13 Months Old

My sweet little toddler.

I feel really guilty that I haven't gotten around to writing about Phae. I didn't even write about her the month she turned one. It was a crazy time. So is this, but I'm going to write a post about her if it kills me.

Since Phaedra turned one, she has been in such a hurry to grow up! It's as if she knew the exact day and decided she would no longer be a baby. She started walking more and more. Now, she's walking all around the house. She prefers walking and only crawls if she's in a real hurry. I'm sure she'll be running soon.

She is mimicking our actions all the time. She tries to do things like dance, fold her arms, give high-fives, and even blow raspberries on tummies. She has become insistent that she feed herself and eat the food we are eating. She is very communicative if there is something on the table she hasn't had the opportunity to try. I still feed her baby food because she still plays more than she eats, but she has to have something she can feed herself at every meal or she won't allow me to feed her.

She has been trying to repeat our words. It seems like she picks up a new word every day. Some of the words she can say/try to say include: mommy, daddy, dog, doggie, hot, cold, no-no, go go go!, eat, baby, bear, bath, nigh-night, please, po-po, squirrel, wow, owie, amen, light, and book.

Phaedra has been watching me do Eleanor's hair day-in and day-out all her life. She used to be content to just play around with the extra combs, but now she insists on having a turn. She'll pat her head and say, "bo-bo," which is how she says po-po, the term we use for hair accessories. She has actually held still for me to put in pig tails a few times, and afterwards, I take her to the bathroom and show her how pretty she looks. She loves it.

She has transitioned from big, slobbery, open-mouthed kisses to actually puckering up. I'm always sad to see the slobbery kisses go. They're just so precious. On the other hand, her little puckered lips can melt my heart pretty easily, too. Whenever we say it's time for loves and kisses at bedtime, Phaedra is so quick to go to her sister with her puckered up lips, saying, "Mmmm."

She still puts everything in her mouth. She's starting to get better about certain things we tell her to keep out of her mouth, other things not.

She has always been interested in books, interested in destroying them, at least. Now, she's starting to actually care about turning the pages, and sometimes, she brings them to me as if she wants me to read to her. We only make it through a page or two before she yanks it away from me. She knows how to open a regular book, but when she tries to turn the pages, she usually rips them. The board books are more difficult for her to get open and turn pages, so she usually settles for eating them. She has bitten big chunks out of the spine on most of our board books. She's constantly pulling all the books off the shelf in our family room. We always have books strewn across the floor.

Now, I thought I would remember this in more detail, but since I didn't write it down, the details are rather fuzzy. Phaedra cut 5 teeth in a matter of about 4 weeks. There was the tooth she got on the bottom just after her bee sting. Then, I think she cut her first top tooth the week before we left to go to Utah. Her other top tooth came through on the drive to Utah. Poor girl. I thought she was just cranky from being in the car so long. No wonder she calmed down as soon as she had a chunk of apple to gnaw on! Then, she cut another top tooth on the way home from Utah and another just a few days after our return. She was popping out teeth like crazy! She now has 4 on top and 3 on bottom, so she's a little lop-sided.

Phaedra continues to bless our lives every day with her happy, playful, sweet spirit. She is a pleasant, loving daughter and an adoring younger sister. I would say I wish she could stay this little because she's so fun right now and she is growing way too quickly, but the more she learns and grows, the more fun we have together.