Madelyn's 13th Month

Well we just flew by 1! Madelyn celebrated her second Thanksgiving this month and I am pretty sure she had a lot more fun this time around. She loved all the food, except the mashed potatoes. What kid doesn't like mashed potatoes? Mine. She also loves when we get together with family because she is the center of the universe and has tons of people to play with.

Still not walking, but she is using her walking toys on a regular basis now. She also likes to walk holding our fingers so it probably won't be much longer. She can stand on her own for about 5 seconds before she figures out what happened and sits down. She never voluntarily stands on her own but I've started putting her down standing where she can't hold anything. I noticed her left foot turns out slightly when she really gets going with walking but her pediatrician isn't concerned. She said it will most likely self correct in a few weeks.

Also, she is slightly anemic. I am not incredibly surprised by this since she hasn't been big on the breastfeeding and isn't a big meat eater either. For now, she is a on a daily iron supplement and we are making a concious effort to get her to eat more red meat and beans. She loves beans but I feel bad giving her the same food all the time so I am experimenting with the meat to figure out how she likes it. So far the winner is ground venison with a little bit of teriyaki sauce. The other food issue we are having is that she doesn't really like to drink the frozen breastmilk or cow's milk. I plan on calling her doctor this week to see what we can do to make sure all her nutritional needs are being met if she doesn't drink milk. I can't say I blame her, I've never been a big milk drinker either. The good news is, she loves yogurt, string cheese and cottage cheese so I'm hoping we can just increase those to hit her goals.

On the breastfeeding front, we are basically done. She occasionally needs it if she doesn't transition well from playing to bed at night but it lasts for about 3 minutes and I'm pretty sure there is nothing there. At this point she is probably breastfeeding 1-2 times a week. I thought I would be sad since she isn't much of a cuddler and that is the only time I really got to love on her. But I think she sensed this and has started just cuddling throughout the day which is awesome.

First word - she's been saying Ma ma and Da da for awhile now but I haven't counted it as her first words. Just this month she has start saying "book" - sort of. She knows what a book is and has her way of saying it - "bock" is more what it sounds like but you get the idea!

Sleep - She is a great sleeper at night but naps are nonexistent at this point. My mom said I stopped napping at one as well so I guess she gets it from her mama. I still lay her down in her crib twice a day and she usually talks to herself and just lays there for awhile. I figure even if she isn't sleeping, at least she is decompressing for awhile.

Teeth - Two more teeth this month for a grand total of 10! They are still coming in goofy though. Her top set have evened out but she has 3 on the right side of her bottom mouth and 1 on the left side. I think there's another on the way since she has been knawing on her fingers nonstop the last few days.