Thirteen Months Old!!

OK, I know I say this all the time. But I really mean it this time. I think Campbell has grown and changed more in this past month than she has during any other month of her lifetime! Sure, in other months she had huge milestones like rolling over, crawling, eating table food, walking, etc. There is no huge thing that Campbell mastered this month. There is just a laundry list of little things that have totally amazed us this month!

First - her babbling is becoming more like talking everyday. Cracker is still her best word. She knows how to ask for one, she knows what the different cracker boxes look like, she knows when I'm eating one and not sharing...this girl knows her crackers!! She has the m, d, b, g, n and k sounds down pat. She can now imitate a sound that we make and usually gets it right. She calls her Elmo doll "el-bo" and can accurately refer to us as ma-ma or da-da. She doesn't call out for us yet, but definitely identifies Travis as da-da and me as ma-ma. Ah, how sweet it is to hear her say our names!

Even more impressive than her ability to talk has been her ability to understand this month. We had no idea she was capable of listening and following a command. Yep, she is! It all started when I told her to go into her playroom and get her purse. She got up, walked in there, and returned with her purse. I thought maybe it was a coincidence, but she quickly proved it was not! She got a baby doll for Christmas and she calls her Baby. You can tell her to go get Baby, to hug Baby, to put Baby in her stroller...and she does it all! I think the most clever stunt she pulled relates to Travis' iPhone. He often calls his Nanny on that phone, puts it on speaker phone, and we try (sometimes successfully) to get Campbell to say 'na-na' to her Nanny on the phone. We realized the other night that she was trying to get his iPhone by asking for na-na! She took it into her playroom and left it there. A few minutes later we said, Campbell, go get Nanny! Sure enough, she went directly to the playroom and emerged proudly holding out the phone to show us! So cute...we were stunned. She says bye-bye in the appropriate context and can wave simultaneously. We're working on only having a paci in bed, so she now drops the paci into her crib, waves at it, and says bye-bye!

In addition to being cute and sweet and bright...this month she introduced us to her evil twin. :) She taught us what it's like to have a very clingy, cranky, sick, teething, mommy-crazy child. I took this picture today looking down. I saw a LOT of this in the last month, but thankfully, she's returning to normal and this was just taken when she was sleepy today. (If you look close, you'll see those molars that were part of the problem!!) She still has her mommy moments, but we've had several occasions lately where she was with Travis and wouldn't come to me. Daddy's little girl is on her way back we hope!

Campbell's walk is often a jog/shuffle. Not to say that she still doesn't crash a lot, but she is becoming much steadier on her feet and gets around extremely well...and fast! She is able to crawl up the stairs on her own, with one of us of course right behind her to catch the inevitable stumble. Bathtime has gotten a little challenging as she decided out of the blue that she hates having the shampoo rinsed out of her hair. She stands up in protest and demands that bathtime end immediately. We are still working on this one. To my dismay, one of her favorite pastimes is playing in Lexi's water bowl. She likes to splash in it, and then she likes to put things in it...like her sippy cup. Nice. I'm sure there's no bacteria in there, right?? She is drinking straight soymilk now - no more formula! She has FINALLY figured out how to tip up the sippy cup to drink out of it, and we are using bottles less and less. Over the next month or two, we hope to say bye-bye to the bottles for good!!

We are adjusting well to the news of her food allergies. It doesn't seem like a big deal to always pack her a meal when we're on the go. We've never known any differently, so it really hasn't been a huge change. I get a little bummed when I think about all of the things she can't taste and enjoy, but I hope that she'll outgrow the allergies and someday know the joy of a Reese's peanut butter cup!

I won't be doing the posed pictures in the chair anymore. I'm kind of sad that era is over, but she's one year old now and we fulfilled the first year photo tradition. I've got a few pictures below from the past week or so of Campbell playing and just being herself! Love you, you adorable little thirteen month old cracker-aholic!

Campbell has been working hard on using a spoon. Sometimes, she is successful!

Other times...she just doesn't have time to bother with a spoon.

Still a bookworm! This month she has started "reading" a lot more on her own. Instead of insisting we read them to her, she spends a lot of time flipping through them by herself, staring intently at the pages. Or just chewing on the cover. ;)

The Hair. Aaaah. Sometimes it's wilder than others. Today she just had messy waves in the back. But right after a bath, she often has complete curls all over the back! She sports everything from a feathered look, to a Carol Brady-style flip out, to a wavy mullet, and occasionally the Mad Scientist. But regardless, we LOVE those wild, red locks!