meredith at one year

She:

>Still only has one tooth, on the bottom left, and thankfully the sleeping has gone back to normal for now.

>For awhile when she was actively teething she whined a lot and it sounded like a howl – aaaeeeeee, aaaoooooo.

>Got her hair cut, as previously documented.

>Points like crazy. It’s the first thing she does when she wakes up, and it’s her primary way of communicating. To her it means everything – Look at that! I want that! Hi! I like you! I’m awake! I’m here! I know how to do this, so I’m just going to do it!

>Has fallen off the bed a couple more times. And she’s fine. Not that I wasn’t upset when it happened, because I WAS. But babies are resilient, man.

>Is throwing mini tantrums now when she’s tired or doesn’t get what she wants. She cries and has started banging her head on the floor, which obviously only makes matters worse. Do not like this.

>Pulls hair and grabs faces. Ouch.

>Gravitates toward other little kids when they’re around, even though she doesn’t exactly play with them. Still, it’s super cute how she wants to be around her cousins.

>Sort of dances to music sometimes! It’s more like bouncing but I love it all the same.

>Plays more games with us now, like chase – she laughs and crawls really fast when we go after her – and boo – she pushes my face away and I whip it back to her quickly and say boo – she smiles every time.

>Has more sounds now, most notably “mamamama” which I’m hoping will turn meaningfully into “mama” soon. :)

I:

>Recently read the book Bringing Up Bebé out of interest, and although I don’t agree with everything in it I did learn a lot about myself as a parent and will probably pick up more parenting books in the future.

>Am proud to have survived the past month, which has been one of the most stressful in recent memory.

>Have returned to the land of the living again with cable and Internet back in our house.

>Really enjoyed planning Meredith’s first birthday party and am so happy it all went well. Can’t wait to share more about it.

>Have been in somewhat of a creative slump due to lack of time.

>Did a lot of research on kids’ toys when I was looking for gift ideas for Meredith, and it made me excited to watch her develop and be able to play with them.

>Spent an evening watching old videos of M. as a baby, and although I really miss that stage, I wouldn’t put her back there. I love her personality and the interaction we can have now, and I know it will only get better. She’ll be walking any day, and I’m ready to embrace toddlerhood. :)