arden rae - twelve months

seriously been writing this update for a couple weeks now and just never finished...

Pass the tissues, she's one!  I'm pretty much still in complete denial.  I'm not sure when I'll believe that she is actually a year old, but it isn't happening yet.

Even though I'm trying to hold on to her baby-ness as long as possible, Arden is turning more in to a little tiny person.  She blows me kisses when I say I love you, she can point to her ears and feet, she signs more, eat and all done.  She is truly starting to understand the world around her, and is working on making a little place for herself.

Arden had her well child visit on January 16th.  She started crying when the nurse measured her head, was still upset during the exam, and completely lost it when she had to have a blood draw and four vaccines.  Man I hate the one year appointment!  The good news?  She's growing!!  She weighed 16lbs8oz landing her in the 7th percentile.  7th!!!  You know you've had a shrimp when 7th percentile sounds absolutely huge.  Her length was somewhere between 26.5 inches and 27.5 inches.  The nurse measured her twice at 26.5 inches, which is what she measured at 9 months as well.  While the pediatrician was in the room he marked her length on the paper on the table and measured with a measuring tape, getting 27.5.  So.... somewhere in there.  27.5 inches is 4th percentile.  Small, but still maintaining a curve.  I've since started the weaning process, so out of curiosity I attempted to weigh her at home this morning.  My method showed 17 pounds, so I'd say we're doing just fine.

I attribute most of Arden's weight gain to mac n cheese.  But also?  She doesn't spit up anymore! I thought the day would never come.  In hindsight I think it was a bigger issue than I made it out to be when she was under seven months or so, however I'm still not sure there is a whole lot that could have been done about it.  She actually spit up a little bit on her birthday and it surprised both her and I, and that is when I realized I hadn't noticed her spitting up in probably a month.  It is so wonderful to not be constantly covered in sour milk, or scouring things to wipe up puddles when were out and about.

For the most part Arden is wearing 6-12 month sized clothes.  The ones marked 9 months fit fine, except leggings are starting to get a touch short.  12 month ones also work, but are a little baggy.  And at the same time she was in a 3-6 month onesie and sweater last weekend and it wasn't excessively small on her.  Ha.  It is things like that, that show me just how small she still is.  And when we encounter other babies her age.  She is wearing a size 3 diaper and who knows what size shoe.  We uh, don't often leave the house in real clothes, and when she does, she has some '6-12 month' fleece booties on.

We have started moving towards weaning a bit.  I'm in no rush to cut her off completely, but up until about a ten days ago, we were still nursing 5+ times a day.  I love keeping some of her tiny baby qualities around but I can part with a couple of middle of the day nursing sessions and not be sad about it.  So far she still isn't real pleased about drinking anything out of a cup.  We've tried a variety of cups and a variety of liquids, and she usually just ends up pissed and pushing it away, or just plays with it.  She is becoming more and more picky about what foods she'll eat as well.  Mac n cheese is still a hands down clear favorite.  I have yet to find an amount of mac and cheese that she'll say all done to.  She also likes spaghetti, a variety of fruits, pancakes, waffles, breads, crackers, and squeeze pouches.  Not a fan of most veggies, meat, anything too healthy.

Arden is generally still maintaining her 'best sleeper in the family' status.  We had a couple weeks of her sleeping 11+ hours through the night, but in the last week or so she has been waking up.  The first couple of nights she was sick and running a fever, so I wasn't all that surprised.  Now I'm not exactly sure what is waking her up.  She is still congested with a cough.  She might be getting more teeth (her 5th and 6th popped through without me even noticing!).  We've cut nursing sessions so maybe she is making up for it.  Who knows.  She has slept better the two nights we've given her motrin before bed, so maybe it is some sort of pain waking her up.  She is also on the verge of dropping the morning nap.  Both yesterday and today she wouldn't fall asleep for it.  Yesterday she only napped about 80 minutes in the afternoon where she was usually napping a total of 3 hours or more between the two naps.  Today she has been asleep for 2.25 hours thus far, so hopefully if we move to the one nap schedule permanently she can stretch that nap toward the longer end.  She goes to bed between 8 and 8:30pm and is usually up for the day between 7:30 and 8am.

Developmentally I'd say Arden is still behind in gross motor skills, and I'm pretty sure the other girls had slightly better communication skills, but she is definitely making progress!  She has gotten fairly good at cruising, and doesn't need a ton of support to walk around with my hands.  And in the last week she has figured out how to walk with a push toy, and also tries to push various pieces of furniture around the house.  She does not stand unassisted, but she also refuses to try.  If I attempt to stand her up she turns into a limp noodle.  I still wouldn't be surprised if she was closer to 15 months when she finally started walking, but I also would love to see her standing on the beach when we go in March.  We'll see!

As far as words go, Arden really only says hi, Elsie and Thea.  She also kind of says tickle, cheers (important skills clearly, being able to cheers), go and Jayhawk.  Maybe some other random things  She waves when you say hello or goodbye, and though not always a good source of communication she does nod yes or no.  And she points for things she wants.  One afternoon I swear she plain as day said Daddy, but hasn't done it again.  I think she calls both Chris and my dad 'dada' at the moment.  Just in a more emphatic whisper voice when she is talking about Papa.  It's cute.

I'm pretty sure Papa is Arden's favorite person to blow kisses to.  I can't remember how it started, or who it started with, but when the kids blow him kisses Papa pretends to get knocked over by them, or at least jumps like they really hit him.  Arden thinks this is the greatest and pretty much starts blowing him kisses as soon as she sees him.  The other day he was at my house, in the kitchen talking to Thea.  Arden and I had been upstairs.  When I opened the door to the room and she heard his voice, she looked at me with a little grin on her face, and said 'muah' in the cutest little voice.  She couldn't wait to hit him with a kiss.

I can't say Arden is a huge fan of toys.  She is a huge fan of crawling around and looking for things that aren't hers and climbing the stairs and opening drawers and in general seeking out mischief.  But most toys in general do not hold her interest.  When the big girls are at school, she LOVES to play with all their tiny things if I'm in their room putting away clothes or picking up or anything of that nature.  One afternoon she spent a solid twenty minutes trying to squish a tiny American Girl apple into an American girl pencil holder.  Whatever floats your boat girl.  She loves to crawl around with tiny things stashed in her hands too.  Usually if I say, "Arden, what did you find?" she'll offer up whatever tiny bit of trash she is carrying.  Occasionally she is attached to her discovery, and clutches it with both hands under her chin like a prized possession and grunts at me.

She has the cutest little scrunch nose cheese face that she gives to strangers when we're out and about.  She'll wave from the cart like she is in a parade and makes all the older women around us melt.  Unfortunately several of them take that as in invitation to get closer and even touch her and she usually bursts into tears.  Whoops.  Baby Shark and Shake it Off are her jams.

Arden my dear, you are such a gift.  I am so incredibly grateful God gave me you.  You've completed our family in the most perfect way, and this year has been a blast.  I don't want you to grow up, but I can't wait to witness the person you become.  Love you love you love you.