13 Months: On the move

Audrey is growing up quickly in so many ways. It seems that every day she is doing or saying something new. All of a sudden she's not a baby any more but is really starting to transition into a little girl.

No more bottles for this big girl. She's got her sippy cup skills down.

She had her first trip to the hospital and first surgery in January. After 8 ear infections in 7 months, she had for ear tubes. She was such a trooper. While we waited for surgery, she went up and down the halls waving and smiling to other patients and all the nurses and doctors. The nurses even found her a wagon so she could have her own little parade. Who knew the hospital could be so much fun?

Audrey and her bear on parade at the hospital.

Three weeks after surgery, Audrey has had no more ear infections. We can also tell she's hearing much better. Right after surgery when she played with toys that made noise, all of a sudden they scared her and she started crying. We think they must have sounded louder and clearer all of a sudden.

At 13 months she is quite the communicator. It seems like every few days she's adding a new word to her vocabulary. She says "ball" - which is by far her favorite word. Everything is a ball. Oranges are a "ball," balloons are "balls" anything vaguely shaped like a circle is a "ball". She's also mastered the word "up." She loves to be up high and see everything in the room. Getting someone to hold her up high is key. She of course says "dada" still and finally says "momma" too. Her growing vocabulary includes "Buddy", "bear" (her little lovie), "baby", "big girl" and "go".

"Mom, did you know the grocery store is full of balls?"

This month Audrey has all of a sudden become very interested in books. Before she would sit and listen for about 5-10 minutes, but she would often get bored quickly. Now she wants to read the same book 2-3 times a sitting (probably even more if we would let her) and has started flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures all by herself.

For Christmas Audrey got an Aquadoodle mat. It comes with a pen that fills up with water. Then when the Aquadoodle mat gets wet it changes from white to colored. In the month since Christmas its been amazing to see her start to hold the pen and draw. When she first started she had no idea how to hold a pen or color. Now she and dad love to sit and draw together. We've had to go buy extra pens, since Audrey isn't good at sharing quite yet.

 

Until this point Audrey has been slow to develop her gross motor skills. She didn't roll over much at all  until 10 months and refused to be on her tummy or crawl.  After her surgery, she is finally starting to catch up. She's taking a few steps on her own and is scooting around. She is a deceivingly fast scooter. Everyone things she's going to skip crawling and go straight to running.

Mom, I found you!

Audrey thinks sticking out her tongue is hilarious.

Audrey's favorite books.