able to stand from any position, she frequently will drop down into little squats then come back up. I can feel the real walking is so close, she just needs to want it lol. Before she took her 1st steps she kept faking us out-she'd put her arms out to us while standing and make like she'd walk but then PLOP on her bottom. In other developmental news, Rose has become SO communicative and can very clearly tell what's going on. One time James was going potty and asked for me to bring him a book, he was describing the book and before I'd figured out which one it was Rose had already grabbed it and was crawling with it to the bathroom to give him. She'll bring us books to read to her all the time and will often do motions with them (she'll hold out her hands, drum, hum, etc. in "Hand Hand Fingers Thumb", shake her head for the "no, daddy" part of "Hair Love", etc.) She also does animal noises for any animal she sees. (She can currently do fish, bunny, dog, cat, elephant, tiger/lion, dinosaur, dragon, giraffe, crocodile, monkey, cow, chicken, rooster, sheep/goat/llama-"ahhh" for all 3, pig, duck, butterfly, penguin, frog, horse...I think that's it lol). She's starting to identify body parts (she has nose mouth, hair, feet, hands, and belly down--since starting this post she also has become very into belly buttons which she calls "beh buhs". She usually gets eyes and knees also. The rest we're working on lol.) She's saying more and more words, too, but we'll get into that in the talking section (we've also taught her to sign "please" and "thank you/your welcome"). She's started coloring with crayons and actually does super well with it! Oh and 1 thing happened that just blew my mind (technically a week after she turned 1): she was taking a bath and started grabbing the letters they play with in there. She kept holding up letters and pointing for me to identify them. After the 3rd letter I realized they were all orange (there are like 5 different colors) and I asked her to get the rest of the orange ones. And she did. She proceeded to pick all the orange ones and put them together. Like-WHAT? She's a smart little girl and is always watching and paying attention and learning all the time.
Mischief: Rosie is still not super mischievous (even though her big brother did say to her "Rose you've got some mischief on your face" lol). She still has fun being playful and crawling extremely fast away from you. But honestly the biggest things are her dropping food (annoying but could be worse. Usually it's just when she's pretty much done,), and her ear piercing yells/cries when things don't go the way she wants. So ya know...she's a toddler now. Doing a tantrum. It's always very loud and very sad. For being such a happy sunshine girl most of the time when she is upset she is UPSET.
Cuteness: Look. Just....Rose loves to snuggle. LOVES IT. Soft thing? Must hold it and cuddle it and say "mmmm." Ray of sunshine on the carpet? Will lay face down on that patch of sun and say, "mmmm." Is that a baby doll? Calls "baby!" (well, "behbeh") and hugs it, rocks it, and pats it, while humming, "mmmm." Sees her adorable new baby cousin, Juliet, in a picture on my phone or on Facetime? Probably screams in excitement and says "hiiii" and THEN grabs it in a hug and says, "mmmmm." She has an actual hug pose that she'll use to tell you that she wants to hug something (she folds her right arm towards her face as if she's holding and snuggling something). If she sees anyone else hugging-she also needs a hug. If James is being sweet to her or has a soft thing himself-she will snuggle him (and if he hugs her back or kisses her-which he 99% of the time does-she will double down on the intensity of her cuddle and also kiss him and/or also give squeals and laughs and grins). If she's sleepy she will lay her head on your shoulder while she sucks her thumb and twirls her hair. Sometimes after I've fed her, before I put her in her crib at bedtime, she reaches up to find my face and leans forward to give me a big but gentle kiss. She loves to climb into James' bed and they'll snuggle and give each other kisses (or play and laugh and play peek-a-boo with the blankets lol. Nobody makes her laugh as hard as he does. They are the cutest together, it makes my heart so happy.) Sometimes he'll also get in her crib with her and she grins so hard and laughs and bounces up in down in excitement. Sometimes she'll mush her face against ours in like a face snuggle--one time she mushed my face to hers extra close and said "yay!" I DIED OF HAPPINESS. She also likes to make Michael and I kiss. We'll give each other a big kiss in front of her and go "muahhh!" and she'll smile and then immediately push our faces back together (saying, "muah!")