1 Year & 2 Months

Saturday was not only Valentine's Day, but it was also little shnuggy's 14-month birthday! Tess is changing and growing up so quickly. Every day she is becoming more and more a little girl and less a baby. She is a sparkly, happy, independent, social, curious, funny and sweet baby girl. She has a good life and she enjoys it to the fullest! She brings us so much joy and we are blessed to have her in our family.

Bubbles with Dad.
It's more fun than shampooing the carpet.

I haven't been great at recording her developmental milestones. For the record, her 14-month accomplishments are as follows:

Words Tess Can Say

• Dada/Dad
• Mama/Mom
• Hi!
• Brrm brrm (for a car)
• I love you! (she repeats the words if you say it to her)
• Duck
• Papa (But not Nana or Dipsy yet. The guys always come first. It took her a long time to say mom, too.)
  

Words Tess Signs in ASL

• food
• All done!
• Wash hands
• baby
• drink
• signing (when she wants to watch her signing video)
• banana
• more
• milk
• hat
• dog
• shoes
• book
  

Words Tess Understands (but doesn't say or sign)

• kisses (responds with a wet lick, when she's feeling affectionate)
• soft (as in, "Be soft! Be careful!" This applies to anything breakable: books, babies, Dad, glassware, small animals, etc.)
• wheels
• eyes
• bottle
• no
• Pee-ewww! (What I say when she has a stinky diaper. She will reach out and plug my nose, or plug her own nose.)
• diaper
• car
• meow (for kitty)
  

Playing Pretend (Things Tess Likes to Act Out)

• Talking on the phone. She can use the real phone, my cell phone, the remote control, her fist--just about anything can serve as a phone. She usually holds it backwards to her ear and will ramble on in guttural sounds.
• Blowing her nose. She holds up a baby wipe, scrunches her nose and blows in and out furiously. I've even seen her try to use the nose bulb on herself, which is strange because she hates it when I use it on her!
• Brushing her hair, usually with a brush or just pretending with her hand. She does it whenever she comes in the bathroom and I'm doing my hair.
• Feeding her baby. She feeds her baby doll her bottle and goldfish crackers.
• Reading. She holds a book up (often upside down) and "read" out loud in guttural sounds.
• Playing cars and trucks. She pushes them around and says "brrm, brrm."
• Peek-a-boo. A favorite game with many variations--under a blanket, hiding behind a pillow, around a corner or through the banister.
• Computer geek. She loves typing on the keyboard and has started to figure out the mouse. She can manipulate the mouse wheel to scroll up and down.
• Chase. You chase her; she chases you. Either way, it's great entertainment.

All of these remarkable accomplishments, and alas, she's still not walking. She pulls up, walks around holding onto furniture, but she can't even stand up by herself. We've been encouraging her, but she's been very stubborn. Here's a little clip of where we're at when it comes to walking:

So does anyone have any idea when she's going to have a breakthrough and actually start walking? Care to make it interesting? Submit a comment with your prediction as to the date when Tess will take her first steps! A prize goes to the person whose date is the closest, without going over. Only one person per date (so if it's been guessed, pick a different date).

It's kind of like betting on a horse race, only with an infant. Good Luck!