The Adventures of Bailey and Sawyer: One Year Old

On January 23, Bailey turned ONE YEAR OLD. I can't believe it's been an entire year since she was born. Bailey now weighs 20 pounds, eleven ounces (45th%) and is 29.5 inches long (65th%).

NEW DEVELOPMENTS:

1. She walks! Bailey took her first steps on Christmas Eve. For a month afterwards, she would take a few steps a day, but still preferred crawling. In the past week or so, she's started walking everywhere. She definitely now prefers walking to crawling, but if she's in a hurry or if she falls down, she'll crawl. It's so cute to see her waddle around.

2. Bailey has started saying, "hi, cat," to all the cats that roam our neighborhood. She doesn't usually just say, "cat," though.

3. Bailey loves the little Gerber biscuits and cookies. She does the sign for "cookie" and also says, "k-k-k-k." She's also started signing "banana," "water," and "wash hands." She'll do the sign for washing hands when she's done eating and wants us to clean her.

4. Favorite Vegetable: Sweet Potato

5. Favorite Fruit: Banana

6. Bailey will point to your nose, eyes, ears, and hair. (We're still working on mouth. Sometimes she does it. Sometimes she doesn't.) On herself, she only points to her hair. She first started when we were reading one of her animal books (the kind where you can feel the fir, feathers, etc.). She was touching the pig's nose, and all of a sudden she touched my nose. It was crazy. I didn't prompt her in anyway. She just did it on her own. I can't believe the things she picks up on.

7. She also gives kisses now. One day, I said, "Can you give me a kiss?" just to see what she would do. I had never asked her before, and didn't really think she would have any idea what I was saying. Well, she leaned in and put her mouth on my cheek. I was completely shocked. She now gives kisses freely to her stuffed animals, but she's more particular when it comes to Skigh and me. She has to be in the right mood to give us a kiss, but it's so sweet when she does. Sometimes she'll just lean in and put her forehead on your forehead.

8. Bailey discovered how to play catch a few weeks ago. She would roll the ball back to me, and then she just started throwing it in the air, going to get it, and throwing it again. It kept her entertained for a good 15 minutes.

9. Bailey is good at imitating sounds. She'll moo, growl, and bark (in her own way) when we read about animals. She'll also whisper at you when you whisper to her. She coughs when you cough. She even does a fake laugh when you laugh. It's so funny.

10. One of Bailey's favorite things to do is dance. Several times a day, every single day, she points at the iPod and grunts over and over again. Then I'll say, "Do you want to listen to some music?" And she'll get a huge smile on her face and get really excited. Then I'll dance with her around the house, and she can hardly contain herself. She'll also just start dancing on her own if you ever say the words "music" or "dance" around her.

11. She's also started nodding to say, "yes." Sometimes I'm still not sure if she's nodding to say yes, or just bobbing her head, but there have been definite times when she's saying yes to what I'm asking her. It's funny because it's a very exaggerated nod.

12. Other favorite activities: playing in the fridge or dishwasher. She'll drop whatever she's doing when she hears or sees that I've opened the fridge or dishwasher. She'll crawl as fast as her little legs will take her. She loves biting the tops of the yogurt containers (we've moved them out of reach) and taking out the silverware (I keep it on the counter now when I'm loading).

13. It's about time for Bailey to have her first haircut. She always needs a barrette now because her hair will fall in her eyes.

14. The first thing Bailey wants to do when she wakes up in the morning or after a nap, is read her books. She loves reading and looking at the pictures in her books. She points and becomes very chattery. She'll bring a book to me, grunting, which means she wants me to read it to her. In the morning, she reads with Skigh for a little bit, and then she asks for me. She'll crawl to our bedroom door and call out to me because she wants to eat. As soon as I pick her up, she urgently starts doing the sign for milk.