Walking Girl

Melody took her first steps today!

Last night she began standing up from a sitting position, without using furniture or anything else to pull herself up. Then boom, the next day, she's standing in the living room and takes a few steps! She did it several times, and happily Joe and I were both home to see it.

Tooth Be Told

Tooth number 8! Bottom center, next to the first two.

Beautiful Ballet Boy

Ballerina Flower

Melody Is 1

I was holding Melody this morning and I passed by the mirror. I gasped and did a double-take. She was stunning! My once-goofy baby was beautiful. Of course she was always beautiful, and of course she will continue to be goofy. But there was something about this moment--her transformation became apparent all at once. She was a beautiful toddler.

Only she doesn't toddle yet. She's taking her time, and I don't mind. Theo was 11.5 months when he first walked, but Melody is in no hurry. I think she likes her place as the baby of the family. As long as she has arms to be cuddled in and fingers to hold on to as she walks, she feels safe as content.

Now that she's 1, her personality has really become her own. She makes jokes and understands ours. She thinks it's hilarious when she drops something off the highchair and the cats eat it, so she tries to give them all her food. Actually, she loves to feed everyone. She even tried to feed a waitress recently! Nothing pleases her more than for someone to accept her offer.

She also thinks it's hilarious to bite me while nursing...she knows it gets a reaction out of me! The bigger the show of pain, the funnier it is!

We gave her a set of instruments for her birthday and she instantly knew how to use the cymbals. Her favorite, though, is the triangle!

On her birthday Theo forced me to go out at 8PM and buy party hats and balloons. I had failed him as a mother for not having these things.

Melody slept through the first hour of her birthday party yesterday, which was great because I was still setting up anyway. When she woke up to a room full of 30 adults and toddlers, she took it all in. She didn't cry--just looked around and tried to figure out why everyone she knew in the world was in one spot. After a few minutes, she was smiling away. Mom and dad played songs on the piano and led the toddlers in a singalong as they banged instruments! Truly wonderful.

We sat her in her birthday throne and sang "Happy Birthday" -- she did the appropriate toddler thing and devoured the cupcake, covering her face with frosting! Lots of photographing from guests ensued. (I will update this post with photos and video when I have them.)

Melody's 7th tooth, a molar, came in this morning. Her hair is growing rapidly and is mostly wavy but curly when it rains! 1 year later, her eyes are an icy blue. We've marked her height on the wall in her room in our new apartment, days after wishing Theo's height markings goodbye in our old apt.

She is 21 pounds and switching daily between chubby and slender, depending on growth spurts.

She loves baths so much that for her birthday, I gave her two baths and let her stay in longer! And there is no such thing as one of them taking the bath without the other. And these days they're joined by Theo's baby doll, who he undresses, reads to, and washes.

Melody's doing a great job with pointing and waving bye bye. She even blows kisses! We are still waiting for her babblings of mama and dada to apply to us, though. Her most specific word is cat ("at").

Here's to the next year of first steps, first words, and of course--lots more dresses!