1st Birthday

A self-indulgent post about my little one-year-old.

The past year has seemed to simultaneously take forever to pass and also whiz by in a blink of an eye. Today is our little Monkey's first birthday and I just am in awe of the developments in her and in our lives over the past year. The main lesson I have learned is: "It will all work out in the wash" (my dad's saying). The most-said phrase for me this year: "I don't know."

This past year can be summed up in to several major categories:
1) Sleep/naps/lack-of-sleep
2) Food
3) Diapers and what's in them
4) Trying to figure out how to live in between Number 1 & 2 (ie. between our and baby's sleeping and eating)
5) Going with the flow (ie. Number 4)

If you think about how much a baby processes, learns and grows in just its first year of life it is amazing. I sometimes can't remember what happened from one year to another when I look back on my life. I'll always remember 2012 though.

So, at the end of this crazy year, here's what Monkey has been up to:

-  Laughs with a big belly laugh and giggles when her dad throws her up in the air (while I tend to cringe and say things like "careful" and "watch her head!"...I hope she gets some of my trepidation and half of his 'leap before looking' carefree manner.

- Eats everything in sight...except cake. From her first bites of avocado and rice cereal, to most of turkey dinner, she has always had a good appetite. I've known to keep trying foods over and over if she didn't like them and it's worked out...she even likes sweet potato now. Interesting fact though, because she has never had anything sweet (except fruit) she just didn't know what to do with a little birthday cupcake we gave her. After she stared at it for a few minutes in scared awe, I put her hand right in the icing. She cried. She licked her finger, tasted the icing and screwed up her face in horror. Except that she looks like a perfect mix of me and her dad, I'd question if she was switched at birth.

- Has finally leaned to crawl. Well, she crawl/squats but can cross a room, no problem. I secretly worried about this milestone since she was slow to roll over and would just sit there in playgroups while 7-month-olds crawled right over her. But once she figured it out it was easy peasy. The only thing is that she tries to stand up, so while on all fours she throws one leg out like a tripod and then squats before starting this process all over again. She's surprisingly fast at this process and it is unbelievably cute. I'm also envious of her apparent skill at yoga poses I still haven't mastered.

- Can say many more words than I through she would at this point. It started with "Mom" about two months ago and she's steadily added about half a dozen more words in there since then. For a while, she said "Aunt" non-stop and it drove me crazy, but then she went on to saying other things that weren't "Aunt", like "Dad", "cat", "Nan", and "baby." Ahm, "Mom" is still her favourite.

- Claps. This is just too adorable for words. And she claps on demand, as in you can ask her to clap and she does. Great party trick.

- Points at things, especially the light (and then she says "'ight") and pictures (``picu``). She also points at the cat and at people. I should maybe try to get her to stop that because it may seem rude if we're out in public and she starts pointing at strangers.

- Waves with her little pudgy hand - though mostly at her own reflection in the mirror.

- Is starting to get more snuggly. She has been independent since day one and will push me away, even if she's just bumped her head and starts to cry. Instead of getting cuddly when she's tired, she just gets cranky or zones out. But lately, she will rest her head on my chest when she's tired and up in my arms. And if her dad has her up then just forget about it. She's become daddy's little girl, and has her first bout of separation anxiety since he has gone back to work from four months of parental leave. Also, every dad should take parental leave if they can swing it!

She's just amazing and being a mom is unbelievable. Here's to the next year!