Sunday, October 18, 2015

Anna Kate's 12 Month Milestones

*Lovely one year old photography by my friend, Rachel Blackwell
Japanese Tea Garden San Francisco, CA

Here's an update on what little Anna Kate is doing these days. (i.e. AK's baby book)

Vitals as of 11/6/15

Height: 30 in (76.2%)
Weight: 21 lbs. 11.6 oz (75%)
Head circumference: 45.5 cm (63%)

Gross Motor

Walks well. She's had lots of practice  since 9 1/2 mon.
Climbs upstairs quickly on hands and knees
Knows how to sit down and scoot down one or two stairs on her bottom or...
she will dive through our sliding door step down onto the patio HEAD and ARMS first. :)



Speech and communication

Points to objects with extended arm and hand (doesn't point with one finger)
Spoken words: dada, mama, yeah
Hugs our legs
Kisses us on request
Waves hi and bye
Smiles and laughs easily
Enjoys peek-a-boo
She's really good at whining to let me know what she wants exactly. ;)


llnesses

She did not take any antibiotics her first year. Had no ear infections or stomach viruses.
She had a couple of minor colds.

Favorite Toys

Enjoys sound and light up toys
Enjoys brother's big trucks (e.g. the large firetruck and recycling truck)
Loves to take things in/out of drawers, or in/out of containers (e.g. taking out all the socks in a drawer or all the blocks in a bag. Basically, she enjoys destructive play and making a mess! haha!)
Does not have a most favorite "lovey" or blanket to sleep with despite keeping several in her crib for months now to see if she would attach to one of them.


Sleep

We are working to switching over to one nap a day and so far it's going pretty well. It will be much easier to be consistent with one nap a day versus two. Also, an early afternoon nap from 12:30-2:30 will be perfect for my 2:50 pm school pick-up time for Emily. AK goes to bed around 7pm and wakes up at 7am. Most of the time she wakes up once during that time for a quick nursing and then back to bed.



Fine Motor

Feeds herself food with either hand. We have not tried using spoons.
Drinks from regular cup with help. Uses a sippy cup for water, but still prefers milk from mama.
Picks up objects with pincer grasp
Does not yet clap her hands
Manipulates toys. Pushes buttons, levers, etc. Rolls cars
Turns pages of books.

Teeth

Anna Kate has four teeth--two on the bottom and two on the top. The two on the top popped through in October while we were on vacation in KY. So far, teething hasn't seemed to bother her too much. Actually, she was rather difficult when we were in KY, but we didn't know if it was because of the time difference and travel, different sleeping arrangements, or teething. I guess we'll see on the next one!

Sibling Interactons

Emily is still able to carry her, but not very far! I wish she would read to her more. I should make more of an effort to get her to do that. Em's really good at pushing her in the baby swings at the park and catching her at the bottom of the tiny toddler slides. I'm interested to see how Caleb and Anna will bond, especially since they will be home together longer before Caleb will start kindergarten. Caleb and Emmy still play more together at this point, but Caleb and Anna are doing some parallel play together, too.

That's all I can think of for now. I'll try to add more as I think of things.

Dear Anna (Anna Kate, AK, Annie, Anna-banana),

Baby girl, you are one! We love you so much. I love your squishy cheeks, your dimpled knuckles, and your toothy grin.  And your chubby legs! Oh my, they are the BEST. This month you have really perfected your wave. It is completely adorable. When Daddy comes home, you are the first and most excited to see him and welcome him. If we're upstairs, then you quickly go to the gate and wave to him at the top of the stairs. You repeat "dada" and do an adorable one or two handed wave. So far, you don't say my name too much. You mainly only use my name when you're hungry. If I'm making a meal and you're getting hungry, you say "mama" rather pitifully until I give you something. Not surprising that you associate my name with food! We've had a good year, but it's also been full of adjustments and surprises. As I like to describe to others, our first year in CA was like a honeymoon. This year got real. Even you were a big surprise to us, sweet girl. I would never have been so brave to have planned to have you far away from our biggest support system in KY, but you have made me brave. Even your birth made me stronger. You have taught me about letting go and loving more. Sometimes I judge myself because I can no longer hold things together as well with three kids, but the grace I am learning to give myself, has also helped me to give grace to others. Happy Birthday to you, baby girl. You are our little miracle.







No comments:

Post a Comment