Campbell is 13 months old!! Hooray! She is growing and changing every day. It is so fun to watch. Here’s what she’s been up to:

• cruising more and more! I have been trying to get her to walk only holding one of my hands, but she doesn’t like that! She will often just sit down when I let go of one hand, but if we are close to something, she will sometimes quickly walk over and grab on with the free hand.
• talking more and more! Campbell loves to imitate words she hears, so she has learned several words but she really only says them after you say them, not independently. Her newest words are bow (bah) and keys (kssshhh) and she has also been imitating some animal sounds. She still loves to say hi all the time and she also loves to say uh-oh. She is really working hard on that oh sound. She really over enunciates the oh, which is really cute.
• slow eater! Campbell is not really a picky eater but she isn’t a super eater either. She likes to just pick at things and it usually takes her a loooong time to finish a meal.
• Campbell just learned how to crawl up the stairs, which is just awesome timing since I am soooo busy with school work right now!! Aaah!! I am quickly trying to teach her how to back down the stairs safely. She can go down one stair but then she doesn’t quite realize she isn’t on solid ground yet!
• I have been working with her on pointing to her head, mouth, ears, eyes, nose, etc. I say, “where are your eyes?” and she bats her eyes. Very cute! When I ask her where her mouth is, she babbles while hitting her mouth with her hand so that she makes a “babababababa” sound. This is usually so fun that I can’t get her to point anywhere else!
• She loves to imitate what she sees us doing. Whenever I put lotion on my hands, she gets a gleeful look and starts rubbing her hands together. And if she sees Sam doing some funny dance, she’ll start doing her best approximation of it too.
• way more into books! She really likes reading with us now, especially lift the flap books. (Actually, book is another word she knows–bah). Her favorite book by far is “Where is Baby’s Belly Button?” She gets SO excited when we read this book.

Can’t wait to see what she is up to by next month! Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. We love you Cam-Cam!

As usual, I am late posting Campbell’s monthly updates. I am sorry, future Campbell–I promise it doesn’t mean I didn’t care, just that two kids and graduate school are keeping me busy! It is hard to believe we have had our sweet little Campbell in our family for a whole year. It seems like she was just born yesterday! For Sam’s first birthday post, I used the AAP headings to help make sure I covered everything, and I think I will do the same with this one. Here are her stats!

Physical Appearance and Growth:
Weight: 19 lbs, 6 oz (25%)
Height: 30.25″ (80%)
Hair: enough to wear a bow, but I can’t wait till there’s more to style
Overall appearance: darling

Movement:

We got a bit of a scolding from the doctor when we reported that Campbell was not yet cruising. Though she can pull herself up, she rarely does, preferring instead to pull to a kneel. I just figured we should wait until she starts pulling herself up naturally but the doctor told us we need to be standing her up and encouraging her to cruise. So we have been doing that over the past few days and she has started cruising a little. At first, she couldn’t figure out how to sit down on her own, but now that she’s mastered that, she rarely stays standing. She would rather crawl around, which she is much better at. I am hoping she gets excited about walking soon–I don’t want another lecture at her 15 month appointment!

And though she may not be walking, she does love to dance!

Hand and Finger Skills:
Campbell likes to feed herself using a spoon lately, though she’s not that good at it! And she has started to pretend feed herself from empty food containers. She has started pointing to things and blowing kisses. She loves putting toys in different containers and then dumping them back out again.

Language:
Campbell can say hi (her first and favorite word), mama and dada (although I wouldn’t say she really calls us by name), bye bye, uh-oh (sounds like hoo hoo), and thank you (sounds like dah dah). She knows the signs for more, milk, and thank you and has started using them regularly and with a lot of urgency! She definitely understands more of what we are saying. She will usually turn when you call her name and will respond to questions like “do you want some bread?” with the “more” sign. She also really likes to shake her head yes or no when you ask her questions, though obviously she doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Social:
Campbell loves saying “hi” to people. If she hears anyone talking, even if they are on a different floor, she will start shouting hi over and over. She adores her big brother Sam and loves interacting with him (although she really doesn’t like when he hugs her–I think because she feels like he is restricting her movement). Sam and Campbell share a room and some mornings we can hear the two of them babbling, talking, and laughing. It is super cute. Campbell wakes up from her nap before Sam so we go get him together and she gets so excited when we start walking towards his door that she starts bouncing and squealing!

Emotional:
Campbell gets really angry if you take something away from her or don’t give her what she wants right away. She has perfected a pretty cute little scowl! She has also started trying to bite us when she is mad, usually if she is pinned down in some way (like if you hold her hand back so she doesn’t grab something). She is not very good at hitting her target yet, so thus far Ben and I have avoided getting bitten but poor Sam has not been so lucky. Campbell doesn’t seem to have any separation anxiety but she has a little stranger anxiety, though that comes and goes.

Eating/Sleeping:
Campbell is a pretty good eater, though you can tell from her 25 percentile weight that she is not THAT into food. She eats everything we eat at meal times, plus has a little yogurt snack every day which she goes wild for. We have transitioned her to cow’s milk in a straw cup, which she has done pretty well with, though she likes to spill milk all over herself! She sleeps 11-12 hours at night and 3- 3.5 hours during the day. She takes two naps every day except when she has preschool on Thursdays. She refuses to sleep there.

Campbell, you are such a sweet little girl and we are so glad you are in our life. We can’t wait to watch you grow! We love you sooo much!

–Mommy, Daddy, and Sam

PS: here are some pics from Campbell’s first ice cream at Jason’s Deli at her birthday lunch and then later in the day, her first cupcake.

Wowee wow!! I can’t believe my sweet little baby is already 11 months old. She is going to be ONE before we know it and I am already planning her first birthday party! Eeek. But we’re not there yet, so for now, here are the updates on my BABY  (not toddler!).

• Campbell has graduated to a big-girl (convertible) car seat! And now that Sam has finally been turned around, Campbell gets the mirror all to herself which she loves. Whenever we go anywhere, I hear her saying hi to herself and carrying on little conversations.

• Campbell has 6 teeth now! Two on the bottom and four on the top!

• Campbell is really eating a lot these days. This pic is from her first truffled mac and cheese. She was a big fan! She still prefers for us to feed her, which can get a little annoying. I am thinking I should start letting her try to use a spoon soon! Her favorite food is yogurt and she loves anything sweet!

• She is still an army crawler. She can crawl normally but usually only does that if she is really close to the thing she is trying to get to (presumably because she knows she’ll have to pop back up once she gets there). She is REALLY fast with her army crawl, so I guess her feeling is if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
• She has no interest in walking and although she can pull herself up to standing, she rarely does it. She has started pulling up to a kneeling position more frequently.

• For the most part she is a very happy girl, but she is definitely developing a temper! If you take a toy away from her (or do something else to piss her off) she will swat at you and sometimes pinches! Ouch!

• Not sure of her exact weight but using our new scale, she seems to be about 18 pounds. And she is pretty long.

• She loves to play and seems to be always into something new these days. Poor thing has a hard time holding on to any toy for long because her big brother likes to take everything away from her. Santa brought her this walker toy for Christmas, but Sam has recently been telling me he needs to learn how to walk, so he needs the toy.

We love you little party girl! Thanks for making every day so much fun!