Addison - the 13 Month Old!

Toddler Time!
While many parents refer to the age of their toddlers in months - my tendency is just to say she's 1. But a 12-month old is very different than a 13-month old, as I've learned - so I understand the need to clarify! We do still call her Silly Baby and refer to her as a "baby" in many other ways - a habit I'm not sure will go away anytime soon.

Baby Steps
Addison took her first steps a few days after her 1st birthday. The first handful of steps she took unknowingly - then, she realized what she had done and it made her nervous. She took nearly a full week off from walking in the beginning of June. During this time she became very tied to her walkers - and got VERY quick pushing them all over the place. We would prompt her to take independent steps, but could just see the nervousness in her face. Low and behold, by the second week in June, Addison took a half a dozen steps on her own. Then, the next day she walked a dozen steps! That seemed to be her limit for that week, but since then she has advanced to walking all the way across the room or down the hallway. She's also now able to walk, bend/squat down and pick something up and keep walking! She also walks and turns around. In the past few days, she has been walking more than she crawls!

Eating
Addison is onto "grown-up" food. For breakfast she typically has pancakes and bananas; for lunch she has fruit, lunch meat, cheese; and for dinner she has a Gerber Graduate meal or whatever we're eating if it's friendly. There's not much she doesn't like - but there's also not much that she always likes. Bananas are really the only staple. Pancakes and grapes were too, but she has gone through phases of pushing them away also. Her eating is somewhat inconsistent, but when she doesn't eat much at a meal, she will make up for it within the next day or so. She almost always feeds herself now if it's hand-friendly. She will feed herself with a spoon and fork too with a little assistance.

Drinking
Addison is pretty good at drinking water throughout the day in her sippy cup. We started transitioning her off of the bottle and have been trying to give her milk in her sippy cup instead. At first she refused, but would simply carry on with whatever she was doing - seemingly not upset that she was missing out on the milk. But gradually we got her used to drinking milk from the sippy cup at least in the morning. At night we've still given her a bottle - we are hoping to nix that this coming week.

Talking
Addison sure makes a lot of noise, and has her own language - even though she doesn't say many actual words yet. She says Da-da all the time, and many times it's not even in reference to Tim. She also says Ma-Ma to people other than me, even though it's what she always says when she hears me open the door when I get home from work. Ga-ga is her newer "word" and over at Auntie Lorie's, it is believed this is her reference to her favorite cousin Isabella. At home, we're not too sure what she's referencing.

Playing
True to many articles I've been reading, the more independent Addison is able to be - the more clingy she has become. Her patience is also, well, non-existent. We're not sure if she just enjoys experimenting with her range of emotions or she's just frustrated in not being able to do exactly what she wants at all times and/or not being able to communicate what she wants to, but it can be quite frustrating when one minute she is laughing and the next minute she's screaming. The temper tantrums have certainly arrived!
Otherwise - Addison's favorite way to play is to be on the move. Crawling, walking, pushing her walkers, walking with us, etc. She's also developed quite an arm in the past couple weeks and enjoys throwing many of her toys. We will need to teach her what things are ok to throw and what things aren't.
She understands what "No" means, but she also understands how to press her luck. She's developed an annoying little charm of when she's reaching for something she's not supposed to have, we'll say "no" and she'll leave her hand on the item, look at me and scrinch up her face in a little smile. It's hard to resist, but I bite my lip and try to keep a straight face. If I don't, we're in deep trouble in the years to come!!!

Coming Up!
Addison's 2nd 4th of July is coming up - and this year we hope she gets to enjoy some of it. There is a 4th of July festival across the street from us that we've never been to. We plan on checking it out and walking around. Addison usually enjoys people-watching so we think she'll enjoy it!