12 months

I'm a little late in posting the monthly development stats, since I was sick. Feeling back to normal now, so here we go...

Locomotion

Over the past month, walking has become Anya's preferred mode of getting around. I'd say really in the past 3 weeks she took more of an interest in walking and has been quickly improving since. At the beginning of the month, she stuck out her arms, zombie style, for balance (very cute). At this point, she's pretty steady on her feet and can step over many obstacles (toys) without falling, no special arm maneuvers for balance. I'll miss the zombie walk phase :(. I should enjoy the current "steady walking" phase, because as active as this kid is, she'll be running soon - and subsequently falling more again...just harder, faster, and with more injuries.

In other locomotion: Grandma Lodwig broke the news to us that we've got a climber on our hands. If there is something that looks like it's in the realm of possibility to climb, Anya attempts it. She often ends up in her toy boxes, and miraculously is able to climb back out unscathed most of the time. The one that makes us all a little nervous is her desire to climb over the baby gates. And this smart little girl is starting to get the idea of how to unlatch the gates. I caught her yesterday trying to unlatch one to get upstairs. Fortunately her little hands aren't strong enough and won't be for awhile.

Speech

At this point, I've lost count of the words Anya has said. I'm not really sure when to count a word anyway. Is it when she repeats a word she hears us say or when she uses it on her own? Lately some new words are: bubbles, eyes (this is a current favorite of hers), and car. On Sunday, she clearly said "grandpa" to Grandpa Lodwig, which was rather endearing. She must have something against women, since she didn't say "grandma" and still doesn't like to say "mama" much. It's all about "dada". I don't know why. Chris is kind of lame.

Other development

I am happy to report than Anya finally likes books. One of our new favorite things to do is tell Anya to go pick out a book and bring it to us. She obliges and then plops into one of our laps and then we read to her.

I'm sure she's also developing in all sorts of interesting ways, but that's the only thing that's coming to mind at the moment.

Food

Now that we're at the one year mark, we're pretty much done using formula. I started giving her whole milk mixed with formula about a week ago. Now she's getting pretty much all milk. And now she's down to 16 oz of milk a day and getting more of her calories from food. She carries a sippy cup with water around during the day. Bottles are just for the first and last feedings of the day.

At this point, we're only avoiding nuts, shellfish, strawberries, citrus and mango (the last two because I'm allergic and want to delay introduction a little while longer).

Even though she's getting more calories from food than milk, she's still not eating all that much. Well, I guess she has big breakfasts and then tapers down from there. But I'm reading that this is expected, since they slow down growth at around a year and don't want to eat as much. I've also read that when feeding them it's a good idea to give them 3 things to eat. One of them should be a sure thing you know they'll eat. The other two should be items we are eating. So far, this has been a good tactic for us. She still doesn't necessarily eat that much, but seems a little more willing to try a taste of other items before throwing them overboard. Or maybe I'm delusional. Either way, it makes me feel like I'm doing something to get her to eat more.