Month 12. My big 1 year old!

Miss Eliana turned the BIG ONE! We had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday. It was a fun filled weekend with tons of family and friends. On Friday Mommy took the day off from work to bake 80 cupcakes. Friday night, Tia Sarah came down to spend the weekend with us. Saturday morning, the parties began.

Grammy Linda hosted a party for the family. All her Grandparents were there, aunts and uncles, and family friends. We ate fajitas, opened presents, and ate cupcakes. All in all a great day.

On Sunday, we hosted all our friends for one last party in the townhouse. It was bittersweet. But we had a great time celebrating how big this little girl grew.


There have been a lot of developmental milestones recently too.

• Eliana talks constantly. She always has. But now she points to things and yells at us about them (it's cute). Some of her words include: Mama, Dada, Matt, Bones, up, this, that, NO!, juice, dog, thank you. She has starting repeating us as well. Marilyn (our daycare provider - who is beyond AMAZING) says "here you go" when she hands something to Eliana. So Eliana said it to Matt when she handed him a toy. She told Bones to "get down" right after I did also. Time to start watching what we say.
• She definitely understands what we are saying too. When I tell her it's time to change her diaper, she walks straight to her bedroom. She knows where to go for juice, milk, and cheese. And she will dance on command - with or without music.
• Eliana is a full on runner at this point. She has been cruising around the furniture for months. Definitely since end of January. Around Valentine's Day she took a few steps and then wouldn't do it again. She started letting go of furniture and walking a few steps to another piece of furniture around the end of March. By the big move, she was walking all by herself. She walked with her arms out like a zombie, but she was walking. Now, 2 months later, we are running. And we are running fast.
• Recently, Eliana has been bringing her teddy bear with her out of her crib (shame on us I know because now Teddy comes out of her crib and he didn't until recently). And wanting to get him dressed. She understands the mechanics of getting dressed and doesn't need help to get her arms in her shirt (mostly). She tries to put T-shirts and socks on her Teddy, but struggles. She was so upset last week when Teddy's shirt came off by accident. Maybe a onesie will work better?

And just to remember how far we have come...

And today you are 14 months old and I love you more than words can write.