13 Months

Hannah,

I am a few days behind in writing this letter, but I have a good excuse....you! I am busy chasing you around the house these days. Two weeks ago you decided to start walking and you haven't stopped yet. You went from taking a few steps here and there to full on walking overnight...literally! The drastic change is astounding! Just today you taught yourself how to stand up without holding on to anything, so now you are a real, full time walker! Wow! Your balance and agility amaze me. You can turn around without flinching or bend over and pick up a toy with no trouble at all. Nothing slows you down.

You are so much fun these days! You are a little person now and I honestly love this stage. If I could freeze you in time, I would. You aren't saying much at 13 months, just "dada" and "mama" still, but you make lots of sounds that have meanings, like the barking sound you make when you see a dog, "uh oh" when you drop something, "uhuhuh" when you want something, "doh dee doh dee" just to be cute, and a lot of other grunts and whines. But your best way to communicate is through sign language. You can sign several different words now: please, thank you, eat, milk, more, all done, duck, and bunny. I need to brush up on my signing skills so I can teach you more.

Here's what you are up to at 13 months:
- You are wearing mostly all 12 month clothing, but some 18 month stuff is starting to fit. I finally packed away all your 9 month stuff.
- You are still wearing size 4 diapers, but now you wear size 5 at night.
- You are a champion nighttime sleeper, sleeping 12 hours every night, without a peep. This makes me so happy! Your napping has even improved a little this month. You still take 2 naps, each about 1 hour long. While I know this is not great, I am happy with it.
- You help us get you dressed (when you want to), by putting your hands through the holes or lifting your legs into your pants. But your favorite part is putting on your shoes. You lift your foot in the air, with a big smile on your face. You love shoes! You are wearing a size 5 shoe now.
- You eat all kinds of foods now and love most everything, except veggies. The only veggies you really like are peas, potatoes, carrots, lima beans, corn, and broccoli (sort of). Your favorite foods are cheese, meat and all bread products! That apple didn't fall far. :)
- You are still nursing 2 times per day, morning and night. I keep thinking about dropping one or both of these, but I just don't think we are ready. The only reason I am thinking about dropping them is because it's what other people think we should do, not because we want to. So I think we will continue until you don't show an interest or I'm worn out. But right now I love those few minutes of snuggle time and so do you. Why would I take that away from you?
- You can roll a ball back and forth with me and you can even kick a ball as you walk around.
- You love to be outside. Now that the weather is so nice, we spend a lot of time in the back yard. You love riding around the neighborhood in your pink buggy.
- You have 3 teeth now. One of your top teeth just came in and you have at least 2 more right on the verge of breaking through. Your latest pastime is grinding your teeth together...not my favorite thing!

Next week we are starting Tot School (www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/TotSchool.HTML), which is basically just playing with a purpose. The teacher in me just has to be sure that I am exposing you to as much as I can and being purposeful with what we are doing everyday. I will be sure to post an update of how things go.

We are so proud of the little girl you are becoming and love you so much! You have completely turned our world upside down and we love it!

We love your little peanut!