13 Months: Ready, Set.....Go!

Ah Grace. I didn't know if I would continue this monthly journal past a year, as I had committed to that.  However, seeing you grow and change so quickly, it's hard for me not to try to capture it all.

You are amazing. Simply amazing.

Such a little ham you are....shaking your head from side to side with your eyes squinted shut and your head thrown back....then, you peek to check - making sure we are delighting in you. We are.

Your dimples pop out in your open mouthed grin. When you are happy and determined, you stick your tongue out. When you are thrilled beyond imagination, your whole mouth opens in an exuberant smile and your whole tongue sticks out....it is fantastic.  I'm not sure anyone wouldn't be able to smile at the picture.

Your little words are coming! Slowly....starting with the head nods, stiffly with your whole neck for yes, side to side for no.  You say "Wah, or yah" for yes. And just two nights ago, as I rocked you in the old rocker upstairs before bed, you pointed to the stars on your ceiling - cast there from your ladybug constellation night light, and said "tar"....over and over you pointed and said "tar".  And, every now and then, you will say a garbled phrase that sure sounds like a sentence that would make sense for the context.  Or, a word will come out clear as a bell. Yes, you are definitely beginning that process of communicating with us in words and gestures, slipping further and further from being a baby and more towards your toddler years.

Baby, toddler, preschooler, kindergartener, elementary, junior high, high school, college.  It goes that fast.  Eighteen years we have? I think not.  We have one year, eighteen times, Lord willing, - which is broken up into bits and pieces by new developments each month, especially when you are this little.  Time literally melts away.

In the days I wrote this blog, though I have tarried long to finish and post it, you went from a few tentative steps into the room - perhaps 3 or 4, mostly going straight from point A to point B....to walking most of the time!

I wrote:

1/2/13: "You took several steps today....as if you almost preferred the idea of walking to crawling.  Before today, you have gone several days without taking steps....then 4-5, skip a day, 4-5 more...but today - you have done 5 steps or so several times!"

1/6/13: "Today's the day!!! From this evening on, you will likely be walking more than crawling. Something clicked tonight, and over and over again you walked across the kitchen to to and fro.  Tomorrow may be our last 1/2 and 1/2 crawling day...(sniff, sniff)....and onto the great adventure of life!"

And, here it is 1/18/13, Grandpa B's 76th birthday.  You've been waddling around the house for almost two weeks now.  Yes, you do drop down to crawl now and then, or we'll see you bear crawling on your feet and hands, perhaps with two cars in your hands (just like big brother Emet used to do!).  But mostly, you're my little walker now. Still a little unstable, easily tipped, and best when holding onto your destination, but a walker you are.

You have been sick these past two days, crying almost constantly and wanting to be held at all times.  It makes me sad, for as I write this, I realize how unlike yourself you are when you feel so poorly.  :-(

We love you Grace Noelle!