Look Whooo's 13 Months Old??!

I fully intend on continuing these posts until about age 2. We were still in Galveston on the 10th (when she turned 13 months), and then time has just gotten away from me, or there was other stuff I wanted to do, so I'm finally doing it now!

Soooo...we officially have a toddler now! Not a baby. A toddler. A toddler who loves to open and close drawers and doors, chase Ninja around the house, and hauls booty across the kitchen when Ninja's wet cat food is down there (and yes, she has eaten some). Man....life was easier when I could put her in one spot and she couldn't move! :) Oh, and everyone always talks about the "terrible 2's," but are there "terrible 1's"?? Audrey has decided it's acceptable to scream at you when she's not getting her own way, or turn the tears on. Or both! Talk about having a will, and opinion, of her own! Not to make all this sound negative, though; she is still a sweet little girl and generally easy-going and happy....but she's not shy to let you know when she's not happy about not getting her own way.

Here's some proof :)

This month has been FULL of really watching her grow, learn, and develop all sorts of new skills and abilities. She is so smart! I know every mom thinks that about their baby, but yeah, she's a genius :) She definitely understands much of what we tell her.

Weight: 19lbs 7oz (found that out at the doctor today)

Length/head circ.: No idea

Teeth: I don't even know for sure. I think 7 total. 4 on top and 3 on bottom. No molars yet. I've heard those are rough.

Sleep: We are now down to 1 nap a day. Sad day for Mommy, lol (ha...j/k....kind of!). While on vacation I gave her 2 naps one time and she took a great morning nap about an hour and a half long, and her afternoon nap was about 30 minutes....and it took her 30 minutes to even fall asleep for it! The rest of the vacation we did 1 nap and she did fine. At home, she keeps pooping like an hour into the nap, so she's been only sleeping an hour to an hour and a half a day, but then sleeps about 13-13 1/2 hours at night to make up for it, so I'll take it!


Eating: She eats 3 good meals a day. I try and get her to eat whatever we're eating. Sometimes she does. Sometimes she doesn't. If we're fixing something I know she can't eat (like steak), I'll fix her some macaroni and cheese. She (knock on wood) doesn't seem like a very picky eater. I always give her a banana at breakfast and she'll eat a half to a whole banana, just depending on how hungry she is, and her mood. I usually rotate between also giving her a cereal bar (she LOVES these...apples and cinnamon are her favorite), toast with either cinnamon and sugar or jelly on it, or a waffle with some peanut butter and syrup. For lunch, sometimes cheese is her main protein, but this week she and I have split tuna salad (just tuna, mayo, and a hard-boiled egg mixed together). She doesn't really care for lunch meat. She usually gets some applesauce, too, and some sort of carb (her favorite lately is Ritz Bits with cheese...sometimes that's her main meal whether I want it to be or not!). Occasionally I'll make her a cheese quesadilla, and she'll usually eat half of that. Dinner: she's gotten much better about eating meat. She used to not eat it at all. Now she'll generally eat whatever we're having with dinner. She's eaten hamburger patty pieces with cheese melted on top, meatloaf, taco meat, shredded chicken, etc. She absolutely LOVES vegetables! Broccoli, green beans, and peas are her favorites. We gave her corn one time and she seriously loved that stuff, and then we saw it was on the no-no list given to us by the doctor b/c it was hard for their stomachs to digest. She also likes cauliflower. She's really a good eater! She's always more inclined to eat it if I'm eating it first :)

Clothes: 9-12m/12m in everything. Some of the 12m stuff she got for her birthday are already fitting snugly, so we have to get as much wear out of them as possible!

New Achievements of the month:
1. Can pick out a familiar object when named ("can you get your duck?" - she'll pick up the duck)
2. Can point to her hair and nose when asked
3. Signs!!!!! It took FOR.EVER. for her to get it, but she signs "all done" when she hears the microwave beep, the stove timer go off, and (my personal favorite) when she's done eating! I worked SOOOO hard on getting "all done" down because when she was done eating, she would just swipe her hands all over her tray and send food flying all over the kitchen floor. Now she'll look at me and sign "all done." Soooo much better! She also knows the sign for "microwave" b/c I taught it to her and apparently it was funny to her and it has stuck. I haven't worked on many other words b/c "all done" was the one I wanted to focus on. Now that she's got that one down, I'll try expanding her vocabulary.
4. Meaningfully says: "tweet tweet" (bird), "kitty," "hi," "bye," (sometimes these are just waves rather than the word, but she does know the words), "glasses," (as in eyeglasses), "washrag," "water," "duck", "cracker",  "diaper", "sticker," "computer" (lol....I bet this is not one of the first words from previous generations!) I think those are it.
5. Will mimic just about any word/sound that comes out of your mouth....watch your mouths in front of her! :)
6. Can stand while holding onto something (but can't pull to standing yet)
7. LOVES having someone sit and read to her. Sometimes you get to read the same book over and over. And over. And over. And over again.
8. Can actually "help" with certain tasks. I can give her a washrag after meal time and ask her to clean her face and she'll put the rag to her mouth. Is she cleaning it? No. But it's a start! Also, one day, I took a couple of hours to sort through her drawers and closet and put away all the clothes that are too small, or too summery. For most of it, she read books in her room, or just played in the pile of clothes, but at the end I was picking up all the empty hangers to hang up the new stuff we had, and she started handing me the hangers after she saw what I was doing! It was actually very helpful to me! Then she was sad when there were no more hangers to pick up and her helper job was all done :)

Likes:
1. Birds
2. Playing in the sand at the beach
3. Crawling in the ocean at the beach
4. Being held/carried
5. Going on long walks (yes, in her stroller!) and enjoying this beautiful weather!
6. Looking at pictures of people she knows
7. Reading (herself, or others reading to her) (oh, cute story, I LOVE when she "reads" to herself. She just looks at each page and talks softly to herself, sometimes laughing, and then flips the page. It's sooo cute!)
8. Clothes - whether she's on the couch with me while I'm folding clothes, sorting through some of her old clothes and pulling out the clothes that she can't wear anymore, or that aren't seasonally appropriate anymore, she's totally happy when surrounded by clothes

Dislikes:
1. NOT GETTING HER OWN WAY
That pretty much sums up everything she doesn't like :)

This girl seriously cracks me up. Of course, there are days that she drives me crazy, but she is so fun, and interactive. I love that I can explain stuff to her (simple things) and she understands. For instance, if she's fussing and looking at her water cup (if it's out of reach), I can say "do you want your water?" and she immediately stops fussing and either responds with a "ya" or a smile, or sometimes a happy-sounding grunt-like noise. So, she totally gets that I'm about to give her what she wants and stops fussing. It's just so fun for me to watch her learn! Babies really are like little sponges! Anyways, love our sweet girl! Can't wait to see what she learns by 14 months.