Bevin Jean: 13 Months

At 13 months - she deserves an update post.

FOOD
Eating is Bevin's favorite thing to do. When she's finished whatever you've given her, she pounds on the high chair tray with both hands as if to say, "Give me more!!" When she was in the womb, I had absolutely no pregnancy aversions, so it's no surprise that Bevin eats almost everything we do. I'm sure going with the BLW method of weaning helped also, but I have to wonder if she would have been this good of an eater regardless of the weaning method used. Regardless,  I'm glad we went the BLW route. The reason I'm satisfied with this method is because she knows how to use a spoon correctly, she's familiar with and loves all of the spices Keith cooks with on a regular basis (she loves curried food - big WIN!) and she can chew her food even though she has no molars. I don't think that would have been the case if we had gone with the traditional weaning method.

As far as what she eats - she eats most of what we eat, though she may refrain if she's too tired, not that hungry, or just wanting some Mama milk. Her absolute favorite foods are: apples, bananas, cottage cheese, chicken, turkey, and oatmeal. She also recently discovered cannoli cream (thanks to a bakery shoot Keith did this week) and she balks every time one of us opens up the container and doesn't share with her.

MOBILITY
Bevin is a power crawler. She can get anywhere she wants VERY quickly and up until this weekend, she seemed very content to just keep on moving that way. She cruises around from furniture piece to furniture piece, but didn't seem to want to even consider taking steps without help. On Saturday though, she took a step or two on her own (with my encouragement) from the cabinets to my arms.
And she was so proud of herself.

TEETH
She has 5 teeth in and three more teeth cutting through as I write this. Therefore, she's been fussy and needy: READ: we can't put her down or hold her without some sort of fuss fit.  She's also waking up a lot. We bought the Baltic Amber teething necklace for her, but she started to pull it and chew on it.  The other way to keep it on is to put wrap it around her ankle and cover it with a sock. This works sometimes, but not all of the time - especially when she makes it her mission to pull her sock off. As Grandma Fern would she, "She ain't no fool!"

LANGUAGE
This kid is trying desperately to form words and converse with us. She's got Dada and Lala and Nana (for banana) and Aaahcel (apple), but she'll save Mama for only those you-better-come-over-here-right-now-and-hold-me moments. I think that sometimes when she wakes up in the middle of the night and refuses to go back to sleep she just wants to talk to me. She's got lots of other sounds like "Gggggeeeee" or "KKKKkkk" or "Blllllllleeewwww" (sounds more like a raspberry), but nothing that's really intelligable besides the above words. I did, however, feel like I had a conversation with her in which I could have sworn she said the word "Really" and another one in which she said her own version of "I love you" right before kissing me, but it's hard to know for sure. In terms of body language:  she has started this month nod her head vigorously for "yes" and also vigorously pointing her head and body to an item she wants (such as the toothbrush in the bathroom). She also says hello and goodbye by saying "Haaaaaaa" for both greetings and waving her hand and arm vigorously, even after the person has long gone. It is just about the sweetest gesture to watch. 

INTERESTS
Anything Cole is doing.
Books (her favorite is Peek a Who? by Nina Laden)
Hugging the cats.
Rolling balls.
Throwing balls.
Night lights and cords (can you say, SCARY?!)
Chewing on everything to alleviate her teething pain
Laying her head on the floor or a soft blanket or a stuffed animal.
Knocking over blocks (Cole doesn't think this is a fun interest).
Vacuuming (she has been known to talk to the vacuum and gets very upset if she's not being held or worn by the person doing this chore)
Filling up and emptying the dishwasher
Sweeping (same as vacuuming)

SLEEP
She spent 11-12 months sleeping fairly well in her new digs. However, she started teething more and waking more. Combine that with the fact that Cole has started to wake at night from nightmares so this has also disrupted her sleep as well. My friend, Andreea, says this is because of his growing imagination, so it's actually a good thing, but it's still a tough pill to swallow.  Keith and I are incredibly cranky from sleep deprivation, and it's hard to lift ourselves from the fog when we're sometimes only getting a few hours of sleep each night. These past few weeks have been reminiscent of Cole's first year of sleep, and we are struggling to stay positive. I have to keep telling myself that This Too Shall Pass, but it is awfully hard to remain optimistic in the face of such fatigue.