Oh Yeah, and This Happened...

Not to be forgotten in catching up from pictures in July - Miss H became a proficient walker right in front of the family's eyes!  She went from tentative steps in mid-June to full walking around her birthday to a week later where walking itself is no longer challenging enough:

 

And now, she's practically running!  Needless to say, the bruises on the head are almost a constant.  :(  Owen actually likes to have her "chase" him around the room as he giggles profusely.  Mostly this looks like her taking 10 steps while he runs a circle "super-fast" and comes back to her from the other side.  She turns around to go the other direction. Repeat.  It's pretty amusing to watch them play together, like a tea party, for instance.

Her first year stats are 28.5" tall (20%); 18 lb, 11 oz (30%), and her head is at the 93%. (Note: she apparently shrank 0.5" from her 11-month check-in.  Gotta love the human error in these measurements!)  I was so ecstatic about her weight catching up though!  All of the concern and attention to her diet really did make a difference.  Of course, then they told me she's borderline anemic, so now there's a new dietary concern.  Sigh...  

Anyway, other than walking up a storm, she has 11 teeth showing, chugs milk from a sippy cup like nobody's business, can come down a couple of stairs safely on her own, climbs on playgrounds, makes appropriate car sounds when holding a toy car, says "uh-oh" when she drops something on the floor, loves to look at books, and echoes polite laughter.  Anyone need to try out a new joke?  Here's your audience!

Not to be left out, Owen has grown over an inch this summer from my measurements! And he's using words like "ridiculous", "unstable", and "awkward" in normal conversation. I guess those words get used a lot in our house!  :)  

He has also established new levels of independence this summer.  He's been "potty-trained" for well over 7 months, but now he's truly doing the whole caboodle (washing, wiping, re-dressing) by himself.  It's awesome!!  Other notables: picking out his own clothes and dressing himself in the morning, climbing and buckling himself (the chest buckle) in his carseat, and "reading" books to himself after bedtime and turning out his lamp when he goes to sleep.  His imagination is in full gear these days, too.  Lots of pretend monsters in the basement.