December was another month of family, fun, and (of course) great leaps in physical and cognitive development for Addelyn! She's officially walking!
The Milestones:
December 10: Addelyn waved - I think the first time she waved was when we were just downstairs playing - I waved at her and, to my surprise, she waved back!
December 13: Addelyn clapped her hands - she was in her high chair and I was clapping my hands then clapping her hands for her when it finally clicked - she's been giving rounds of applause ever since!
December 15: Addelyn signed "up" with no prompting from me - she was in her bouncer and really wanted out...I wasn't paying attention to her whining, so she must've decided that she had to resort to my form of communication :-)
December 16: Addelyn "danced" to music - We were in the living room singing and dancing to one of her Baby Einstein music CDs and she just started swaying back and forth in time with the music - it was so adorable!
December 18: Addelyn took 11 controlled steps in a row - I didn't count this as officially walking just yet, because I had to stand her up and help her get balance, then catch her when she fell.
December 19: Addelyn signed "ball" with no prompting from me - we were playing in the basement and she looked at her ball, then looked at me and signed ball. At first I thought she was clapping, but it just looked different - she kept looking from the ball to me and signing it until I got it!
December 24: Addelyn said "up" - Annnd she hasn't stopped since! I think she likes that word better than "mama"!
December 25: Addelyn officially started walking! For her Christmas present to me, she learned how to fall down, and also started walking longer and longer distances and attempting to turn around without my help. Though at this point she was still afraid to walk away from an object that she pulled herself up on. That didn't happen until...
December 30 or 31?: Addelyn started to pull herself up on something then let go of it and walk away.
January 1: Addelyn both showed that she understood the word "dada" AND she said "dada" for the first time
January 2: Addelyn clapped her hands when I said "yay" (without clapping my hands)
As you can see, Addelyn has been quite busy! She just changes and grows so fast! I saw a 13-month-old at our Mommy&Me group yesterday and he was so grown up! I just can't even believe that Addelyn will be that big in just a little over 4 months!
So, without further delay, here are some pictures from early December and Christmas!
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| This shows Addelyn's strong will. Jake and I were drinking out of wine glasses and Addelyn didn't stop yelling at us until we gave her some water and apple juice in a wine glass, too! |
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| Addelyn with the Christmas Tree |
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| Addelyn and Santa! |
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| My attempt at a Christmas picture for Addelyn - I love this dress! |
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| Addelyn's professional Christmas picture (and the one that would've been on a Christmas card if we had sent one... |
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| Great Grandpa Brown and Addelyn dancing on Christmas morning |
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| Figures...We get Addelyn all these toys and she plays with the wrapping paper. |
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| The girls all got toy shopping carts from Grandma and Papa! |
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| Kylie says cheese! |
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| Playing with the clown puppet with TWO grandpas |
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| I love this smile! |
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| Grandpa Eric crocheted a headband just for Addelyn! |
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| Playing peekaboo with Grandpa John on Grandma Janine's lap |
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| Addelyn was VERY good at opening presents (for an 8-month-old) |
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| Love from Aunt Vicki |
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| Grandpa Yogi and Addelyn spending some quality time together |
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| The ball from Uncle Rob was a popular toy! |
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| Looking at a calendar and playing with her new gingerbread doll with Grandpa John and Grandma Wanda |
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| And, of course, cards were played. Addelyn helped. |
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| Uncles are great!! |
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| Four generations! |
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| Addelyn did a LOT of walking in Grand Rapids |
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| Addelyn got to use a lot of daddy's old things...like his rocking chair... |
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| ...and his piano... |
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| ...and his original Air Jordans! |
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 Update: The snowman got sad when we left |
Age: 8 3/4 months
Weight: 19 lbs, 12 oz
Length: 28ish inches
Drinks: about 5 8oz bottles of milk per day (all of which is formula)
Eats: puffs and 1/2-1 jar of veggie or meat baby food and a jar of fruit at bedtime, & rice cereal mixed or a jar of veggie baby food followed by 1/2-1 jar of fruit at lunch time. Her favorite is bananas and her least favorite is peas. She has also started to eat more and more table food - anything soft enough for her to gum! She loves chicken!
Sleeps: 11-12 hours/night - 9pm-9am (usually wakes up around 3am for a bottle)
Naps: 1.5 hours after lunch and 1 hour in the evening (6-7)...if I'm lucky.
Awake for: 2.5-5 hours at a time during the day.
Clothes size: mostly 12 month
Motor skills: WALKING, crawling well on hands and knees, standing standing alone well, pulling herself up to standing, furniture, self feeding several things (as long as it's not too slippery)
other skills: putting balls into her toy (then the balls fall out and roll away and you do it all over again), clapping, waving, playing peekaboo (very well with a blanket, not yet with just her hands)
words: mama, up, and we're working on dada...she's said it once or twice
signs: bye bye (waving), yay (clapping), and she understands "milk" and "up" and we're working on "change diaper", "help", "out", "fall down", "play", "tired", "night night", "book", "binkie", and "eat"
