Fourteen Months Old

Since she's no longer able to sit still long enough for a monthly Winnie the Pooh picture, here are a few other updates on our (for a few days more) only child:

1) She is WALKING! (kind of). She took her first few steps on August 13th, and now averages about five steps a day. She hasn't really caught on to what she can do with that new trick. Of course, she would much prefer to be moving vertically, and climbs every piece of furniture in our house. We have a feeling she may skip walking altogether and go directly to sprinting.

2) On the same day she took her first steps, she also learned the signs for "bird", "hat", and "dog". Add that to "more" and "hot" and she has quite the sign language repertoire.

3) Her actual words now include "Daddy", "Mama", "Hi", "Uh-oh", "Up", and "Hi-yi-yi".

4) Fruits, broccoli, yogurt, pancakes, and meat of any kind top her favorite food list. Much like her mommy, she DOES NOT like milk, although we're not ready to completely accept that yet. She drinks water like it's going out of style.

5) The good news is she understands the word "no". The bad news is, she definitely gets practice hearing it and we are seeing a defiant side to our precious little girl at times. Time-out does seem to work. She still enjoys lying her head on the floor and pouting when she doesn't get her way. She does NOT appreciate our laughing about it.

6) Unlike her extremely mild-mannered parents, our kid is opinionated! (I'm sure no one missed the sarcasm there). She insists on eating with a fork, reading her specific choice of books, and even wearing her sunglasses if and only if she is in the mood. Last week she wore her sunglasses while we carried her into church--and left them on for half of the service! Considering it was raining outside, she looked like she was either being chased by the paparazzi or had a tough night of partying behind her.

7) She was excited to welcome her newest friend into the world on August 9, 2007. Adison Elizabeth was born to our friends Mike and Kim Hildebrand. We can't wait to meet that little cutie, especially as we pride ourselves in being the first to know that she was coming into the world. Hopefully these little girls can help their daddies stay out of trouble.

8) She also did great while Grandma Sandy watched her overnight last weekend and enjoyed being spoiled. (Good preparation for the upcoming weeks...). Plus, Great-grandma Dena came to visit this weekend and it was wonderful to watch those two get to know each other even better.