Lilah is officially one year old! It’s so funny, but just in the couple of weeks before her birthday, she started showing signs of early toddlerhood (like the cutest tantrums you’ve ever seen) like she knew that the milestone was coming.
She will carefully lower herself onto the floor, flail a little bit and make whining noises, all while looking back at me to check for a reaction. It’s pretty funny although I’m obviously not looking forward to the real all-out toddler tantrums that are bound to come next.
Lilah is still super sweet and snuggly just as she’s always been, but with a little more sass which is pretty funny. My all-time favorite thing she does right now is wag her little pointer finger and say “neh neh neh neh” before she does something she knows she’s not supposed to. It’s pretty hilarious and she finds it hilarious too!
Milestones
Lilah is not really walking yet, but she has taken her first steps!
She’s taken 4 or 5 steps in a row a couple of times. This is usually when I’m reading her a book and she’s standing up to listen. I’ll scoot back a tiny bit and she’ll take little steps to get closer because she likes turning the pages.
The other big milestone for her has been starting to talk. She has the cutest little voice! So far she says yeah, ball, dog, baby, bye-bye, mama, and dada. She also loves signing and signs milk, more, all done, book, and eat. I need to learn new signs so I can show her because it makes her so happy!
Lilah has 6 teeth now with two more coming in and is in the 96th percentile for height – she is a big baby!
Eating
Lilah went through a really picky stage, but she’s back to eating a bigger variety of food. I would by no means say she’ll eat anything and she has a strong preference for bread and cheese, but thankfully she also eats lots of fruit and will eat some vegetables.
Her favorite foods are sweet potatoes, oranges, bread, cheese (and all combinations of bread and cheese), pancakes, yogurt, hummus toast, cheerios, bambas (from Trader Joe’s), and ground beef. She also eats most fruit and sometimes bell peppers, cooked carrots, peas, and green beans.
She eats what we eat for dinner so she’s exposed to lots of new foods and I’m hoping with time her palate will continue to expand…we shall see!
Sleeping
Lilah wakes up early but otherwise sleeps well and seems to genuinely love sleep. She loves her bed and loves snuggling her little teddy bear in bed now that she’s one year old. She hardly ever complains about taking a nap or going to bed and is pretty flexible with nap timing, which is great because I can almost always get her nap and James’s nap to overlap.
She does not sleep on the go – we drove back from Houston at nap time and she stayed awake chatting the whole time (almost 3 hours). This is actually useful in general though because it means she doesn’t fall asleep in the car when we’re out and about and ruin her nap.
Personality
Lilah is sweet, funny, LOUD, snuggly, and wants to be in on the action. She keeps her eyes locked on James and if he goes in the backyard she stands at the door looking through the window until she can go out too. She loves exploring, especially outside, and loves playing in the water table (even when there’s no water in it, it’s just a good height for her).
She has started to like drawing with crayons and sidewalk chalk, although James and I have also made up a song called “Don’t eat the crayons” so there’s definitely some of that going on as well….
Lilah still freaks out around strangers sometimes but is much friendlier than she used to be and warms up more quickly. When we went to visit my family for Christmas, it took her a day or so to get comfortable and then she was fine with other people holding her and interacting with her.
She loves books and loves to hear the same book twenty times in a row.
She is understanding SO much of what we say and it’s magical to see. I asked her to go get a specific book from her room the other day and she brought it to me. She also brought me a ball from her room when I asked her. I love seeing the language explosion happen, it’s so amazing.
I was a little emotional with Lilah turning one, but not nearly as much as I was when James had his first birthday because I know that the next stage is so wonderful as well. While there’s nothing like a snuggly baby, toddlers are so interesting and hilarious and just plain fun and I can’t wait to see her personality continue to develop and watch her explore the world!
Montessori abc Book
My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.
The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.
You can purchase the book here!
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2 Comments
I can’t believe Lilah is already 1!! Happy birthday, Lilah!! 😊
I really can’t either!! Thank you 🙂