--she's quite strong. Sometimes she'll join the kiss or ask each of us for a kiss and then push our faces towards each other again. It's freaking adorable. Her little grin with those 4 little teeth is just too much. Especially how she scrunches her nose up into her little "snoot" face or when she starts sniffing because she sees flowers or a bunny or for no apparent reason just because she's a cute little silly. It's so cute how she climbs up into the little kid-sized rocker we have or when she grabs a book and brings it over and climbs into your lap for your to read it. It's so sweet how much she loves Hair Love (and the head shaking for "no daddy"). She also loves to play with the doctor kit and will put the stethoscope to her chest and say "bum bum". She also tries to put it around her neck so she's the doctor. I'm completely obsessed with how cute it is when she signs please or thank you. It's hard to resist that little hand rubbing chest ("please") with her big pleading eyes. One time after Rose had a bad nap and I went to get her she gave me such a huge smile of relief and signed thank you (hand on mouth--looks like blowing a kiss) to me and oh my gooooodness. That sweet baby. I love how she just wants to be like us. She just wants to play with James or do what we're all doing. She rubs her hands together when she sees me putting lotion on or James washing his hands, she'll pretend to spit after she watches him brush his teeth, she wants to use grown up silverware and even have a plate on her tray because she just wants to be a big girl and do what her family is. Too cute. She just loves people so much. She will enthusiastically wave and call "hiiii!" at every car or person or dog she sees happen by. She will demand to be a part of any video call happening (to the point of crawling over and calling "hiiii!") and just treats whoever is on that call with big happy grins. My brother had his 1st baby, Juliet, at the end of January and Rose has been completely enamored with every picture of her or anytime we get to video call with them. She gets so excited and she wants to hug and kiss her, it's the cutest. She'll hug and kiss the phone on the regular, really. Her little affectionate mind will be blown when she's actually able to give her grandparents a real hug or kiss. I just love how she manages to make every person feel special and loved. It's a very magical superpower.
Talking: This month Rose has really turned a corner with her speech and understanding. Like...we can genuinely talk with her (sort of) now. In addition to using the sign for "please" to ask for things (for example: point to coat, point to door, signs please. She's asking to go outside,) and responding when we ask for something, she is saying more words that are starting to be more identifiable. She'll ask "dat?" or "dis?" about things to find out what they are. She definitely says mama, dada, bruhbah (brother), James (ITS SO CUTE OMG), dog, dolly, baby, ball, book, hiii, yeah, buh bye, doctor, done, beh buh (belly button), bum bum (sound of a heartbeat), uh oh, and muah (kisses, of course). There are other words we sometimes think we may hear but unsure still (like we think we've heard her say "please" once...but we'll see if it happens again). And, of course, all the animal sounds I mentioned earlier. It's just huge how much she understands. She really gets more than I can believe! Her toy dog said "give me a hug!"-and she hugged it. She pays such close attention to everything that we're all doing and I think she learns a lot. It's so amazing to watch.
Favorites: James, mommy, and daddy. When James is being sweet or funny or just existing pretty much. Snuggles. Kisses. Belly buttons. Being held. Books. Dancing. Singing. Daddy's guitar. People and video calls (she now insists on saying hello when anyone is on a call). Babies (especially her new baby cousin, Juliet! She's obsessed with her,) and animals and making animal sounds. Stuffed animals, pillows, and soft blankets and snuggling them. The sunshine (she'll lay down and-you guessed it-snuggle in the warm sun). Toys. Smiling and laughing and playing. Little girl just loves to be loved-she just wants to be given attention and affection and to have fun doing whatever seems fun to her in that moment!
Dislikes: Being interfered with when she wants something (particularly picked up and moved). Being yelled at/scolded. Getting wiped down after eating. Not being attended to in a quick enough manner (attention in general or food usually). Being left by any of us (if she sees someone walk up the stairs it frequently ends in her standing at the baby gate crying and being generally distraught.)
Concerns: Same old same old isolation + COVID-19 life. Not super pleased this is still where we're at a year later.
A Day in the Life: (This has changed now but this age this is where we were at)-Kids get up around 7:30. We go downstairs, I nurse Rose, change her, then feed them both breakfast (usually fruit, yogurt, toast, etc.) Play for awhile then change Rose and put her down for nap around 10am. She's then up around 11 and I nurse her, give her lunch, then we play some more until 1ish when we get James ready for his nap. He goes down then Rose gets changed and down for her nap around 2. Both kids hopefully sleep to 3. Then snack for James, nurse Rose, snack for Rose, and we play/I make dinner. We eat around 5/5:30 as a family and then hang out (and/or do baths) until Rose's bedtime routine starts at 7. We read, say goodnight to things around the house, brush her teeth, lotion her, change her, then I nurse her and sing to her then put her down. She sleeps all night. And that's it!
And there it is. 1 year of the sweetest baby girl. I could never have dreamed of such a wonderful daughter. She's the absolute perfect addition to our family and it's impossible to not adore her.