13 Months

It's hard to believe that our baby isn't such a baby anymore. She's been doing all sorts of toddler-like things recently, such as: 

Cooking in her Kitchen 

For Greta's first birthday, she received a kitchen playset from Ikea. It was a big hit right from the start.

Hugging and Giving Kisses

Most of her hugs and kisses are directed towards her big fox/little fox pair of stuffed animals. These were also an Ikea purchase and perhaps the best money we've ever spent because she routinely picks them up and gives them sweet little hugs. It's hard to get them on camera, though, because she usually stops as soon as you lift your phone. 

Playing in the Snow

Okay, I will admit it, this was just a photo op. She doesn't actually play in the snow. In part because we don't have appropriate snow clothes for her. For this picture, we had her try out the jacket part of the 2T snowpants/coat we bought her for next year. 

Swinging in a Park Swing

Yes, this picture and the one above it were taken in the same month. I know. It's been an awfully tricky transition from Winter to Spring this year. 

She didn't actually enjoy the swing too much. The movement got in the way of her people-watching.

Experimenting with Sounds

Greta has occasionally (adorably) put her fingers in her own ears. In this particular picture, she was doing it just after Ben had covered her ears to whisper something. At first I thought she was just mimicking him, but then I realized that she seems to enjoy putting her fingers in her ears and then babbling. I think she's experimenting with how it sounds when she has her ears plugged up. 

A few days later, I had her in the stroller and she was babbling as I was browsing at Babies R Us. I started to notice that her babblings were getting more and more nasal-sounding. I looked down to see that she had both her fingers in her ears and the most curious look on her face as she played around with making noises with her fingers in her nose. I was mildly embarrassed to be the lady with the noisy kid with her fingers in her nose, but I was secretly very pleased that my baby is exploring her world. 

And last but not least . . . 

Toddling. 

Yes, that's right. On the eve of her 13 month birthday, I'm now ready to say that my baby is experimenting with toddling. I don't think I'd ever seen her take more than 4 steps without grabbing onto something before. But this evening she walked all the way from the couch (where I'm sitting as I take this somewhat blurry picture . . . about 2 feet forward of that blue elephant toy) to Ben's arms. Later, she walked all the way from the couch to the stairs, which is a little further and not in a straight line. A couple times she started to lose her balance, crouched down as though she was going to switch to crawling and then stood back up and took more steps.

I think this evening was a bit of a turning point -- like maybe something clicked for her. She had items in both hands, which encourages her to walk versus crawl. Overall, I think she will still crawl fairly frequently, with the ratio of toddling to crawling increasing as she becomes more confident. She looked SO proud when she did it, though. I think she's pretty aware that it's a big deal.

That's our girl. 13 months old tomorrow and not such a baby anymore!