Watch Her Grow: One-Year Old!

Q-ball is one-year old today!

 Tonight she will celebrate with her first cake and ice cream experience after enjoying favorite foods of falafel, hummus, and sweet potatoes. (Blueberries is still the ultimate favorite, so we had it for breakfast, as always...)

We started the party last night by letting her get really messy with flavored yoghurt-

 a special treat!  (She's chowing down on her second cup in the pictures!)

I can't believe it. To celebrate on the blog, I have a puzzler I'd like to share.
I called to make her one-year check-up on March 1, and I was told that appointments were only booked 28 days out, so I needed to call on March 2. I was too busy that day, so I called on March 3.  And, then I was told that they were booked until April 5.  Fuzzy math???

So, I do not have baby stats to share today, but they are coming!


Interactions with Materials

• She continued to like playing with stuffed animals this week. Especially hugging them. She would carry them to me and want me to have them ask her for a hug. Not very Montessori, but oh, well. We are learning words!
• Balls! Everywhere!
• Also, cups. She loves getting cups out of the cabinets and pretending to drink out of them. Or, "smell" (another new word) them- I'd given her an old cinnamon spice container, and the habit of smelling has carried to everything!
• Favorite materials: balls, cups, books, books, books, and the bunny Aunt B gave her

Interactions with Others

• I think it's so funny to take Q-ball to a playgroup with older toddlers. Toddlers love "babies" who are sooooooo much younger. They run up to tackle hug her, which used to result in immediate tears. But, now Q-ball is just clearly scared, but avoiding tears.
• During the natural parenting meeting, Q-ball stayed in the nursery without me for nearly half the meeting! Just another dad she'd never met. I couldn't believe it! Maybe it's almost time for a date night outside of the house!

Interactions with Space

• She just keeps climbing up stairs.  She loves it!
• She also loves dancing! She likes when I turn on music (she has even asked for it with signs) so she can sway from side to side.

Interactions with Life

• I forgot to mention last week that she had started attempting to use her spoon to eat. While she still clearly prefers her hands, she has continued practicing. She does know that I will serve her food with her spoon, so she hands it to me when she wants more food.
• And, she has been using a few more signs this week.  It's very exciting. This week she learned "cheese" and is very quick to ask for it! She's also using "more" and "all done" at meals.  Daddy and I think meals are funny because it's when we use the most signs with her, and sometimes we can pretty much she the annoyance and mockery on her face as she just randomly waves her hands.

What a year!  How did you celebrate the big "1"?
 

To see the rationale and purpose for the Watch Her Grow series, please check out this post!