13 months

This has been a month of change.  It almost makes it okay that I no longer have a baby.  Almost.

I know all you readers already know this because I can't help posting video after video of it - but this month Ellie learned to walk!

Each day she gets more and more sure of herself; she is definitely walking more than crawling now.  About a week after she toddled for the first time, she started standing up on her own (not pulling up on furniture and taking steps from there).  It is still really entertaining to watch Ellie push her little bottom in the air, then get in a low squat, and finally stand.

 
Last month I thought getting two more teeth was a big deal - add four more to that for a total of twelve teeth!  About a week after her first birthday two bottom molars popped out, and in the next two weeks two upper molars were visible as well.

Ellie's 12-month appointment was on April 30th and our pediatrician said that Ellie should no longer have a bottle.  So we started giving her cow's milk in a straw cup for all of her meals, and stopped giving her a bottle of breast milk with our bedtime routine.  Luckily, she had no issues and slept like a champ on that first night and has done fine ever since.  We still gave her one bottle of breast milk each morning until we ran out of pumped milk, which fell on Mother's Day, May 13th, and since then have been completely bottle-free.

On May 2nd we had another session with Cassidy!  We met her in the afternoon at Gratz Park for Ellie's one-year-photos.  Here are a few of the amazing images - we are beyond thrilled with them!!

Ellie is growing into such an independent and purposeful child.  It is pretty amusing to see her try to fit all the blocks in the box, stuff the letters into the velcro bag, or put the penguin pieces on the peg.

But then she will get tired and suddenly my baby girl is back, crawling into my lap, asking to be held, resting her head on my shoulder, signaling that it is time for a nap.

After which she will wake up bright and sunshine-y, ready to go!