1 year old!

Dear Scarlett,
I am writing this almost a month late, but you are 1 year old now!  We can hardly believe it!

  

You have grown and changed so much in the past month (and year!)  You are less like a baby now, and more like a toddler.  We're so proud of the little girl you're becoming, and we love you so much!

You now have 8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on the bottom).  You are eating more and more real food each day.  However, you are still just a tiny little peanut!  At your 1 year well check you were in the 2nd percentile for weight, weighing in at 15 lbs, 6 ounces.  You are in the 12th percentile for height, at 28 inches.  Everyone continues to comment on how little you are, but you're healthy as can be!

In fact, you really haven't been sick at all in your first year of life.  There were a few times when you had a runny nose or a slight fever, but we think that was mostly due to teething.  I just want to say a big "I told you so!" to the people who were so worried about you being so small, because obviously you're one of the healthiest babies around!

On your birthday, you pulled yourself up in your crib for the first time!  You also had begun saying a few new words, including mama, dada, baby, bubble, no (which sounds like "nie")  pah for pacifier, and bah for blanket.  And since your birthday, your language has started to explode, and you say new words (or your version of words) practically every day.  It's so fun to watch you learn to talk!  

You got so many new toys for your birthday!  You love them all, but your absolute favorites are your little doll houses, your baby doll (which is the same size as you!) your elephant that plays music and spews out balls from its trunk, and your singing giraffe.  You also got a baby Bible, and you love it!  You always turn to the page that shows baby Jesus in the manger, and you love to point to the animals and to baby Jesus. I tell you that we will be celebrating that special day in a few months at Christmastime!  

On top of all of those toys, you are also obsessed with Elmo.  It's funny, because you don't really watch a whole lot of TV, so you don't see him on there very often.  But you have some Elmo toys and books and you love him so much!  We were walking through Target today and you spotted a big Elmo stuffed animal.  You gasped and shouted "Momo!"  (that's how you say Elmo, and it's adorable!)  It makes my day to see you discovering the world and getting excited about little things like that all the time.  

In the month before your birthday you did a lot of fun things!  Mommy was busy with my last externship for school, but we found time for some fun things!  We went to lots of parties for the 4th of July, went shopping on the weekends, and went swimming a few times.  You also spent a lot of time with Nana and Papa, Aunt Di, and Grandma and Grandpa that month since Mommy and Daddy were so busy!  

Here's what you looked like in your 12th month:

We celebrated your birthday with a big, pink-lemonade themed party with a lot of family and friends.  You had so much fun, even though you hadn't napped well that day, and were exhausted!!  You loved digging into your cake, and got frosting all over yourself!

Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you.  Your first year of life has been the best year of our lives!  You bring so much joy, and also teach us things about life each day.  This year went by so quickly, but I can't help but be unbelievably excited about the many, many years to come with you.  We love you more than words can say!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy