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One year old (and a little more…)

Posted by Kristin on Sep 05, 2009 | No Comment

As of Friday August 7, 2009, Elisa turned one year old! When we finally got to the doctor 2 weeks later, her stats were as follows:

Weight: 22 lb., 9 oz.
Height: 28.5 inches
Head Size: 18.5 inches

We celebrated on our own and then with extended family in Berlin, NY – 21 of us around the table. She got a pink and white outfit, shapes puzzle, palm crayons, Noah lift-the-flap book, a feed and learn croc, and a Busy zoo activity cube. Perhaps the favorite was a mylar balloon…which came with us camping for a few days in Maine after we left Berlin. She would walk around with the (weighted) balloon inside and out.

A few other notes about Elisa at a year old (and some 13 month updates):

Teeth: We have been holding steady at 6 (4 top, 2 bottom) for a couple months now. She has seemed to be teething a few times since, but we haven’t seen the results yet!
Stairs: although after a fall in July she was very slow at starting down the stairs. She really started becoming fluent with going down stairs while we were on vacation in Maine. At 13 months she is now quite fluent at going down stairs, frequently putting her right leg down straight and immediately going down to her left knee rather than standing on a stair before going down to her knees.
Communication: Still no clear words, although there are many syllables: ma, da, ki, ti. She does seem to associate “ki” with kitty, but we’re not sure. There are far too many piercing screams for Mommy and Daddy, although we seem to be past the worst of the last round. After a hiatus, we are back to signing “all done” at the end of meals, sometimes spontaneously, and after 12.5 months, she has developed her own sign for “food” or “more” – currently multipurpose. We modelled two fists touching and she came up with a finger pointing to a fist. Now that has morphed into a fist into an open hand. And she is insistent! While we are still waiting for spoken words, we know she understands a lot since she will respond to many phrases – even things like “Why don’t you bring your book into the bathroom to read” a few times. She almost always turns when called and frequently comes when asked a couple times in a row.
Food: Eating what Mommy and Daddy are eating with a few exceptions such as beef or apples, which are only half eaten, along with some other hard things (but she likes worrying a thin apple slice and taking little pieces off – at almost 13 months she stole a small whole apple from another child and ate, or at least bit off, a sigificant portion!) Her favorites are noodles and Daddy’s crusty homemade bread (she seems to prefer crust) although she doesn’t seem to really like storebought bread at all… When it comes to noodles or tortellini she can eat a serving that is close to adult size. She will eat almost anything.
Walking: Well, yes, it seems a long time ago now. One of her most interesting traits is that she will just take off without looking back – at home or in public places. She has confidence and will go. Of course, she still prefers to be carrying something (books off shelves in the library, a ball, etc.) A recent favorite is shoes. At almost 13 months, she learned that she could walk backward as she had taken off and turned back when Mommy called, but still kept moving away. Since they she has purposely practiced walking backward a few times.
Outside: She loves the outside! When camping she proved that she is a girl not afraid of dirt. If she is fussy, a stroller ride is the perfect cure. At about 12.5 months, she started bringing us our shoes and encouraging us to put them on so we could take her outside. We often go to a little park in town with small slides and toddler swings and she has gotten much better at slides – she can start herself down the slide and go on her own and enjoys slides enough to try to walk up them on her own. Of course, she doesn’t sit down on her own at the top of the slide – if she gets to the top of the slide herself, she goes down the slide backward as if going down the stairs!
Clothes: Beyond Elisa’s love of shoes (and she will pick out a pair to wear many mornings – usually a matched pair!), she seems to be happy in whatever we have her wear. She does enjoy carrying anything on a hanger and really likes Mommy’s nylons – she likes the texture. She definitely knows where different pieces of clothing belong (on her), trying to put shoes on her feet and shirts over her head and becoming much more cooperative in the dressing process.
Comforters: Elisa has adopted a blanket and a stuffed moose as her favorite comforters in the last few months. The blanket is a cue for sleep and the moose is her favorite to hold in her car seat. When she wakes up, she has to take the blanket out of the crib and hold onto it for a few minutes until she is fully awake and distracted by something else. She will frequently hold the moose in a strangle-hold for the full 20 minute trip up to Mommy’s work and her day care.
Favorites: Elisa loves bouncing balls, climbing up into her rocking chair, and carrying things from place to place. The last month or so she has developed a deep joy in music. For the last couple weeks we’ve been listening to either Bible songs or toddler songs in the morning for a half hour and when it comes on she will usually stop what she is doing, raise her arms and bounce/dance. She will frequently wave her hands almost as if she is directing. She also quickly learned how to turn the volume up – she agrees with her Grandpa Rood that music should almost shake the floor boards. With this, she has also been using the various musical toys more frequently and with longer attention span. She also enjoys stroking the strings on Mommy’s guitar and went right after Uncle Jeff’s guitars for the Guitar Hero video game!
Milk: Elisa has made the switch from hot formula to cold whole milk in the last two weeks. It wasn’t easy, but not too bad considering…it has taken extra opportunities to drink because she didn’t like it at first, but we mostly went cold turkey with occasional formula if she hadn’t drunk anything and was overly fussy. At this point she is drinking her 16 oz. or so a day and we are starting to move it more toward meals and snacks, where the formula had been associated with getting up from naps.
Nighttime routine: Elisa tends to get a last few sips of milk and then we read a few books. She might race through Pat the Bunny (except for the waving) or walk around while we read one of our favorites. Then we close the night with a page out of a Bible story book that she likes enough to carry around and a prayer. With kisses from Mommy and Daddy, she grabs her blanket and is laid down – and usually asleep in less than 5 minutes. Most of the time she is sleeping 8 or 8:30 p.m. until 6:30 or 7 a.m.