Big Growth

Well, Rose is now 1.0, and she is celebrating in style! Her week has been fraught with milestones. Tooth number 6 is keeping her up nights. She has started pulling up on anything she comes to (she pulled up to standing for the first time in late October, but only did it occasionally since then). Yesterday she climbed to the top of the stairs (with her daddy following along below her) for the first time. I asked him how many times she fell back against him, and he said none! If we hadn't been paying attention, she would've been at the top without any falling. We will definitely keep an eye on her because we do not need another toddler with a broken leg!

Her birthday celebration this past weekend was entertaining. I baked her a special 6 inch teddy bear-shaped birthday cake all of her own (and then several mini bunt-shaped cakes for everyone else). Ruth 4. 8 selected the cake mix; it was white cake with sprinkles mixed through it and princess edible images to lay on top of the cake. When the teddy bear was set in front of Rose, she picked the entire thing up and took a big bite, as if it were a great big sandwich! When she was done, there was nothing but a large pile of crumbs (the cake was a bit crumbly anyway) and she and Peanut looking very happy.

Peanut is her best friend at meal times. Rose often leans to the side of her highchair and passes Peanut (our beagle puppy) some choice bit of something she doesn't want. I have never seen a dog that would eat absolutely anything, but probably that comes from being starved as a puppy before she was rescued by the humane society-type group we adopted her from. She is food obsessed. (She jumped up and ate pizza right off a plate I was not actively guarding the other day.)

And finally, beyond the climbing and tooth emerging, Rose has really been making a wide range of verbalizations, constantly. One of her favorites is to make a sound and alter it up and down in pitch, on and on. Ruth declared, "She does a great Tarzan!"