Happy First Birthday, Piper

Our baby turned 1 last week.

She’s trying all sorts of new foods and is especially fond of chili and spaghetti. She’s my pickiest eater to date and seems to get bored with the same tastes quickly. She still won’t take anything other than water in a bottle, but now that she’s one I started giving her some yogurt this week. If I could get her to eat yogurt every day and not get bored with it, I’d be one happy mama.

She still loves the bath and her little bath time dog.

At Thanksgiving I was lementing how she’s still waking up so many times in the night and my sisters with kids were encouraging me to try sleep training her again. I’ve tried SO many times and she’s proven to be my most persistent child yet. (read: crying on and off for hours) The week we got back I was resolved to try again. She and I both need a full night’s sleep to stay healthy. The first night she cried on and off for 2 hours before falling asleep and then cried on and off in the night. I’d go in to soothe her but not allow her to nurse.

The second night she cried for about an hour in the middle of the night.

The third night she cried out at 4 am and then went back to sleep without crying.

And then we slept. And slept. And mostly slept.

She’s been mostly sleeping through the night the last week and a half and I’m so grateful. Just goes to show what I’ve known since Ainsley was born. Each kid is different and as parents we need to make adjustments when necessary.

Despite the sleeping she’s been a tad cranky this month. I think it’s a combination of teething and colds. And who can forget Monday’s stomach issues.

But she’s so cuddly it’s hard to be mad at her for long.

She’s getting better on her legs. In fact, on Dec. 4 – her one year birthday – she managed to climb an entire flight of stairs. Scared the livin’ daylights out of me when I found her. We now block the stairway on a permanent basis. Even though she’s very good at going up, she has no clue how to come down and I’d rather not have add falling baby to my list of experiences. She’s very sad about this as she LOVES scaling stairs.  Here she is playing with a train table while her sisters were Christmas shopping the other day.

She’s understanding more English and experimenting with language. She’s saying “hi”, “mm-ma” when she wants my attention, “eh” for just about everything else” and “mm, mm” for more. She still only uses one sign for absolutely everything relating to the eating process and waving hi and bye. Oh yeah, she also signs “all done.”

At Thanksgiving lunch I put food on her tray and said “hot.” She proceeded to blow on it. I had no idea she understood that phrase… I was shocked and proud all in the same moment.

She’s working on her fine motor skills. In addition to the getting into every cabinet known to man, she’s now taking things out of a box and putting them back in. Her favorite activity has been taking the feminine products out of their boxes and lining them back up inside the box. She’s been known to do this activity for the entire time it takes me to shower. (It’s actually kindof handy and cleaner than playing in the toilet.) She just spent most of the time it took me to write this post sitting in her high chair with a bowl of mini marshmallows and a spoon…. putting them in and taking them out again.

She’s taken a fancy to dropping things over the side of her high chair tray as well. This is not a fun game for me, but makes snack time rather easy. (said marshmallows are now on the floor)

I saved the best for last – – – she started fully walking on Dec. 5 – one day after turning 1.

Happy Birthday, Piper Diaper! We love you.