The Toddler

Ok, so I'm a very delinquent mom. I wish I was the super mom who found time to work full time, keep the house clean, make a home cooked meal each night, AND keep up with my blog - the reality is a six month hiatus while work was insane, the house was a mess, dinner was hard to come by. Apologies to those who actually kept up in the past and I'll try to do better in the future.

Sara is a full up toddler now - a big one year old! She rang in the momentous birthday with a stomach bug that produced her first real throw up - twice! Daddy got the bug too and thus also enjoyed his first (plus 30) birthday. At least Sara didn't know what all the big fuss was about and isn't upset that mommy and daddy still haven't planned her a proper birthday party yet.

Along with getting bigger, Sara now has six teeth (four on top and two on bottom). She's actively teething now and we're waiting to see which teeth come in next. Teething is no fun for her, but she has taken it pretty good for the most part. Mommy has taken the brunt of the pain as Sara goes through biting spells while nursing when her gums are sore, but luckily she hasn't been too bad with this lately.

Sara just went in for her one year doctor visit this past Friday and it's amazing how she's grown in just one year. She was 22lbs 10oz and 30inches long. She's tripled her birth weight and grown almost a foot - it's hard to imagine that tiny newborn we had a year ago. Sara had a toe prick to test for anemia (standard test and she's just fine) as well as a few more shots (those just never end for her!). So far she's just chugging along and they haven't seemed to bother her too much other than making her a bit more sleepy. We took her to the park this afternoon and she had a lot of fun - she was particularly interested in the rocks at the playground and kept wanting to dive into them!

Sara is officially a walker now too. She had been taking onsie, twosie type steps since she was eleven months old, but finally did what I would call "real walking" on January 22nd for Daddy's birthday. She's been picking up the pace ever since and is really cruising all over the house these days. This past week she seemed to finally figure out that she can go wherever she wants in the house and started searching through rooms and wandering about - the chase is on! She's also doing well outside on grass and other terrain - it's hard to walk on surfaces like that when you're still learning balance. Here is Sara today at the park...you can see she still trips a lot on the grass.

Sara is also babbling up a storm these days. She actively imitates you and tries to repeat sounds you make. Her first "word" was "uh-oh" which she came home from school with just prior to Christmas. We say it was her first word since that was the first thing she said and actually associated a meaning with it. She now says daddy, hi, and bye. She tries to say Bridgette and Bruno but it currently comes out "digit and dudo" and it supremely cute. There is still an all to lacking amount of mama coming out of this child, but she can say it. She usually calls me daddy or just points. Occasionally she will say mama, but it really comes out more like "mehmeh". All that labor pain and I can't even get a "mama" -in fact, when asked to say "mama" she will without fail say "daddy"! It's almost like someone taught her to do that but Andy swears he didn't. It's cute and annoying all at once (just like uh-oh). Andy also thinks she tried to say "cheese" the other day but that is as of yet unverified and unrepeated. She repeats sounds frequently, and often gets very close to the word you just said, but doesn't really know what the word means yet. I'm sure her vocabulary will start to pick up in the next few months and it will be exciting to hear what she has to say!

Along with the exciting things, we also have gotten an introduction to toddler tantrums lately. Sara will certainly let you know when she is displeased to say the least. She will scream if you take something away that she wants and has also learned to throw and object down in anger. The best is when she throws herself onto the ground and screams - it's hard not to laugh when she pitches this kind of fit! At this age, we just try to ignore the behavior and hopefully she'll learn it doesn't get her anywhere. We'll see how that works out!

Sara still loves music and rocks to the beat of many songs. She will touch her head when "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" comes on and clap with "If You're Happy and You Know It" but hasn't learned all of the moves yet. She can correctly identify her head and nose when asked and is working on the other body parts. She is quite the little "noodle" as we call her.

As for mom and dad, we are just enjoying life with a toddler. It's a lot of fun now that Sara really wants to play, can walk, and enjoys things like eating out and going to the park. We've not been enjoying the constant barrage of colds brought home from daycare that we both get or the toddler tantrums, but overall Sara has been an easy baby.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying the New Year thus far. I'll try to get pictures posted soon and I also have a ton of videos to post at some point (those take forever to upload so I'll get them when I can).

Love,

Andy, Valarie, and Sara