The Wright Family: 13 Months!

Eating - Blair's eating is getting better... she has recently understood what the fuss was all about with fruit. She used to not like anything with a "wet" texture, but now she isn't too bothered by it and likes pears, peaches and mandarin oranges. Since she seems to be over her aversion to slimier textures, I am going to try those Gerber pasta pick-ups to diversify her palette. I mean, how many sandwiches can you eat before it finally starts to get old? Now that we have those molars coming in, I think she is going to enjoy eating more foods. Another random thing Blair likes now: Blueberry infused Craisins. Loves them. In fact, I have them on my grocery list because we go through them. She has done really great with the whole milk and I think it has helped her keep weight on while she was sick last week. In her new class, they provide the snacks (morning and afternoon). I am not really wild about this because the other day, I saw on her sheet that they had pretzels. And another day was animal crackers. I don't have anything against animal crackers or pretzels - for myself. I am not so sure that they are the best idea for a one year old. Pretzels are loaded with sodium and are hard on baby gums. Why not offer up fruit? Or zucchini bread? Not pretzels. I am going to continue sending in her snacks to supplement what the school provides.

Sleeping - Eureka! Blair is now sleeping through the night. I think she was ready for it. Even though Travis and I were really going to be working hard on it, she just kind of took to it. This weekend, we have tried to mimic her routine at school as far as naps. At school, all of the kids nap at the same time, at noon after lunch. Sure enough, she'll sleep for a good two hours. Amazing. Now we just need to work on getting her to stay up later. These days Blair will go sleep around 6:30 - 6:45pm. I will take it!

Growth - Blair now weighs 25 pounds and is 30 inches tall. How cute is that? Two and a half feet tall. She is going to be a tall girl. We recently moved her up to Size 5 diapers. Whew, that was necessary. She is comfortably wearing size 24 month clothes (and some smaller 2T items) and size 6 shoes (give or take a half size).

Teeth: Officially, she's got 6 in the front and 2 of her 4 molars. Unofficially, another molar is about to cut through if it hasn't already.

Coordination / Movement / Motor skills: B's speed increases each day and we'll have her running the 40 (yard dash) in under 4 (seconds) in no time. She loves to run up and down our long hallway (especially when chasing Raleigh) and never sits still for more than a second or two. She is always busy and on the go. Bug is still a little clumsy and bumps her head at school at least once a week. I think I am going to enroll her in a class at the Little Gym or Gymboree. That kind of thing is right up her alley. It would be a fun activity we could all do as a family.

Speech: Blair is "talking" up a storm. Some words here and there - but still lots of sounds (like she just can't say the word). She has these two lovies that have the same goodnight prayer. At the end of the prayer, they say "Amen." Sure enough, Blair can say "Amen" and it is the sweetest thing your ears have ever heard. I am going to try to get a video of her doing this because it is precious.

Other things Blair is doing: She JUST learned to drink from a straw. She has never understood the concept (though in all fairness my Mom said that she had to stick straws inside of bottle nipples [that were cut] for us as babies). I had bought this really cute Elmo cup with a straw lid, in hopes of enticing her learn / use it. She was definitely interested, but again, no sure what to do with it. Then, I decided to lay her down with it and treat it like a bottle and that totally worked! Success. She has been carrying that cup around all weekend (and drinking from it!).

Last weekend, we bought Blair a set of those foam blocks. So far she just likes to knock down what ever we build. Ha! And after playing with Zoey's Leapfrog alphabet toy, we had to get something similar. It was so neat - and it has this handle so she can tote it around. She loves to carry things. She'll carry her green chair up and down the hallway... only pausing every once and a while to sit in it (making sure it still works). And she likes purses too! Love this! And I love that she will sometimes pick out her clothes. Makes a Momma proud.

My super helper... she is constantly picking up something and giving it to me. If it is something that can be thrown away (like a dead leaf off the ficus [that is constantly losing leaves]), she will go and put it in the trash. Ms. Donna said that Blair does that for her too. Anything on the floor that is outta place has to be dealt with! Blair also loves to help do the dishes. Her job is to bang on the dishwasher door (while it is down) and holler loudly.

The funniest thing she is doing now, is making monster sounds. It is hysterical and it comes out when you aren't expecting it. She has a great sense of humor!!

Well, that is what my little bug has been up to. For me, it doesn't get much better. Travis and I are just a month away from our trip. We are so pumped! The island is only 34 square miles, but we have so much planned. There is some food that I am DYING to eat again... Gwen's coleslaw. And chicken. And ribs. And cheeseburgers. Yes, I will take one of each. She has the best beach food. Gwen's Reggae Grill is on our favorite beach (Shoal Bay) so we plan to eat there often. It was the first place we ate at, on our first night in Anguilla. We are so very excited!!!

Here are some pics from today...