1 Year!

Marlee is one! Wow, her first year zipped by so fast. She has brought so much joy to our lives. For such a small thing, she certainly contributes a lot to our family dynamics. Today we celebrated this fabulous little girl. Her brother and sister were very excited to sing happy birthday to her first thing this morning. She was in a great mood. It was as if she knew it was her day and she was ready to party.
What a year it has been! She has done all the normal things like learn to smile and roll and crawl; walking is almost ready to be checked off the list. She can take a few steps, about 4 or 5 with no problem. She has even gone about 8 or so, but typically she knows if its more than a few feet, she can crawl there faster and doesn’t try too hard.
But mobility is not really an issue. She can climb stairs like nobody’s business, and can sorta come down, but I don’t really trust her yet. She can now climb up on the furniture especially the little table and chairs. Strapping her in has curbed her high chair escape tactics. Pretty much nothing pleases her more than to climb into a chair next to Hayden and play with his markers while he colors. She especially likes to have her own coloring book, even if there is no chance I will take the caps off the markers for her. However, she is sorta figuring that one out on her own. She is a monkey for sure!
And now that she is so mobile, she is quite certain that she is perfectly capable of keeping up with the big brother and sister. With the improved weather, she is able to chase them around the yard. Somedays, they sneak out; then she just stands at the door and bangs on it until someone takes pity on her and lets her out. She likes to do laps around the perimeter of the yard, same thing at the playground. It’s a bit bizarre. With Hayden’s Tball season in full swing, (hehehe) we are spending lots of time at the park, and Marlee couldn’t be happier, even with the nasty wind.
She is a complete chatter box. My friend was watching her this week and her 3 year old did something to tick Marlee off, and well, Miss M thoroughly chewed him out. She often has choice words for Hayden and Sage too. We are not really sure what those words are, but she means business.
She prefers to handle her own bottles now. After the whole BPA plastic bottle leaching toxins thing on the Today show, I tried to switch her over to sippy cups, but she promptly let me know that we are not quite ready for that transition. So we bought all new non-BPA bottles. (toss all your bottles with 7 in the chasing arrows if you haven’t already done so)
Such a busy month, we spent so much time on the go. She takes it all in stride with a big grin. Her naps have been interrupted, cut short and even skipped a couple of times. She is never too put out by any of it. I am just hoping that she doesn’t get used to the nap skipping stuff. She is a champ of a sleeper! She still takes 2 naps a day, but I am guessing that she will be losing one soon. It will be a sad day for me.
Favorite things this month:
Cousin Jess and her purple finger nails
Climbing
Whole green beans
Goldfish crackers
When Daddy comes home from work or when mom comes home from being out
Playing any game with Hayden and Sage