13 Months of my Peanut

As evidenced by my title, Macey Jean is still a peanut-- I'm pretty sure she still hasn't hit the 17 pound mark. This afternoon, my dad (who hadn't seen Macey in a little over a week) said, "Well, I'd say you've grown, but I don't think you have!" While she might not be making leaps and bounds in the growth department, she is growing up in every other way imaginable.

Sleep:

Macey is still in limbo between one and two naps per day. The vast majority of days, she takes two. If she refuses her afternoon nap, though, I don't sweat it-- I just take her out of her crib after giving her about 30 minutes to fall asleep (she doesn't fuss or cry; she just walks around yelling and playing) and put her to bed earlier at night. I actually look forward to transitioning to one nap and having a more open schedule, but I'm also trying not to rush her and let her make the transition naturally.

At night, Macey sleeps anywhere from 10.5-12 hours straight. Thank you, Matt, my sleep training superhero.

Breastfeeding/Weaning:

Obviously, Macey is completely night weaned. During the day, she will nurse 3-4 times. I know she is capable of going without breastmilk-- yesterday, we were at the zoo all day and she never asked to nurse. So, she had gone 10 hours without nursing by the time we got home. If I keep her busy and active, she doesn't think about it. However, if we're home during the day, and especially if I'm sitting on the floor playing with her, she'll march right over and demand "boo". I am completely relaxed about this weaning process-- I have no deadline, I feel no pressure, and I'm just going with the flow. She takes a sippy cup like a champ and seems to enjoy whole milk, so I imagine we'll be done breastfeeding in a couple more months.

Physical Milestones:

We've reached the running phase. Gone are the days of the wobbly walk; now I hold my breath as she runs down the sidewalk outside. I can't count the number of times she's skinned her knees over the past couple of months. Guess how many times she's cried about it? Zero. This girl just gets right back up and keeps on going. She continues to be totally fearless-- well, except for one thing: swings. She is terrified of swinging! So far, swings are the one and only thing I've found that intimidate my tough girl.

Verbal milestones:

Macey is a talker. This, as you might remember, is an entirely different experience for me; Camden had a single word at 13 months old. Macey has nearly 20 and makes some animal sounds too. At 13 months old, her words include: Mama, Dada, Daddy, Nan, Pop, poop, eye, bye, ball, boo (for boobie), hi, go, hot, bug, duck, cat, and bat. She also neighs like a horse and meows like a cat. Yesterday at the zoo, she was meowing at the giraffes which was hilariously adorable.

Food:

Food is an area where I always struggle at this age. For me, it's always been tough to transition from the pureed baby food to healthy table foods that a picky toddler will actually eat. The foods that Macey will generally eat pretty reliably include: pancakes, muffins, yogurt, dry cereal, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, graham crackers, crackers with peanut butter, various pasta dishes, any kind of diced chicken, green beans, peas, puffs, and Arrowroot cookies. I am determined to get her to eat bananas and avocados (two of Camden's favorites at this age and they continue to be two staples of his diet today) but so far, no luck. I think it's a texture thing; she picks them up with her hand, squishes them, and puts them back down. I'll keep trying.

Miscellaneous:

Macey is a little entertainer who has never met a stranger. If someone looks in her direction, she will smile and say, "Hiiii!" Just yesterday at the zoo, we were on a fairly crowded bus and Macey was sitting on my lap. I saw that she was smiling and scrunching up her nose at someone and I looked over to see a couple smiling and waving at her. She was enjoying being the center of attention and providing them with some bus ride entertainment.

Macey is also a little mischievous. It's not uncommon for us to look over and see her watching us while shaking her head no. She will then proceed to do whatever it is that she knows is a "no no"-- usually it involves scaling furniture of some sort. It's like she's telling us, "I know I'm not supposed to do this, but I just can't fight the urge."

This girl is airplane obsessed. Whenever we are outside, she will freeze the second she hears one overhead (we live near an airport, so there's a pretty steady stream of airplanes most of the time) and she'll point excitedly. Speaking of obsessions, her number one obsession is being outside. Anytime she hears the front or back door open, she will book it to the open door as fast as her tiny legs will carry her and will have a serious meltdown if she's not allowed outside. Needless to say, we spend a lot of time outside these days.

Macey and Camden are big buddies. I'm so glad for both of them that they have each other. They spend a lot of time every day chasing each other around the house, riding cars out back, and just laughing at each other. Witnessing their love for each other and watching their friendship develop is my favorite thing about being a mom of two.