Happy First Birthday, Jo!

So, somehow, an entire year has passed since Jo's birth. I don't know how where the time has gone, but I suddenly find myself surrounded by not one but two mischievous kids that keep me on my toes, worn out, and laughing.

Joanna is such a sweet little girl. She's (almost) always smiling and loves to talk and babble to us. She lights up when she sees Oliver or when Dad comes home from work. She plays jokes. She grabs people's shoes and puts them on her hands, and then she crawls over to us and laughs. She loves playing peek-a-boo. She likes to grab her nose and my nose at the same time as if to say, "Look, Mom, we both have noses."

She is quite the talker for being 12 months old. Jo seriously has a list of words. They are: Gesundheit, more, Mom, Dad, bye, hi, and fan. Of course, she points and claps and waves and cheers. She's very interactive.

She hasn't taken her first steps yet. She sometimes stands without holding onto things, but she doesn't do it intentionally yet. She crawls up the stairs but has no fear of falling backwards. She likes being held and carried everywhere, and I can only get her to ride in the grocery cart if I give her an object to examine and distract her first (usually a leaf).

As of last night, Jo is officially weaned. I thought I'd be so happy to have my body back--the first time in nearly four years that I'm not pregnant or breast feeding. Instead, I feel a little wistful. Jo just grew up so quickly! She drinks whole milk now and eats lots of food. Jo is not picky and loves to eat. It seems like she's eating all the time!

Sleep is going well after a bit of a rough patch a couple weeks ago. Jo goes to bed around 7pm and sleeps until nearly 6am. She sometimes wakes up once around midnight and fusses for about 20 minutes. During the day, she naps once or twice but not for very long (maybe 45 minutes). Sometimes, I can get her to sleep a little longer on my shoulder after she wakes up from her naps.

At 1 year old, here is a list of Joanna's likes and dislikes:

Likes
*Bath time
*Milk
*Watching Oliver do fun things, like run through leaves
*Leaves
*Being held
*Pointing to things and having us tell her what those things are called
*Food (her favorite is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, diced)
*Watching me do the alphabet song in ASL

Dislikes
*Being put down
*When Oliver takes a toy away from her
*The car seat
*Diaper changes