Zoe is One Year Old

Dear Zoe,
You’re one year old! Your mom and I just finished giving you a bath, and now she’s nursing you to sleep while I write this. It’s hard to wrap my head around how much you’ve changed since the day you were born. I mean, it’s hard enough just to think of all the things that have changed in the last month, let alone the last year.

We will remember your twelfth month as the one when you started eating. In last month’s newsletter I mentioned that you were completely uninterested in eating, and all of a sudden a few weeks ago you started reaching for food. It was like someone flipped a switch.

Now, your daily routine involved sitting down and eating real food with your Momma at least three times a day. You still show only a passing interest in baby food, but you love finger food. You’ve always got some puffs on your tray, and you love reaching out and grabbing them - but you don’t mash them up in a fist and shove them in your mouth. No, you’re still our dainty little lady. You very carefully pick up a single puff between your thumb and forefinger, and lightly place it in your mouth.

You started out with puffs, but have graduated to eating just about anything. You enjoy boiled carrots and green beans, you love bits of turkey or chicken, and the other night when we had meatloaf you were happy to eat a few pieces of it. However, your favorite thing, by far, is cheerios. Your passion for cheerios is such that if we leave the container on the table, you will ignore whatever other food is put out for you, and keep reaching for the cheerios.

Of course, when I say reaching, what I really mean is waving. Since learning how to wave to people, you quickly started waving at anything that made you happy, from the photo of your cousin Milo on the fridge to your reflection in the mirror to the Matrix poster in the basement. From there, it became clear that you were also waving at things to indicate that you want them. It’s hard to tell sometimes whether you just want to wave at something, or whether you want to grab it.

Recently, you started reaching for things with just your thumb and forefinger, like you were going to pinch them. This seems to be an offshoot of the waving, but most of the time it’s because you want something.

At your one-year checkup you measured in at 28½ inches long and weighed 17 pounds, 5 ounces. When you were born, you weighed 5 pounds, 5 ounces, and measured 19½ inches, so although you’ve grown quite a bit, you’re still our dainty little lady.

You’re not quite standing or cruising yet, but you have started pulling yourself into standing position on the couch and our knees. Mostly you just hold on and babble at us, but you’re starting to get adventurous by holding on with one hand, or even letting go entirely and plopping down on your bottom. You experiment in your crib before bedtime, when you get really excited and spend 10-15 minutes laughing and tumbling around. I’ve watched you hurl yourself around in there in ways that would result in tears anywhere else in the house, but because you feel safe with your mattress and bumpers, you have no fear.

Oh and I nearly forgot to mention your birthday party. We invited over all your friends and family, and we had a really good turn-out. You had a great day crawling around the backyard watching your older cousins run rampant, and even though you were up well past your naptime, you had a really good time, and didn’t meltdown even once. Your cake was a muffin that your mom baked, with some yogurt for frosting, and a giant “number one” candle stuck in the top.

It’s been an incredible year, and you’re an amazing little girl. Your mom and I couldn’t be happier to have you in our lives. I love you, baby girl.