Saturday, January 23, 2010

1st birthday bio

Walking - Willa took her first few steps a couple days before Christmas.  She's still pretty wobbly on her feet though.  Her record is about 10 steps.  If she wants to get somewhere fast, she still crawls.


Talking - She has about five words (mom, dada, du for duck, Biggie, and uh-oh).  She jabbers all day long.  She also points at everything she wants...which is everything.

Signing - We've been signing with Willa for months. She does all done, more, shakes her head no, and waves hello, good-bye and good-night on her own. We've just started working on water, milk, eat, help, up, thank you, and please.

Animals - Willa loves, loves, loves animals, especially dogs and ducks.  Her third word was du for duck.  Her fourth was Biggie which is my sister's boyfriend's dog.  Really, she clearly says Biggie.  She started saying it on her own while we were in Florida over New Year's.  We were sitting around and she said it a few times.  We were laughing saying, "haha, it sounds like she is saying 'Biggie,'" and then we realized she really was saying it.  She also barks and quacks (same sound).  Whenever she hears a dog bark or hears the ducks or geese outside, she stops whatever she's doing and starts pointing and barking/quacking.  She loves live animals, pictures of animals, stuffed animals, and plastic animals.  And the silly thing is that I am not an animal lover.  I have bad allergies to most animals (cats, dogs, horses, farm animals, etc.) so that's my excuse.  I always said I didn't want pets.  But I think if Willa's love for animals keeps up, she is going to be begging us for a dog or something very early.  Maybe I'll give in.  I know Matt will be on her side.  Maybe I'll have to spend some time with some hypoallergenic dogs.


Sleeping - She sleeps great.  She goes to bed easy, naps easy (most days), and sleeps through the night.  I love spending all day with her, but I also love shutting her door at 6:45 and knowing I have a good 12 or so hours of uninterrupted time to relax and sleep.  She takes a morning and an afternoon nap.

Fearless - This may change with age, but so far Willa is a curious, fearless little thing.  She wasn't a bit scared to reach her hand in a tank of stingrays at the Tampa zoo to pet them.  She loves petting the farm animals at the zoo.  She loves crawling through things and climbing on things.  She doesn't mind the dark.  She spends lots of time these days in our kitchen or bathroom cabinets.  She used to just empty them, but now she pushes the stuff over and climbs right in.  She'll sit in the dark in the cabinent if I shut the door. 


Sensitive - She definitely has a sensitive side.  I wouldn't call her tough.  When she falls down, she wants to be consoled.  When a friend steals her toy or pulls her hair, she cries.  She's not one to fight back or just brush it off.

Reading - She loves books.  Her favorite book is Good Night Moon.  She has strarted to crawl over to the bookshelf, select Good Night Moon, bring it to me, and then climb into my lap.  I guess this isn't too surprising since we've read to her pretty much every day of her life.  She used to just empty bookshelves, but now she'll also take a couple books off of the shelf and then sit down and page through them on her own.


Binkie - She doesn't have a lovey or a favorite blanket or anything like that.  She just wants her pacifier.

Laughing & Smiling - It is super easy to make Willa smile, but you have to work harder for laughs.  If you catch her in the right mood, she'll crack up laughing.  Her daddy can always get a good belly laugh out of her by tossing her in the air or swinging her around.  (It's a good thing she has a daddy to be a little rough with her and toughen her up a bit.).  FYI- video was taken with my phone so it is REALLY bad quality.


Stranger Anxiety - She doesn't seem to have stranger anxiety.  She smiles and waves to strangers when we're out and about.  She doesn't mind when the young women pass her around at church.  We hired our first babysitter Friday night.  It didn't bother Willa in the least bit that we left her with the babysitter.

Social Butterfly - She loves being around other kids and adults.  She loves storytime at the library and the park because of all of the kids (and the swings).  She loves music and loves to dance.  She's always clapping or clicking her tongue or babbling or smiling at us to get us to smile or laugh at her.

Eating - Meal time has gotten better.  We don't have tears anymore.  Willa eats table food and blended fruits baby food.  She definitely has opinions and loves things one day and will refuse them the next, but she'll at least try everything now (I'm not looking forward to that changing).  She prefers fruits over vegetables.  She loves cheese, and she loves meat.  She won't eat baby food meat or mashed up meat, but she'll devour regularly prepared meat.  She's had and seems to enjoy chicken, turkey, beef, pork, elk, deer, walleye, rainbow trout, tuna, mahi-mahi, snapper, shrimp, lobster, crab...  You name it, if it's meat or cheese, she'll eat it.


Growing - She's tall and skinny.  At the pediatrican's office this week, she was 29 1/2 inches tall (75%) and weighed 18 pounds, 12 ounces (10%).

3 comments:

lindsey v said...

What a cute girl. Looks like you guys are having lots of fun with her. :) And I want your boots. (That you are wearing in a picture.) Way cute.

Moe said...

I love the video of her laughing ... haha so adorable :)

Lindsay said...

That's my sister in that pic with the fab boots. I wish I could say I was stylish enough to own them.