Lola, 1 year, 3 months

Dear Lola,

Your cheeks and chubby legs are vanishing before my eyes. That makes me sad. I hope you at least keep some of that chub just for a little while longer. But probably not since you are basically running now. It's more of an extreme baby power walk and you usually stumble all over the place but you are doing great. I just know you are going to have hair like me.

It got cold-ish last week and your hair stayed flat against your head instead of in a curly tangle in the back. You are getting taller because I can no longer walk over you. 

You are becoming quite the explorer and absolutely love going outside and walking around in circles. Your Grandma and I brought you to the park the other day and you had more fun just parading around in your super cool shoes to care about any of the playgroud equipment. 

You are unlike any kid I've really ever seen. We have toys galore in our house for you, but you gravitate to all the book shelves and books in your room or the living room. You will sit there for quite some time and flip through pages, babble and tell us the story through and through. You even have favorite books already, you're mommy and daddy's little bookworm. You love wearing shoes now and are constantly bringing us your shoes or socks to put on, thank goodness. I thought you would want to be a bare footed monkey for the rest of your life ;) 

Within the last week you have took up a whole new form of independence in eating. We can no longer feed you anymore you decided. So you feed yourself, and...the floor...and your clothes, but you are getting better at it. You've almost mastered the spoon and the fork is tricky but you're getting there. 

The holidays are coming up and we're so eager to do all the fun holiday related things with you (aka trick or treating, mainly because we are still kids at heart...always and forever). 

Lola, 1 year, 2 months

Dear Lola,

You decided to start walking about a week ish ago which was around our vacation week. I suppose you thought that you didn't want to see us resting TOO much since you are now exploring all the places our apartment. Seeing you walking is super surreal, you're starting to hold the features of a toddler and it's adorable but freaky that you used to fit snug on one of my arms. You're starting to become familiar with using a fork at meal times, you can feed yourself but still haven't mastered the art of poking food, soon enough. You still eat just about everything and with our vacation week, we ate pretty terrible and you did NOT like that one bit. Apparently eating healthy is number one on your  priority list and that's fine by me.
Your constant jibber jabber is starting to sound like real words, or maybe mommy's just crazy and thinks so. We usually will count things together and you pretend like you are counting, but really it's just some monster jabber, either way I love it. You got to see Frozen on Ice and olaf on ice skates made you over the moon. You also got to explore universal and islands of adventure and stay in a hotel for the first time with mommy and daddy. It was a total blast and we are looking forward to more family vacations when you're older.
You throw quite a few tantrums throughout the day now. We are working on those slowly. It's a bit difficult for you to express yourself and we understand that. We are in the process of trying to form an understanding bond with you, especially when you are upset and frustrated. I think it's working and you're starting to cope with the tantrums and get over them quickly. Needless to say, I can't wait until you can talk it out with us because these mood swings of yours have been a doozy.
You still are taking your morning nap all the way through and same with your bedtime. Not much has changed there, you love to sleep (thank goodness).

I can't believe in one month how much has changed, I know I frequently say that, but it's always mind blowing to me. Our lives are going through another motion and it's so much fun being your parent and living in the world you are creating for yourself.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much.

Lola: 1 year, 1 Month

Okay.
So we made through the first year and I have to say it is at the very top of the list as one of my favorite years, it sits alongside my 8th grade year....sigh.
It was a challenge becoming a first time parent, but Lola made things as smooth as peanut butter. She slept through the night instantly and still do this very day sleeps 12 hours through. She loves ALL food groups, but subtract the banana. This makes meal times a breeze since she eats literally anything. Teething hasn't been AS bad as people describe it as and she still takes a 2 hour nap in the morning every day.

She has been our life saver as parents this last year. But we are moving on into the "toddler years," and all this bliss may soon come to an end when tantrums are a thing and her speed increases (aka walking...potentially baby jogs through the house).

Anywho, let's take a second to talk about Lola's 13th month.

Dear Lola,

You are still crawling, but not any normal crawl...it's more of like a spider monkey escaping the zoo crawl. You get very set in your ways with things. You can balance and have walked on your own, but until the mood strikes you...crawling is the better form of transportation. You are totally weaned off of formula and your bottle. You drink whole milk like a champ twice a day and you are obsessed with water (thank goodness). You love your sippy cup, but are eager to learn to drink from an actually bottle of water, it might be your favorite source of entertainment. Speaking of favorites...oh my gosh you are obsessed with the movie: Frozen. You have it memorized and you dance different jigs to each song. You love music and everything about it. Any song can come on anywhere and you are bouncing and swaying in seconds, and sometimes you even like to sing along with your baby jibber jabber. Food is your friend, and you eat more veggies than mommy most days. You have a sophisticated palate (or...you just love to chow down). Mommy and Daddy bring you to the mall frequently to play in the kids zone and you adore it. We sit there for hours watching your connect with the other little ones, you just love other kids. We can't wait until you make some baby friends! You learned how to blow kisses recently and you still love to say "bah" when you are leaving anywhere. You have become very interested in books lately. We have a book shelf filled to the brim with your books and you literally will spend at least an hour of playtime, yanking each and everyone down and sorting through them. Then you move onto the bookcase in your bedroom. You get very quiet and concentrated and I love to just sit and watch you.
Lola, you're constant ability to make me smile is endless. These toddler years have just begun and I'm both scared and excited all at the same time. Who knew that could be possible, but it's all because of you.