Why you shouldn't blink

Well, we blinked, and here's what happened in a year:

• Abby wants to walk. Her personal best is four solo steps so far, but she still prefers for you to hold her hand while she walks around. Moving furniture is a new fun hobby of hers.
• She's a little chatterbox now! Her clearest and favorite words are duck, quack, dada and mama, and she's great at communicating when she wants her milk, or is all done at mealtime. She understands far more words than we can keep track of, and to our amazement can successfully find or point to things when we ask for them, especially her toy ducks (accompanied by a great deal of quacking), hippos, bath, abby's room, stairs, breakfast, lunch and dinner (she heads for her highchair), no, up, down, all done, milk, playroom, light, and so many more that I can't think of right now. It's so fun to watch her learn this complicated language!
• She naps twice a day on a very regular schedule, which is great for planning my day and playdates for her. She sleeps consistently from 7:30 to 7:30 and naps for about 3.5 hours a day, which leaves me with about 8.5 active on-the-clock hours with her, which is far more exhausting than I ever dreamed a full days work could be.
• She'll eat absolutely anything. She's never eaten a lick of store bought baby food, and food mushing in general is no longer needed. Pickles, sorbet, cream cheese, chicken, mesquite flavored turkey, squash, ice cream, raisins, cheerios, strawberries and sharp chedder are her favorite foods. So far the only thing she doesn't like is avocado, which I'm not particularly fond of myself unless it comes in guacamole form, so that shouldn't be a problem.
• She drinks whole milk from a sippy cup now...no more bottles or smelly formula!
• She loves to climb...the stairs, the furniture, playground equipment, her dad...you name it. Everything in front of her is something to be climbed over in her opinion.
• She's fiercely independent. She wants what she wants, when she wants it. "No" and "stop" are not popular commands, and result in excessive whining, full body tantrums or a need to cuddle whoever is reprimanding her.
• She (finally) loves to hug. It's taken almost a year, but she's getting to the point where we might actually refer to her as cuddly. I'll blame it on personal space issues. She gets that from me.

It's been a whirlwind year, to say the least. And a great one. I can hardly remember what life was life without Abby in it, and I wouldn't change that for anything in the world.

We had a fabulous birthday that included purple (blueberry) pancakes (courtesy of Justin, our resident pancake chef); a girls' trip to Greenberry's for coffee and bagels (well, Abby had water while I enjoyed a decaf iced mocha); two trips to the park where we learned Abby is fearless and loves to go down the slide, by herself, headfirst; a birthday party lunch with dad, presents and cake; birthday dinner at Chick-fil-a; and a stop at Lowe's to look at grills (because Abby loves grilled chicken, of course). I'm exhausted, Abby's asleep, and Justin's cleaning up the aftermath left over from this afternoon's pink cake smashing festivities. It's been a great day and a great year with our little girl.

I'm just sorry I blinked.