I know I have been saying it every month, but far and away, this year with our sweet Janie has been the fastest my life! As a whole the year has been the roughest we've ever experienced, both with learning to juggle our various roles while parenting two sweethearts, and with loved ones going through painful things. All the while, it has been wonderful to be surrounded by the happiness and love that our precious little family generates. Celebrating Janie has been a neat opportunity to focus those important values. We realize even more this past year how blessed we truly are!
Poor Janie started this past month our sick with her first ear infection and now ends the month with an icky cold that has hit all of us in the Michael Family. With Janie we know when things are wrong because she is up a lot at night and has some fussy spells through the day, but can manage to put on the best smile and continues to play hard through the discomfort. Quite a little trooper!
The long drawn out cold seems to have changed a few aspects of her development a little. For one, she was doing a lot less taking. We got the same 8-10 words/sayings, but she was unwilling to try new words or say things like "cookie" or "cracker" that she has been saying for a while. The pediatrician confirmed that this can be a normal side effect of a cold and over the past few days we have heard her talking significantly more so she must be feeling better. Secondly, there have been some changes in her feeding as well. She would just pick at food on her tray and learned to entertain herself by flinging it all over the place, followed (or sometimes even prefaced) by a "Uh-Oh." In order to get her to eat we went back to spoon feeding baby food and she seemed to love it. Janie also completely lost patience in nursing and weened herself just a few days before her birthday. The bottle is just so much more efficient and she is too busy of a kid these days. Still a little bittersweet milestone for Mama.
One of the biggest hits of the month has been Janie's infatuation with the animal sounds. Several books, an animal puzzle and the See-and-Say have become her favorite toys! One book in particular she will crawl around chasing us with and bang it against our leg until we read it with her. She makes the cutest Moo and Meow! When we took the girls to the fair and made the noises as we visited the different animals, at first she looked at us like we were crazy, but then when we would hear the animal make its noise, it was like we could see the wheels turning.
Janie and Clara continue to become closer with each passing month. When we come in to get Janie out of her crib after a nap we are met with a "Hi" and big smile, but when Clara comes in, Janie Bug starts bouncing and shrieking. Clara really does play nicely with her most of the time, but a little more frequently these days, she has gotten a little rough, pushing, taking toys away, even pulling Janie's legs out from under her. Occasionally there are tears, but for the most part our little Gem is a tough nut!
Janie is all over the place now, crawling and pulling herself up on anything she can. Recently she has really gotten quick. It is like we kind of had certain amount of time before she could make it down the hall to do a certain thing without shutting a door or leaving something within her reach... not any more! Just the other day, Daddy was getting Clara ready for bed after a bath and before he had a chance to turn around, Janie had crawled down the hall with a Little People toy in hand and plopped it in the toilet with a giggle - Silly kiddo!
Janie has started cruising around, walking behind push toys and does really great walking while holding our hands, but she is fairly cautious and wont even attempt to stand without help. If we let go, she sits right down. An approach similar to Big Sister's and I guess it spares her a few bumps and bruises.
At her 1 year appointment Janie's pediatrician was very pleased with her development. She weights 22 pounds, 9 ounces and is 30 inches long, putting her in the 75-90th percentile for both. Her growth has been pretty consistent throughout the whole year.
One trait we have noticed about Janie a lot this month is her focus. We used distraction with Clara every time we didn't want Clara to do something and she would easily change from playing with the remote to any random toy we made look appealing. This is not the case with Janie! She remembers the item we take away or pull her away from and at the very next available opportunity she is right back at it.
Janie also has picked up the work "No" in the past few weeks, and she uses it more often than we'd like. Hearing her say it tugs at my heartstrings a little because we tried really hard not to use the word with Clara and I don't remember her using the word until she was much older. Between the increased chaos in our household and not having the time/presence of mind to say "That's Daddy's computer" or "Please do not touch that"plus having Clara tell her "No, No" all the time, she picked it up quick. When she does use it, it is so darn sweet and goes something like this:
Me: "Janie, would you like more peas?"
~ Long pause as if she is contemplating it ~
Me: "More peas?" with the sign for more
Janie: (head tilt & soft response) "Nooo"
Reflecting back on the past year, it is amazing to think how much our little doll baby has
changed. From the first few months were she slept all day to this silly kiddo with a passion for playing. From the plethora of silly coos and squeaks she made then, even when she was sleeping, to the words she communicates with now. And the joy she brings to our family each and every day sine her arrival... INCREDIBLE!
Happy Birthday, Janie Caroline! We all treasure you so much!
