Gross motor: Michaela has become such an effective crawler, she sometimes refuses to practice walking. When you hold her hands to walk, she drops down to her knees. She walks confidently when she is cruising along furniture/walls, often barely holding on, but when you put the open floor in front of her she wants to crawl. She likes to crawl after the cats. She tries to pet them, but she really ends up smacking them on the head. Shadow puts up with it. Gus won’t let her near him. Michaela can now climb down one stair. She goes down one step into the bonus room or into the patio by walking with her hands and dragging her legs over the edge until her knees hit the ground. It was kind of funny, the first few times she went down the step, she face-planted and then popped right back up and continued crawling.
Fine motor: Michaela’s favorite game is to move toys in and out of the bucket or toy box. So we take out the toys and count them or say their color and then do the clean up song when we put them back n the bucket/box. I’m hoping this will make her a tidy kid. Her other favorite game right now is to stack blocks and she can get 4 up before the tower comes down. We read to her often but Michaela also like to “read” by herself, turning the pages as she examines the pictures.
Verbal: Michaela now does more complex babbling that sounds like sentences. She even does facial expressions to go with her message. Her new words are “down” and “kitty” so she uses 7 words. She has also started communicating her needs or interests by pointing.
Feeding: Michaela is trying a lot more foods with texture, but she is also starting to reject some smooth foods she used to eat, like pureed green beans. She shakes her head “no” and waves her hands back and forth as if to stay “stop”. She likes almond butter and jelly sandwiches and turkey and cheese sandwiches. She is down to nursing 1-2x/day and we plan to wean her soon after her 1 year birthday.
Miscellaneous: Michaela likes to go on the swing and the slide at the playground. She always sleeps with her bunny which is a small blanket with a bunny head. She likes to hug her bunny and suck on his ears while she sleeps. We celebrated Michaela’s first birthday on June 24, 2008. All grandparents, aunts Kristen and Katie, great aunts Kay and Mary, cousin Isabel, and friends Jessica and Liam attended. She wasn’t into her organic, non-sugar cake, but she liked the icing. I should have given her the real thing…you’re only 1 once! At 12 months Michaela measured…
