One Year (+ 2 months)

I just realized that I never shared the absolutely stunning photos that Stephanie Neprud took of Matilda for her 1 year birthday. It was certainly not becaue we don't love them (because we do), but rather the task of getting the disc, uploading all the pictures on the computer and then (and this is the biggie) remembering to blog about them.

They are too cute to not share. Oh Matilda. With your cheesy smile one minute, 'serious' face the next, and even a little grump face thrown in. And so here are Matilda's 12 month pictures with 12+2 commentary. :)

At 14 months, you will very easily give up a "hi" to pretty much anyone you see, UNLESS of course they say hi first and get too close to you. Then, you go into evaluate mode. Checking them out to see if they are 'in the club' and will get a smile, hint of smile or just your very serious face. Every night when we walk out of General Mills you wave to the Doughboy and pat Sprout on his head.

You've got sign language down pat. Please. Eat. More. All Done. And when you are really hungry--which seems to be all.the.time. (but I swear we feed you a ton of food every day)...you just sign all of them, in any order to make sure we are picking up what you are trying to tell us.

There are a lot of animal noises going on in our house. Cat. Monkey. Bunny. Elephant. Puppy. And Daddy just taught you how to 'wash your hands' by yourself. It's pretty adorable seeing you rub your little hands together on a wipe.

You have 3 best buddies at daycare: Amanda and Eila and have decided that you aren't all that interested in Mama picking you up at night if your friends are still there. You give lots of snuggles to your friends and are very good at sharing my lap with them when I come to visit you.

Books. Books. Books. When in doubt, you want a book. It's the best way to tame one of you sporadic tantrums, and the best way to get you in our lap for a long snuggle. The sure sign you are too tired and ready for bed is when you just can't decide what book you want to read. Over the past month, we have gone to storytime at Linden Hills Library where you have cautiously played with some new friends and enjoyed many new books.

You continue to have more (and stronger) preferences, keeping true to your 'particular' personality as a baby. Some nights it is a broccoli love fest. Other nights, broccoli gets steathily stockpiled just outside of your plate. You are relentless at pointing to the cupboard when you are hungry. You will crawl to the door and pat on it letting us know you want to go outside.

And you are still content with crawling. No walking yet, and we are pretty happy about that. No rush, sweet one. Take your time and enjoy the world from your current perspective. You have plenty of time to get big.