Lucy,
I can hardly believe that we are only a few weeks away from your first birthday! You seem to be growing and changing so fast these days. You officially are losing your “baby” look, and are inching more and more to being a toddler. It is so much fun to see your personality emerge, and to watch you become such a wonderful little girl– but I definitely feel myself already just a little sad at how fast you are growing up!!!
Last week you had a couple of really great “firsts” to celebrate. On Monday, you pulled up on your own from a sitting position to a standing one. I don’t think you really understood what you had done, and you are still working on perfecting that particular feat, but it was fun to see nevertheless!
Your other fun first is that you have officially figured out your first word. A week and a half ago, as you and I were saying goodnight to your daddy, out of nowhere, you began waving and saying “da da.” Since then, you have repeated that particular trick over and over again, and it is so much fun to see and hear. You definitely, without a doubt, know what that word means, and you love to use it correctly. I have to say that I am not surprised at all- it is obvious that you are, without a doubt, a daddy’s girl. For example, this summer, you and I have taken to waiting for daddy at the train station (he calls us when he’s on his way home), and when you see him walk out the door of the station, you do a delightful mixture of applauding and squirming excitedly– you can’t wait to get out of your stroller and into his arms! You definitely bring a smile to the faces of the many strangers who walk by, too, as they can see how incredibly delighted you are to see your daddy.
Just in this past week, you have also perfected the art of pointing. You love to point at things you find interesting, and ooo with excitement. You also point at whatever it is that you want, and my dear, you are definitely determined when you see something you want! Once you have something in mind, it is very hard to distract you- it makes us laugh, but also lets us know that you are going to be a very stubborn little girl!
You continue to love to walk holding our hands, and you are getting stronger and more steady every day. You also love to let go of our hands, and try to stand on your own. You last only a few seconds, but I can already see how much you love being independent. I have no doubt you will be walking on your own in just a few short weeks.
Your top two teeth have now broken through your gums, and I think they were definitely the most painful ones so far. Your gums actually turned black and blue underneath where one of your top teeth were struggling to break out. Your pediatrician assured me that it was perfectly normal, but I have to say it scared me quite a bit when I first saw it. I am also beginning to suspect that you may be starting to get your first year molars. You have taken to biting on your fingers way back in your mouth- something you really haven’t done before. Lately, your eating has been really erratic, as well, and I sometimes think the two are related.
Speaking of eating, you continue to be a very picky little eater! As for your likes and dislikes, your absolute favorite thing to eat right now is yogurt, and you have started to completely reject a lot of your other purees- especially any of the ones containing pureed meat. The rejection of the purees isn’t the worst thing, as it is time for you to start eating just finger foods… but you have yet to really like a lot of them! You will eat pasta, bread, cheese, pizza (who doesn’t like pizza?!?), eggs and sometimes waffles, turkey and cauliflower. Other than that… well… we’re still working on it. You absolutely refuse to eat “real” fruit. You love fruit purees, but real fruit? Not your thing! You pretty much spit out everything except your favorites, but we’ll keep trying to expand your picky palate!
To supplement your eating, I am continuing to nurse you. It was always my goal to make it until you were a year old, and I have to say, I’m happy that we’re still going strong. I feel extremely fortunate that nursing came easily for both of us, and I am still really enjoying having that special bonding time with you. I can tell you are beginning to eat less than you once were, and the time will come in the next couple months for me to wean you, but for right now, I am happy to keep going.
I have started to try to wean you from your night feeding, however. It has been almost a year since I slept more than 5-6 hours straight, and the time has come. This past weekend I was able to move your feeding back a couple hours. I’ll continue to work on it, as long as you don’t put up too much of a fuss. I truly can’t listen to you really cry! I’ll let you fuss, but cry? I’m a wimp!
Okay, on to some pictures. I have a lot to catch up on!
First, last month we spent lots of time visiting with Karla and Sammy. Karla is originally from Costa Rica, and stayed with my family when I was a junior in high school as a foreign exchange student. We have remained close, and a number of years ago she moved to Colorado. Since then, Karla has been able to visit my family a number of times, much to our delight. Anyway, Karla and I were born one day apart, and have always been “cosmically connected” in a number of ways- don’t believe me? There are lots of reasons, but I’ll give you the biggest one– the exact same day Lucy was born, Karla had her first child, a little boy named Samuel. Karla and Sammy came to visit for the month of July, and we got to spend lots of time together. Karla’s son is truly, without a doubt, one of the sweetest babies I have ever met. He is so easy going and loving! Lucy wasn’t sure what to think of him at first, but after awhile, they actually became friends. Karla has a great picture of them in Sammy’s crib together which I hope to post someday that proves it.
Anyway, here’s a picture of Sammy (in the exersaucer), my nephew Emmet (in the bouncy seat), and my nephews Leo and Henry. Leo and Henry were trying their best to entertain Lucy– Sammy didn’t need entertainment, he’s one chill dude!!!!
This is random, but I wanted to throw it in here because it makes me smile– Karla teaching Henry Tae Kwon Do (at Henry’s request!)
Sammy chatting up Lucy while she was chillin’ in her stroller:
Karla and Sammy:
We also took Lucy to her very first Brewer’s game! She did great for the tailgate, but didn’t make it even an inning in the park– too much noise and craziness for her!
Here she is with Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Bruce before the game– Grandma Sandy bought Lucy the adorable Brewers outfit!
Family picture:
This summer we have discovered the joy of our neighborhood park- we are there every single day. A few shots:
And now for Lucy’s “official” ten month picture– I’ve given up on the sign, and am hoping to figure out a way to add a caption using the computer! Until then, here are the pics:
Some of Lucy practicing her walking:
Playing with her daddy:
At the beginning of August, we went to Napa, California, for Scott’s family reunion. We had a great time, but I, unfortunately, didn’t take a ton of pictures. I’ll try to steal some from others, but until then, here are just a few–
We had an early morning flight out, so Lucy was still in her pajamas at the airport. Here she is charming the other passengers before we got on our flight. She was AMAZING on our flight out (the flight back? A wee bit painful!).
There were full length mirrors in the condo where we stayed- Lucy was absolutely fascinated by her reflection. We look in the mirror all the time together, but she had never been able to be this close to her reflection before!
And finally- a very recent pic that I used for her first birthday invitations. I was so happy to get such a good shot!
Sorry for the randomness of the pictures– I just felt like I needed to post whatever pics I have right now, to get caught up! We did finally purchase a new computer, so I hope to be posting more often. Until next time…
