12 months

The birthday party post sort of replaces our requisite sign. Anyway, as you might have noticed, that sign gambit is getting more and more challenging. Talent these days!

Natalie is one year old. Wow!She's lovely, perfectly lovely. And of course, we love her very much.She's a big babbler. On a good day, we can get a pretty long stream of interactive lacka-lacka-lackas followed by some tukka-tukka-tukkas. She also has the sounds for "mama", "dada", and something that maybe sounds like kitty cat ("kee-kah" or the like). She's got the the "g" sound down, too. Also, raspberries.

I asked the doctor about her lack of actual words, and was told that attempts at communication and understanding are much more important. As Mike and I were digesting this, the doctor offered an example. She said, "Like when you say 'clap', does Natalie clap?" And right on cue, Natalie gave us some claps and a big smile. I was totally surprised! I'd never seen that trick, and I couldn't believe it. Later that night, as Mike, Natalie, and I were all snuggling in baby jail, I asked Mike if he thought it was really for real, or if Natalie's performance for the doctor had been a coincidence. In so doing, I used the word "clap" - and Natalie did it again! How adorable is that?

Interestingly, we've been trying to teach her to point to our nose or her nose is response to the question "Where is mommy's / baby's nose?" No dice. But the clapping thing - we'd made zero efforts at that. I didn't even know if she knew what clapping was.

Natalie will now also suck her thumb and wave on command. Soon, we'll be teaching her how to make lattes.

She and Mike also play a game where she'll point at something, and then Mike will kiss her finger. Natalie then, predictably, dissolves into laughter. And her laughter is the best, sweetest sound.Natalie loves to explore. She isn't walking yet, but she will always pull herself to standing if an object at the appropriate height presents itself. She'll cruise, too, but if what she wants is too far away, she'll drop back down and crawl. And she is a fast little crawler! And in San Diego, she learned to go up stairs.She's loving Pat the Bunny right now. We took that book to San Diego, and it was so well-loved on the journey that the binding is now looking quite the worse for wear. She also loves to roll this little blue and red soccer ball we got her to accompany all our World Cup watching. And for her birthday, she got a little block tower that she's really been enjoying.Natalie also loves "found toys", like the ring of thread spools my grandmother made for her.But Natalie's even less picky than that - a tag, a loose thread, a zipper, a tiny hole in a bedspread - these are a few of her favorite things.However, when we have to take something away from her or transition to another activity, she's getting harder and harder to distract. She'll look for the missing object, sometimes while screaming and writhing her body about in our arms. I wouldn't call these full-fledged temper tantrums or anything, but she's definitely ticked, and she wants us to know. Her lung capacity is also, uh, improving.

She remains a great eater. I know we may have a picky phase later, so my goal right now is just to expose her to as many tastes as possible so that on the other side of the picky phase, she'll be a person who likes lots of different flavors and fruits and veggies. That said, Natalie eats cheese, eggs, nut butters, beans, fish, bread, melon, Cheerios (of course!), cucumber, yogurt, peas, etc. on a regular basis (plus jarred food). She'll even eat hummus. And in San Diego we gave her some roasted red pepper hummus. She didn't love it, but she didn't reject it, either.She's also - most days - a decent sleeper. I don't wish to tempt fate, so we'll just leave things there.

Her hair is getting longer, and is really fine and soft and downy. For now, we just brush it to the side. I'm not ready to cut it.

She's almost outgrown both her baby bathtub and her infant car seat. I predict we'll transition to the bigger models of each in the fall.