smooch.

The day of her actual birthday was relaxed and low-key. We spent a lot of time outside and that night rather than getting another cake we gave her a big bowl of ice cream and a cookie. It all started off harmless enough, but ended up with a trip directly to the tub!

so far, so good...

erm...

ta-da!

and now...cookie.

yum.

She also had her two-year check-up at the doctor’s yesterday.
weight: 26 lbs
height: 36.75

trying to "feed" Elmo

She falls into the 97th percentile for height and 30th percentile for weight. Since her last visit, she great 1 3/4 inches and gained only a pound. The doctor wasn’t concerned about her weight since she’s always been thin. Food is still a big issue with Lulu but hopefully she’ll grow out of it someday soon. Until then, we’ll continue to stack her meals with as many calories as we can!

Rosie gained almost 2 lbs and and inch & a quarter since her last check-up. The doctor sort of chuckled at her progress. She’s a big girl! Growing wonderfully, no concerns.

When we started solid foods she sort of struggled a little but now she eats really well. She sleeps so much better at night, too. It’s almost time to put her in the same room with Lulu, they both are almost on the same schedule. And we’ll get our room back!

She isn’t sitting up quite yet but she’s certainly rolling over. In fact she’s using rolling as a means to get from one place to another. It’s quite funny to watch.

Today:
weight: 20 lbs. 12 ozs.
height: 33″

That’s an increase of about 2 lbs. and 2 inches. So, she’s doing great!

Lulu has grown unbelievably fast recently. She is currently wearing a size 18 months in clothes (pants especially because she is so tall). We’re still working on her pickiness with eating, but in the meantime I’m still supplementing her meals with mushy food.

She almost has all four of her molars grown in (the top two are still lagging behind a little) and I’ve noticed over the past week that she’s got four more teeth toward the front coming in. She has learned where everyone’s eyes, nose & mouth are (we’re working on ears). She likes the nose especially because it goes *honk honk* when she squeezes it. She even knows where her bellybutton is.

We think she’s been going through a crazy growth spurt because she has been sleeping so much lately. She goes to bed around 7:30-8pm and gets up somewhere in the 9-10:30am range (yes, yes…I know I am *extremely* lucky to have a baby that likes to sleep!) and then takes a long nap (1 1/2-2hr) during the day.

Her vocabulary has tripled recently. Before she could only say “hi”. Now she has added “light” (yiiiight), “hi da da” “cracker” and “noooo.”  She also waves to everyone (and anyone) that will potentially pay attention to her. I think half of Salem and the visiting tourists have said hello to her in their travels. She waves to us from her crib in the morning and I even caught her waving to the television this morning.

Even though I don’t have the best singing voice in the world, I sing to Lulu all of the time. The repetition of songs is paying off because we hear her humming “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” to herself. And the amazing thing is that her pitch is perfect. She absolutely loves music and dances whenever she hears a song she likes. I’m thinking of enrolling her in a toddler singing/music class this fall just for fun.

She’s also making big strides with walking! We’ve been practicing a lot and her balance is getting better everyday. She even took 5-6 steps on her own yesterday, so it won’t be long now before she’s tottering around (a blessing and a curse!). The other day, out of the blue, it occurred to her to climb the stairs. I thought she might climb up to the first landing and sort of get overwhelmed with the whole idea of it. But she climbed the entire flight like a pro without any hesitation. Needless to say, we promptly put up a gate at the bottom of the stairs. Unfortunately the downside of the gate is that Spooky doesn’t understand that he’s a cat and can’t figure out how to jump over the gate…sigh…

Her mischievous side is beginning to emerge as well. She loves to go after Spooky whenever he’s around. She only chases him if he actually bolts, it becomes a game. Most of the time he’ll sit there and tolerate grubby baby hands on him until she loses interest and moves on to the next thing.

Over all she is just so much fun. I really hope her good nature sticks around when her sibling shows up (2 months from now!). I know there will be a lot some adjustment for all of us, but especially for her having to share the attention.

We went for Lulu’s one year check up the other day. Since her last appointment she grew an inch and a half taller but gained less than a pound. Part of this I attribute to the fact that she has all four molars coming in all at once and hasn’t felt like eating much over the past few weeks.

On top of that, we made the switch to whole milk on her birthday, and let’s just say that it hasn’t really been kind to her tummy. The doctor suggested switching her to soy milk for a while to let her stomach settle down and then slowly introducing whole milk into her diet.

She’s becoming a bit of a finicky eater. She definitely knows what she likes and what she doesn’t like. Corn is in, but carrots, green beans and broccoli are out (I have to sneak veggies in other ways). She seems to be allergic to bananas and she *hearts* cheese! A LOT. I will just have to be more vigilant in putting different foods in front of her until we find things that she likes and make sure she snacks more frequently during the day. We have to go back for a weight check in a few months.

As of the week before her birthday: NO MORE BOTTLES!  She seemed a little resentful of the sippy cup for the first few days, but that didn’t last too long. I miss the quiet time we spent in the mornings while she had her bottle, but those moments don’t last forever.

She’s doing really great pulling herself up to standing and “cruises” around all of the furniture. She loves when we hold her hands so she can walk, although she does look like she’s goose stepping. Her balance is getting much better. She frequently stands on her own until she realizes that she’s doing it, and then she wobbles and falls over.

Most of the time she is still sleeping great, although lately she is waking up in the middle of the night (must be the teeth and tummy issues). She typically goes to bed around 7:30-8pm and gets up around 7:30-8 the next morning (sometimes even 9-9:30! We love those mornings…). On the flip side, she is down to one nap a day, which means less “free” time for me. Still thinking of putting her in daycare for 1-2 days a week so that some of my time can free up and so that she can be around more kids her age.

While we keep trying to encourage her to learn how to say new words, “hi” is still dominating. I really thought this morning I got her to say “mumma”, but she could have just been making mumumumumum sounds. We try “daddy” “spooky” and “I love you” and I do think she’s really trying to form the words but just can’t get them out.

Everyone tells you in the beginning how fast they change and this first year it’s been amazing to see all of the changes she’s gone through in one little year!

She had a great time seeing everyone and I think her favorite part was when everyone sang “happy birthday” to her!

She was not about keeping her birthday hat on and luckily we got plenty of pics with her while it was still on her head. Everyone, as always, was very generous with all of the wonderful gifts! Thanks to everyone for coming up and spending the day with us.

See all of the photos here!

And while she’s doing so many amazing things lately, the one milestone we’ve been waiting for has finally occurred: CRAWLING!

She loved it! She loved the wind coming off of the water, the sand (it was delicious) and I even dipped her little toes in the water. The water was still very cold and the first few little waves that came by she actually pulled her feet up so they wouldn’t get wet. But when she got used to it she was jumping up and down and squealing.

I see many, many beach days in our future!