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I remember several months ago attending the 1st birthday party of a friend’s baby and saying to my husband, “I can’t imagine our Brianna turning one.” Now she is, and I can hardly remember her being anything else!

So just in case years from now I can’t remember her being 12 months old…
Here is a comprehensive update on every aspect of Brianna Oneita McKell at this time in her life:

Brianna is officially a toddler – meaning that she toddles (walks). It’s been almost a week since I’ve seen her crawl – she must be tired of wearing out the fabric of the knee area in all her pants (ha!) We haven’t tried putting her in shoes yet (I’ve heard it’s not good for their feet – and she can’t walk outside anyways til the ice/snow is gone)
She falls down regularly as she tries to multitask (eg: holding her bear while walking and waving to me at the same time). Sometimes she’s tough and just gets back up… but more often she’s a girly-girl and cries out to be held and comforted before resuming her adventures. No major injuries yet – just some bruises and scratches (which I think are self-inflicted when I don’t keep her nails trimmed down enough).
Statistically, one in three children get at least one ear infection before the age of one. Brianna almost beat the odds. But last week we went into the doctor because she had had a runny nose for nearly 6 weeks. Turns out it was a minor ear infection in her right ear. A few days of pinning her down to administer Amoxicillin cleared it up. The runny nose had caused the ear infection and the ear infection had perpetuated the runny nose. Vicious, I know. Before this, she had had 10.5 months illness-free. After this I hope for at least 10.5 years illness-free. It’s no fun.
VOCAB: I’m not sure what the speech capability is supposed to be at her age – but I think she’s right on target. She does great with the words we’ve been focusing on for the last few months: “hi (iii),” “daddy (da-dee),” “up (puh),” “baby (beebee),” "cheese (teez), “banana (bah-na),” “doggie (dah-ee)”, “byebye (bah-ee),” “I love you mommy and appreciate all you do" (I wish :)
Notice how my name is NOT on the list. She says “mama,” but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t associate it with me.
I haven’t been as diligent as I should/could have been with teaching sign language. There are only a few she’s consistent with: “all done” when she’s done at the high chair or in the tub, waving hi and bye… ok fine, that’s it. I really slacked in this area. But she can do fishy-face on command and give high-fives – does that count?! :)
Brianna is about 22.2 pounds. Her one year checkup is on the 11th, so I’ll report the official stats then. She’s still a chunky monkey, but not nearly as prominently as pre-mobile days. No more big rolls on her tummy, thighs, and arms – just soft dimples. Her hair is getting longer and thicker – to the point that I could put it in a single sprout ponytail on top – if she wouldn’t take it out immediately every time. She also has a mullet, by definition, but it’s tolerable because the ends curl up in the back.
She has become less interested in food. She used to get pretty jazzed up to chow down. Now she spends more time playing with her food than eating it. I have to do some serious “here comes the choo-choo train!” to get her to open her mouth long enough to stick some pureed veggies in.
I’m a big believer in “super foods” so I that’s what she typically gets. I don’t waste our efforts on mediocre meals. Her cuisine generally features blueberries, pomegranates, avocados, tofu, yams, homemade whole wheat bread, melons, bananas, mozzarella cheese, quinoa/flax/barley crackers, steamed carrots, broccoli, peas, beans, spinach…I carry homemade fruit leather and shredded wheat cereal in my diaper bag for on-the-go snacks. Oh – and liquids – just breastmilk. Nothing else yet, and nothing else in the near future. I see no reason to stop pumping.
I can’t wait til I can start her on nut butters.
My aspiration in life is to eat as healthy as she does. I’m horribly hypocritical – when we go to the grocery store, I’m the one that gets the free cookie at the bakery, not her. I’ll have to stop that once she’s old enough to realize what I’m doing.
The poor girl inherited my perpetually cold hands and feet! I have this unique curse of almost incessantly cold hands and feet. I’ve always claimed poor circulation, but really I have no idea. Whenever someone shakes my hand they’re like, “oh, you’re so cold!” but usually I hadn’t even realized my hands were cold. So – sorry Brianna – get ready for a lifetime of carrying mittens around with you. I recommend Gortex.
Sleeping pattern: still waking up freakishly early (around 5:45am). Bedtime is usually 7pm. That can change depending on the 2nd nap – if/when it happens… like the other day she napped from 4:30-5:45p. So bedtime wasn’t til 7:45p. Morning naps are easy – she’s always eager and ready to go down into her pack n’ play with her Elmo lovey and nap for 60-90 minutes. We got into the bad habit of feeding her to sleep… now we’re stuck that way and I don’t know how to get out of it. It doesn’t take long – just 10 minutes of rocking her while feeding her and singing our song…but I know we can’t keep that up forever so I’ll have to figure something else out.
Four middle teeth on top, four middle teeth on bottom.
Refuses to wear hats.
Doesn’t really enjoy stroller rides for very long.
Adores her soft stuffed bears.
Crazy about dogs.
Frequently climbs anything she can.
Throws food on the ground when she’s done with it.
Enjoys taking items out of boxes.
Follows me everywhere all day.
Fascinated with anything new in the house.
Tries to escape before, during, and after diaper changes.
Enjoys her nightly bath.
Does NOT enjoy having her teeth brushed.
Likes her books but has a short attention span.
Smiles instantly when we go outside
Fond of ripping paper.

Hmm… that’s all I can think of. More will undoubtedly come to my mind right as I’m trying to fall asleep and nag at me til I write it down.
I wonder how many of these descriptions are unique to Brianna, and how many are common to most all ONE YEAR olds… (still can’t believe I’m writing this – my baby is ONE! Whoohoo!)