Ada at one year.

Crazy Hair, by Ada

How on earth did that happen? Here we are, Ada's a year old and we're almost at the end of January.

Ada had her one year review last week and got two thumbs up from the health visitor (the children's care specialists that are part of the NHS over here).

Ada's official weight is 23lbs 4 oz/10.58kg and length is 30in/77cm (the health visitor didn't measure her head and I forgot to ask). That puts her in the 91st percentile for both weight and height. She's big, but proportionate, so in other words, perfect!

She has two new teeth that have come through this week. I can't tell if they're her upper cuspids, or actually her first set of molars - I haven't been able to get a good look to see how they're spaced in relation to her current teeth. And they've only just cut through, so they're hard to see. She had been a bit fussy and having trouble sleeping the weekend before, on and off, and then the day before they surfaced (Monday), so that was probably linked. No sign of the bottom ones yet. Whichever ones they are, that brings her to 10 teeth, so she's halfway there!

Ada is not walking independently, but is getting more comfortable with taking a couple/few steps while holding on to someone's hands. She's very occasionally standing independently, but still only for a very brief time. She just seems happy to crawl around and pull herself up on things, or on us.

She's been going through a particularly clingy phase in the last couple of weeks, and will often get concerned if we walk out of the room, even if it's for a short time. She'll sometimes fuss or start to get upset as she crawls after, even if she can see us in the distance and isn't that far away. At swim class, she's had some particularly clingy moments. Although one of the worst classes recently may have been because her teeth were bothering her and the water around her ears was unwelcome.

Ada talks up a storm now. She'll have times when she's incredibly chatty while playing, almost as if she is telling stories of some sort. She's understanding more and more and Ada will now respond by pointing to the appropriate part (if she feels like it) when asked "where's your nose" and "where's your belly button." We're starting to work on other body parts and pictures of people and animals.

Ada continues to surprise and delight us in new unexpected ways. The other day we're certain she was performing her first magic trick at lunch. She was in her high chair and had a small piece of bagel in her left hand. She would hold up her right hand, palm facing up and wiggling her fingers while she dropped her left hand, with the bagel, down and out of sight, below her tray. Then she'd lift up her left hand, empty, palm up to the ceiling. Then she'd wave her right hand as her left hand went down again below the tray, her face pointed away, as she then lifted her left hand up, triumphantly showing the bagel. It was the use of her opposite hand for distraction and turning her face away from the "action" that made it so much like a magic trick and so funny. She did it a few times and really got a kick out of it.

She's good at putting things in and out of containers now, though not always the direction I would prefer. She does sometimes follow instruction and put the clothes I hand her into the washing machine, or the dryer, but unfortunately she'll often also take them back out again.

Her sleep schedule is still much the same, but she is sleeping through the night much more regularly. She is still a pretty noisy sleeper, in terms of rustling and crying out multiple times through the night, but she seems to be asleep, or mostly still asleep when she does it, so she doesn't need attention from us. I will often sleep through it, so I don't even know what's happened overnight. I don't know if she's dreaming or transitioning between sleep cycles or both or what, but she doesn't seem to be becoming sleep deprived, so whatever she's getting must be enough. She still isn't sleeping for more than 30 minutes per nap at daycare, but she does sleep better for naps at home, still at 9 or 9:30am and 1pm. But again, she doesn't seem to be running up a sleep deficit so I've come to terms with the poor napping at the nursery. It is still the area where I'm most obsessive at home, schedule-wise, and I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to let that go. I know she'll be getting to the point when she drops a nap soon, which I'm not looking forward to!

She's still a good eater (I don't think you can be in the 91st percentile and not be!), but I'm probably not quite persistent enough about giving her enough variety, so she does tend to eat her current favorites: bagels, cream cheese, oat crackers, avocado, grapes, strawberries, oranges, cheddar cheese, houmous, yogurt and applesauce. She will branch out into other fruits like melon, plums and the occasional pear, and eats a peanut butter/yogurt dip I mix up. She likes holding and occasionally licking a raw carrot, but doesn't seem to have the teeth yet to do anything else with it. She is not so keen on meats or other vegetables. She will eat them from a pouch, especially if it's a stage one pouch she can slurp out of directly (and most importantly, hold herself), but not when I make them.  I think that's because I haven't offered the same meats and vegetables consistently or frequently enough, because of laziness, so it's more me than her. This is something I want to work on, though I'm not worried about it. Which is probably why I haven't devoted much energy to it, which is why we're at this point in the first place. Or maybe this is just her food phase at the moment. We still don't eat many meals together besides breakfast, so that too is something for us to work on, and will (hopefully) probably positively impact on her eating habits.

She is starting to practice/play with a spoon and bowl - sticking the spoon in and sometimes putting the spoon in her mouth. Or the spoon on the tray. Or the bits of food into the bowl. Or the bowl on her head. Or the bowl on the floor. She is also now starting to try to dip things into yogurt or homous or whatever else is available.

Bottom line is that Ada is wonderful and the first year has been amazing. And already this year is off to a fantastic start!

But looking back, here is a video that Mark compiled with highlights from her first year, and a series of photographs.

Hooray for Ada!

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

ONE YEAR!

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