We have a one year old!

It's official...we are parents of a toddler! Not only did Amanda turn 1 year old on June 12th, but she is walking around like crazy! As usual, our girl was pretty cautious in learning this new skill...she took her time, slowly progressing from 1-2 steps in mid-May, to 5-6 steps by the end of May, and finally to walking as far as she wants with confidence a few days before her birthday. Along with her newfound mobility, Amanda is getting more curious about everything (i.e., is into everything!) and is also testing her independence a bit, watching us to see how react when she's doing something she knows she's not supposed to do. She finally broke the 20 lb barrier - hooray! OK, well she's exactly 20 lbs, but that's all right. At least she is gaining weight. She is eating table foods almost exclusively now and has tried just about everything, other than nuts. She loves to eat scrambled eggs for breakfast and she seems to be especially fond of pasta. She has also tried Pirate Paks from White Spot, twice! - a grilled cheese sandwich and macaroni and cheese (both were bit hits). Believe it or not, she still has only two teeth, although the top teeth seem to be bothering her a great deal. In the past, she's only had significant teething pain at night, but now it bothers her a lot during the day as well. We hope those teeth will be coming in soon! She is still sleeping very well, through the night most nights...we've had a few wake-ups due to teething pain, but she is quickly soothed so it's not so bad. She is not quite saying any "real" words, although she babbles a ton and it sounds like she is speaking her own special language, complete with proper inflections. We joke that she is actually fluent in Russian, because if we ask her a question she often says "DA!" - not gently, like she used to, but very emphatically, like she is trying to tell us something very important! She loves music and will dance happily to whatever is playing or whatever silly tune we are singing. She also loves books, although so far she is mostly interested in turning the pages rather than hearing the story. All in all, she is a happy, energetic, goofy little girl and we love her to bits. It is amazing to watch her personality unfold as she grows.