Lila at 12 months

Before time completely gets away from me, here are a few things to know about Lila at 12 months:

Measurements: At her 12-month doctor's visit on October 27th, she weighed 18 pounds, 14 ounces and measured 29.5 inches long. I wasn't surprised by either measurement. I've always thought she felt a lot lighter than John did at this age, and my hunch proved to be true. John weighed 20 pounds, 11 ounces at his 12-month appointment -- nearly two pounds more than Lila! He was also an entire inch longer than her (30.5 inches). Lila is still very long for a baby girl her age, though. She's above the 75th percentile for height and is between the 25th and 40th percentile for weight.

Teething: Right after she turned 11 months old (while we were visiting Grandma Bonnie and Papa Jeff), Lila cut her 6th tooth. Her 7th and 8th teeth (the ones on either side of her bottom middle teeth) came in before she turned 12 months. Her first one-year molar broke through the skin this past Monday, November 7th. She was chewing like crazy on her fingers that day, so I got out the teething biscuits again for her. Those were a big help.

Nursing/Eating: I am still nursing Lila and will continue to nurse her at least another month (I nursed John until he was 14.5 months old). She nurses four times a day: first thing in the morning, after her first nap, after her second nap and before bed. I now only nurse her from one side at the last two feedings because she is eating so much more and because she's learning how to drink from a cup.

Speaking of drinking from a cup, I was very lazy about starting this (and being consistent with it). I've really only started regularly giving her a cup at her meals in the past week or two, but luckily she seems to be catching on to the whole drinking thing pretty quickly. She has two cups with spouts and one straw cup. On Thursday (November 10th) I gave Lila her first cup of cow's milk. As soon as I can be sure she's drinking well from a cup, I plan on cutting out the third nursing in the afternoon and replacing it with cow's milk.

Lila loves food. Since she started eating more "real food" than pureed baby food (which happened around 11 months), she has only disliked broccoli. I can't get her to eat it at all. She is a huge fan fruits, veggies and grains, but she doesn't seem to be as wild about meat. She'll eat it just fine, but she doesn't usually want seconds.

Sleeping/Schedule: We are playing around with Lila's schedule a little, especially since Daylight Savings Time ended last week. She definitely needs two naps still, but she sleeps less time at each one. This past week, she has slept really, really well at night, which has been a tremendous help to her tired Mommy. I think she slept through the night three times.

This is her new schedule:

7 a.m. - Wake up and nurse

8 a.m. - Breakfast

around 9:30 or 10 a.m. - 1st nap (about 90 mins.)

around 11 or 11:30 a.m. - Wake up and nurse

12:30 p.m. - Lunch

around 2:30 or 3 p.m. - 2nd nap (about 90 mins.)

around 4 or 4:30 p.m. - Wake up and nurse (one side only)

5:30 pm. - Dinner

7 p.m. - Nurse/Bedtime (one side only)

Since Daylight Savings Time ended, I've started putting Lila down for her morning nap before our first outing of the day. She has been so tired by 9:30 that there's been no way we could do an outing anywhere.

Walking/Standing: Lila started letting us walk her around the house in early October. (Before then, she'd just bend over really far to let us know that she wanted to get down and crawl.) At first, her walking looked a lot like marching -- she would lift her legs (especially the left one) ridiculously high. Here's a video of it from October 16th!

Goose stepper from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

In mid-October, she started getting interested in her walkers and could push the Chicco activity walker around with very little assistance from Mommy or Daddy. During a few stays at Grandma Kay Ellen's house, she got acquainted with John's old Chicco push train that we had left there when we moved. That quickly became a favorite for her. Now she's obsessed with the Radio Flyer push wagon that John got for his 1st birthday. As of Monday (November 7th), she can push it on her own (no easy feat, since it's extremely heavy and difficult to steer). She does lap after lap after lap around the house with the wagon. It's a great pre-bedtime routine!

Lila stood alone for about 8-10 seconds on Tuesday (November 8th). Since then, she has let go several times of things she's holding onto and stood for a few seconds at a time. I love seeing the look of surprise on her face!

Climbing: We have a climber on our hands. Lila can't get enough of climbing the stairs at our house and at Grandma Kay Ellen's house. Once she gets to the top, she wants to go right back down on her own, regardless of the fact that she doesn't know how. Our house doesn't have carpeted stairs, so it might be a while before we teach her -- she's too little still. Lila also enjoys trying to climb on and off riding toys.

First words: Lila's first "real" word was "uh-oh"!!! She said it the first time on October 17th while she was sitting in her highchair during lunch. She had dropped her spoon or a piece of food on the floor, and out it came! Grandma Bonnie and I could not believe our ears. I grabbed the video camera as fast as I could, and luckily, she obliged me by saying it again on camera another half dozen times or so.

"Uh-oh" girl from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Lila also says "wow" a lot now. If you say "wow" to her, she'll repeat it over and over again. We did this last week on the way to pick John up from school.

Although she can say "ma ma" and "da da" (and a bunch of other syllables), I can't be sure yet that she is actually referring to me or her Daddy when she says them. She did say "da da da da" a whole bunch of times the other day when Daddy went to get her from her nap.

She also "talks" a lot in everyday situations. For instance, if you give her a phone (or something that looks a bit like a phone), she'll say something that sounds like "hi." If she's trying to give you something, she'll say something that sounds like "here you go."

Funny things: The week of October 17th, Lila figured out that when she was sitting on something soft like a bed or the couch, she could fall backwards and throw her legs in the air and it would be fun. She loves to play this game with Mommy, who tickles her like crazy once she has fallen over.

For at least the past month, Lila has put her elbow up to ear to simulate talking on the phone. When she does it, we tell her to call Papa Jeff.

Lila got her first Munchkin "snack catchers" a couple of weeks ago, and they have been inseparable ever since. Even when she has finished the snack inside, Lila continues her death grip on the catcher. Sometimes she even naps with it! Hey, it's easier than trying to pry it out of her hands. John also likes to use the catchers for snacks.

Lila now gives kisses! We first noticed she could give kisses the other night when Daddy was reading a book to her about Elmo. Daddy asked her to give Elmo a kiss, and she bent down and kissed the page! She gives Mommy and Daddy kisses too. Tonight she gave Daddy open-mouthed kisses and Mommy closed-mouth kisses.

That's all for now!