Tracey Ann -- 13 Months

So, this is a total Mama-Fail that I'm posting Tracey Ann's thirteen-month update before I've posted her 12 month update... major Mama Fail.  I do plan to keep posting monthly updates, but in a different format than I did for the first year.

I just want to post some bullet points of new things that Tracey Ann is doing -- not in the detail that I did for most of the last year.  I will eventually post the 12 month update, but I think having posted this 13 month update will help sort of divide up what she's started doing recently, and what she was doing a month ago, when she turned 1 year.

At 13 months, Tracey Ann is:

• Climbing on EVERYTHING -- I mean EVERYTHING!  As soon as she pulls herself up, she looks for the nearest thing to climb -- furniture, beds, stairs, toys... EVERYTHING.

• Signing a lot of words -- she just started saying "Help" and "Sleepy" -- she now signs all the time.  In fact, she signs "Help" so often when she wants something that Hubby and I are having to ask, "You need help with what?"  She signs "milk", "more", "food", "all done", "up", "help", "sleepy", and she blows kisses, which are also "thank you."
• Nodding and shaking her head to communicate.  We can literally ask her questions now, and she will answer.  "Are you hungry?" and she will nod her head vigorously.  "Do you want some banana?" and she shakes her head.  "How about some oatmeal?" and she nods her head.  It is SO helpful!!!
• Giving us hugs and kisses -- wide open-mouth kisses.  We LOVE them.
• Meeting one of Mama's closest friends from college, "Aunt" MaryCarol who came into Denver on business, so Tracey Ann and I went down to see her

• Still breastfeeding -- about three times a day, but she's now to the point where she doesn't drink any bottle while I'm at work, and I don't pump when I'm at work.
• Drinking water exclusively from a sippy-cup -- dare I say, we could possibly put the bottles in storage?
• Hugging and petting Lexie whenever she gets the chance

•  Throwing the ball for Lloyd... well, understanding which are Lloyd's toys and rolling them to him.  She rolls the balls to him, and she picks up his bones and carrys them to him.
• Crawling with toys in one or both hands -- she also climbs with toys in one or both hands.
• Loving brushing her teeth... and I must be clear, SHE loves brushing her teeth.  She doesn't necessarily love for me to brush her teeth.

• Walking... occasionally, and when we least expect it.  Tracey Ann actually took her first steps before she turned one, but she only did it once.  Then a few weeks later, she walked again.  Then again a few days ago... but most everything she does, she tries it once, and then she HAS it.  Walking has not been that way.  She can do it, but for her, she is so fast when she crawls and she loves to climb, so she's not all that interested in walking.  Most recently, she has started walking while just her little bottom is sliding along a cupboard giving her just the smallest degree of reassurance.  She is getting there (and frankly, I'm not rushing her).
• Sharing any chance she can -- she will hand me my phone, she will share her food (with Mama, Daddy, and Lloydey), she will share her toothbrush -- and she wants to be the one to put the food or the toothbrush in your mouth.  It is so sweet.

• Giggling and laughing all the time.  Her little sense of humor is developing, and she loves to laugh, which we love because she took so long to really giggle, that it is a sound we just cherish.
• Not loving getting her diaper changed.  She does not like to lay still for that length of time.  So, I must admit, I have caved, at least for the moment, to turning on cartoons when we change the diaper.  She immediately lays still and is patient.  I know, it's probably horrible of me... but its a LOT easier than wrestling with her each and every diaper change.
• Drinking from a straw -- and blowing bubbles into a straw

• Fully vaccinated!!!!  She's been up-to-date with her vaccinations all along, but her turning twelve months was a big milestone for us because it meant she could get her MMR (Measles Mumps and Rubella) vaccine, which she did this past month.  We feel SO fortunate that we live in a country where vaccines are so affordable and available.