SLOANE AT 13 MONTHS

I was going to quit Sloane's monthly updates when she got to one year, but there is so much to record and if I'm going to scribble these anywhere, might as well be here.  must keep up the marvel!

Yesterday morning, she pooped the most giant of all poops.  It was, I kid you not, the size of a softball.  I was taken aback to say the least, and grossed out to say a little more, but mostly incredulous about how she kept that in her diaper and kept walking around as if there was nothing all that unusual about having a softball-sized wad swinging around with you in your diaper.  Fact: I now I have to hold my breath when I change a poop diaper.  How's that for real talk.

When we were ready to go, I strapped her into the car seat, placed my bags in the passenger seat and buckled myself into the driver's.  Revved the engine. Nothing.  This to say, I got to spend an extra with her while waiting for roadside assistance to come over.  We spent most of that hour giggling over how much we love watermelon and stuffing our mouths with it.  We also saw deer in our backyard and marveled at them together, really looking.

Later that evening when we got home, she pointed to the fridge indicating that she wanted more watermelon.  I wish I could bottle up that face of hers lighting up like the sun with joy when she sees that I've understood what she is asking for. Brain, etch that image into thyself.

She marched around happily, coming back to where I was sitting occasionally to give my legs a hug, or pat my skirt.  On one of those trips back she noticed my feet, and as if really seeing them for the first time, cradled them in her hands and patted the bottom of my foot, jabbering the whole time.  A little later in her room, she brought me every book she could get her hands on, one by one, and we read each one together. She hands me a book, and then reaches both arms up to me so that I can swing her into my lap for the read, and I am a pool of oh-baby-I-love-you.

Today, she was just the cutest thing ever while we were working out.  She was trying to copy everything we did (push ups, squats) and yelling out to us when we did our laps up and down the street.  Ken and I just about died from cuteness overload.

Later on, she was doing this thing where she would carefully place a piece of paper towel down, put the tv remote control inside of it, wrap it up like a burrito and carry it to another location, where she would repeat the process. This went on for about 15 minutes.

You see what I'm doing here? Snippets.

At 13 months, Sloane is :

^ drinking whole milk! She didn't like the taste at first when I gave it to her a few weeks ago, so we had been mixing it with formula, but just a few days ago she is starting to drink it straight up.
^ down to nursing two times a day, morning and night.  This also means NO MORE PUMPING AT WORK as of a couple of weeks ago.
^ imitating everything we do. It's a riot.  She also once in a while does things that I'm sure she couldn't have seen from anywhere and it makes me wonder.
^ needing a few minutes to get used to strangers and warm up to people.  She gets stone-faced and solemn. And then she eventually loosens up and she is all smiles and marchy marchy.
^ dancing suspiciously a lot like ken's dancing.
^ doing twirls and going around in circles. The other day I saw her gazing at her reflection in the oven door, and then going in circles and flapping her arms while murmuring/singing to herself.
^ trying to run. So far it kind of looks like a gallop.
^ leaning against things. like walls, cabinets, doors, closets..apparently it's a thing that babies do?
^ decidedly prefers her green vegetables  (green beans, celery, green peppers, cucumbers) to her non-green vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes...)
^ is a fruitmonger. She loves fruit. She is obsessed with watermelon.
^ enjoys being read books, especially her two favorite ones. Over and over.
^ jabbering up a storm.
^ looking for her belly button when she remembers it's there, and pointing to her nose and ear when we ask her where hers is.
^ bringing me things when I point to it and ask her to bring it to me please.

This isn't a comprehensive list obviously; I'm just squeezing out everything I can remember because all these things are delicious.