Long overdue (14 months)

Well August is almost over and I have been meaning to update the blog in such a long time!


Little Mary, let's see. What can't you do now? Today you stood on the little rocking chair with one foot on each armrest and pumped it with your legs. I am sure I call you daredevil at least a dozen times a day and your balance continues to astound me.


Today you're cutting your first molars. Poor baby. You were pretty grumpy yesterday, which is unlike you, and today I saw them. Two. One on each side on top! Ouch! So at the moment, you're eating really cold cut up grapes and in a much better mood.

So what's new? You have been signing all the basic baby signs and can say all the spoken words Josie knows. You imitate all of Josie's nonverbal gestures and whining while pointing, so I'm sure you'd be talking more if it wasn't for that. You say Neno like Josie instead of Nemo. But it's still super cute. I've heard you say every sound. You generally stay quiet but if there's an inflection or consonant combo you've not yet tried you catch us all off guard. You can say shoe and bump with all their compound complexity Josie probably won't master before another surgery and years and years of therapy.

The other day coming back from the beach (which you are still not 100% on board with the sand and ocean combo), Josie was whining in the backseat so I said with unusual forced emphasis "I LOOOVE you JO-see" And a split second after the words left my mouth, Brian and I both heard "I love you." In a tiny voice! Shocked? yeah. The l and the y  were both on it, it was just a very small and tiny voice. You have the cutest little timid voice. High pitched and sweet and soft. Oh and the other day driving around I said, "Who wants a Coke icy? Ice-ee, ice-ee, ice-ee?" And Josie said "I-ee" and you said,
"Coke."

What else? You can basically run, wobbly because your legs are still super chunky and so cute. You love to dance and its the funniest thing I've ever seen. Across from Swing and the Monkey.

You definitely have a temper. You want things to go the way you want them to go (sounds like mommy?) and you are very determined to get it to work your way. You were spooning rice into a teapot today and the rice wouldn't stay on the spoon when you tilted it and you were getting pretty frustrated.

What else... Finding Nemo mesmerizes you both. We dance a lot every day. And you love, love, love bath time. Any water play actually. Flour play. oh and painting. You LOVE painting. Well anything messy really. You imitate Josie doing pretend play too, but I don't think you understand why she makes her people dance together, but it's still way adorable.

Your hair is really getting curly. It's still kind of an auburn and your eyes are still blue. Guess they're staying that way! Sure there's more, and more important stuff. Oh your weight is finally around average, 50-70% but if you were just a half an inch taller you'd be in the 95% for height. You are a very tall 14 month old! I can't wait to see how you measure up at 18 months. But let's not hurry to get there ;)

Lastly, you and Josie are still BFFs and love each other though I hate to tell you, she has way more patience for you than you have for her.

All around beautiful baby allstar, math major and pro athlete in the making! Oh and shoes... you are still really, really obsessed with shoes. The other day at mass, I carried Josie's shoes in because she was sleeping and you got SO MAD when I put them on her feet when she woke up. You kept trying to pull them off and shrieking. You love pretty shoes. Let the record show, you love shoes.

12 month stuff

So little beauty, you had a lot of fun stacking some big chunky blocks today. I have no clue where you are in months per skills since you don't get evaluated every few months or followed on a weekly basis by a team of therapists but I know at worst you're right at normal. No worries from me.

Plus (ssshhh don't tell), I think you're a little ahead.

Anyway, you love to dance, fall down when you don't get your way, and basically are toddling / running now all over! You love scribbling pictures and eating crayons still and anyway, just so I don't forget, here are some skills I'm going to try to foster in you since you are ready for a challenge or two.

Beads in a bottle.
Coins in slot.
Kicking.
Body Parts.
Throwing a ball.
More doodling with crayons.
Stacking small square blocks.

Now I shouldn't forget!
http://library.med.utah.edu/pedineurologicexam/html/18month.html

Happy Birthday! Just some stuff off the top of my head...

Little Miss Mary, how did you get to be so big so fast?

Sorry this post is belated; you turned 1 a week ago Wednesday.

You are the biggest little sweetie with the cutest kissable cheeks.

Let's see some of the stuff you are up to...

You love your sister and are BFFs. You hold hands and dance at the hint of music or when you're out on the sidewalk you reach for her hand so you can walk together. You adore Josie, so much.

You are enjoying all kinds of foods mostly if you are allowed to feed yourself. You still love to nurse and have no intention of slowing down just yet. You're getting pretty wiggly during which and too smart -- sometimes you want to help yourself to a snack.

 You are obsessed with shoes. You love everything about them and carry them around as your favorite possession and hold your feet out for me to put shoes on and try on mine whenever you can. I don't care how grouchy or upset you can be, if I bring out a pair of shoes, those tears dry up immediately and you get a big goofy grin. Silly.

You can color with crayons, pick blueberries, run wobbly around the house.

 Your speech is astounding. You can mimic every sound I can say. You say dog a lot and like to squeal at the top of your lungs. You are incredibly smart. You give kisses and haven't figured out that kissing-smack-sounds are make with your lips so you mimic the exact sound with a click of your tongue and lean in and give me, Daddy, and big sis kisses pretty frequently.

You love tutus, puppies, brushing your hair.

You are all about puzzles and shape sorters. You are incredibly inquisitive and go around signing "what" or "why" with your hands at various things.

You're down to one nap now :( In the afternoon around 2pm. You and Jo love to bounce and run around on the bed prior to your nap.

 You love crawling up the stairs and have begun trying to walk up on your feet holding on to the railing.

I have no clue how tall you are bc we missed your 1 year check up (sorry but you look pretty healthy to us). But you weigh 23 lbs. Josie is 26. Almost catching her, but I do think you slowed down on the weight gain. You're still gorgeously chunky despite all your running around after sis.

What else... you love Popsicles, baby dolls (you are already such a cute little mommy), and tackling balloons.

You finally like the beach and going over the waves in Mommy's arms. Not so sure about sand yet.

You are very careful about being messy.

You are getting over stranger anxiety and letting more family members hold you, finally.

And your eyes are still blue!!!!!

All my love, little beauty, little girl, my Mary


Party pics: