13 Months!

Dear Addy,
  
I was debating whether to continue with these letters into your second year, but since you are still changing so much from month to month, I decided that I would.  That way I will always remember when you hit your milestones.

Here are some 13 month photos...without the signs, because you will not sit with the signs long enough to get a picture anymore!

The big milestone that you hit this past month was walking!  Yup, you are a full fledged walker now!  Like everything else that you do, once you started, it didn't take long for you to be an expert at it.  You have great balance and watching you toddle around is just the cutest thing ever!

Continuing on in the mobility category, you now go up and down the steps!  You went up the steps a few weeks ago, but when Mommy and Daddy were in Ireland last week, you learned to go back down the steps too!

You are learning so quickly, and now when you play with a toy phone you put it up to your ear and say "bye".  You still love to hug all of your stuffed animals, and your favorite toys this past month were probably all of your walking toys.

You love dogs, and every time a dog barks your little ears perk up and you imitate the sound.  "Woof!"  And when we ask you what sound a dog makes, you also respond with "Woof!"  It's so cute!

More big news from this past month is that you are officially done nursing.  I stopped nursing you a few days after your birthday, because I wanted to be done before I left for a week to go to Ireland.  And I have to say that you and I both took it pretty well.  I was nervous that I would be sad or that you would protest, but neither of those things happened.  It was the perfect time to stop.  I was ready, and you took it in stride and never complained. 

You love almost all of the finger foods that we give you (except green veggies) and feeding yourself is definitely what you prefer.  You often protest when we try to spoon feed you things like your cereal or your yogurt now.  I tried letting you use the spoon, but we are not quite there yet.  Soon enough you will be 100% feeding yourself I'm sure.

You are drinking water and whole milk throughout the day through a sippy cup, but I am always worried because you don't drink very much.  We are sometimes lucky if we can get you to drink one cup a day.  Then you have a bottle of whole milk before bed, which you drink way better than you do from your cup.  But you are getting better and better with the sippy cups, so I think we'll cut out the bedtime bottle very soon.

You really love books, which makes my heart happy.  I was a huge reader when I was a kid, and I'm thinking you will be too.  We've gotten back into the routine of reading you a book every night before bed and your attention span is really amazing with your books.

When I look at you now I really don't see a baby anymore.  It's probably because you are walking, but I see a small child; a toddler.  And I guess that makes sense, because that's what you are.  No longer our baby, you are now our little girl.  Every day with you is precious and new, and I can't wait to see what next month brings!

Mommy and Daddy missed you soooo much while we were in Ireland, and we were so excited to get back home to our Addy Marie!  You were super excited to see us too, which melted our hearts.  We love you all the way to the moon .... and back!

Love,

Mommy