Dear Nicki,

What a month! What a YEAR! As fast as the whole year has gone, the past three months have felt like a blink of an eye. Weren’t you just 7 months old yesterday?

Playing with bubbles

You are no longer a baby, but a toddler. Literally. Yesterday you walked for the very first time! Twice prior you let go of what you were holding onto, took a half step to reposition yourself, and grabbed back onto it. You were so close! It reminded us of when you learned to crawl – one half step at a time. Mommy decided to be sneaky. I held out my hands for you to grab into. You let go of the book shelf and reached for me, but I quickly pulled away. You stumbled forward two steps before falling into my arms. An hour later you let go of the computer chair and torpedoed into daddy! Today you took two more slower, more deliberate steps. You are so proud of your accomplishment!

The prettiest eyes ever. Some day I will have to learn what it is about the bathroom that brings them out so much
ETA: I now know: the tub acts as an eye catch light!

You are confusing Mommy and Daddy so much on the talking front. I swear it sounds like you’re saying “here” when you hand us things, and “hi/bye” when you wave, but those are abstract concepts. Everything I’ve read said first words tend to be nouns that babies have a strong affinity towards – “ball”, “dog”, etc. It doesn’t seem possible for you to understand what “here” means. Our guess is that you’re mimicing us. We’ll often say “here” when we hand you something. Maybe your associating the word and the gesture, like the wave that accompanies the word “hi”, without knowing what it means? Or maybe it’s first time parents hearing what they want to hear.

In that-might-be-a-word news we hear something like ‘nana’ when you eat Bananas, and it sounds like ‘E’ when you see Lily. We’re not sure if it’s ‘E’ for ‘Lil-E’ or ‘E’ for ‘Kit-E’. ‘Lily’ was mommy’s prediction of your first word, by the way.

The fake pout someone at day care taught you. You will be hard to resist when you get that lower lip thing perfected.

You are amazingly social for your age. The other day at day care you and another little one year old boy where chasing each other through the foam tunnel and laughing up a storm. At the fair, you were more interested in watching the other kids than the animals. You love to sing along during lullabies and narrate books while reading. You are a total sweetheart, and everything that Mommy and Daddy could have ever hoped for.

Love Always,
Mommy and Daddy

Posted in Family Life | Tags: Nicole