Dear Little Miss: 13 Months

Dear Little Miss,

You are thirteen months old today. One year and one month old. You have such a fun personality, and I love watching you change so rapidly. I’ve been reading different books to see what I can expect from you in the future,  but it almost makes me cry. I can’t imagine having short conversations with you in less than a year. And I can barely remember how small you were at this time last year. Good thing I have plenty of pictures to remind me.

You love baby dolls. One of your favorite things to do is put a baby doll in the stroller you got for your birthday and push the baby around the house. I love to watch you pat, pat, pat the baby’s back. You also sway back and forth with the baby if I sing rock-a-bye baby. One baby doll that you have makes drinking noises if you move her bottle to her mouth. You are such the little mother as you feed your baby and grin with delight as she makes her noises.

Kona is still your best friend. You have tired of retrieving her from her cage every morning like you used to, but you still love playing with her. When Kona gets in a crazy mood and runs around the house like a maniac, you squeal and try to follow after her. Even though you pull her ears, sit on her head, and all around abuse her, she keeps coming back for more every time. It makes me so happy that you two get along so well!

You now eat most everything that Daddio and I eat. Your favorite foods are cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, green beans, bananas and pasta. You still take three bottles a day of breast milk. I tried to mix in an ounce of whole milk for your bedtime bottle last night, and you completely refused to drink any of the bottle! Here we go again… I’m also trying to slowly wean you off of the bottle because I know it is bad for your teeth. Other than milk, you drink sippy cups of water.

You have eight teeth that have fully come in and three on the way! [That’s right, folks. I discovered another tooth that is poking through, and this time it’s a molar! No wonder my poor baby has been so cranky the past few days. And who knows, there may be a molar on the other side of her mouth that is also coming in right now. I couldn’t get a good look, but all of Little’s other teeth have come in pairs.] We bought you a real toothbrush for your tiny teeth, which you seem to love. You have never allowed me to use the finger brush on your teeth, so I’m hoping you will do better with this one.

You take one nap a day (and have since you were ten months old) that is around two hours long and sleep from 7 pm to 7 am most nights.

You blow kisses and make an “Indian” noise with your hand and mouth (a new trick that Auntie taught you).

If I ask you how old you are you hold up your pointer finger (SO cute!).

You know where your nose, mouth, tongue, ears, hair, belly, hands, feet, and toes are.

You like to brush your hair with your comb and hairbrush.

You love to look at books and point to the pictures. You usually only let me read you a whole book if you are a little drowsy. Otherwise, you want to hold the book and turn the pages before I can finish reading all the words.

You are getting better by the day at walking. The majority of the time you are walking, but you do still crawl.

When I’m sitting on the floor, you back up to me and plop down in my lap. You sometimes bring a book or a baby with you.

You love music, and you love to dance! All I have to do is say the word music and you start shaking your little booty. I’ve started declaring that you’re going to be a dancer and singer when you grow up.

You say dada and mama consistently, and you can say duck and book if you want to, but that is pretty much it on words. We’re working on that. You also sign milk, more and all done. You recognize more words than I could type.

I can’t wait to see all the things that you will learn to do this month. I love you baby girl!

Love,

Mamma