Happy Birthday Norah Jane!

 Happy Birthday Baby Girl,

Whew, we made it all the way to 12 months with these monthly pictures. But this might have to be the last as you are not willing to sit still anymore. This is the one and only kinda-decent shot I got of you. The rest look like this:

First up, the stats. You are 18lbs, 10 oz, so not too big. You have a couple words but only use them sporadically (mama, baba (daddy), nigh-nigh (night-night) and ba-BEE (puppy. it's similar to daddy but with a totally different infection). You love to point. You can sign more and all done. Until a couple days ago, all done was exclusively used for mealtimes but we were playing outside and you fell and rolled a bit down the hill then as you were picking yourself up, the chickens came over to investigate and you started signing "all done, all done." You normally love outdoor time but just then you were ready for the safe indoors again.

Guys, are you gonna eat dessert in front of me again, because, really, it's just not nice. 

Wait, did I hear that right, for me?!

Mmm, bean brownies! These are good!

Don't even think about it - they are mine!

You also communicate pretty well without words or signs. Just earlier today Jonah tried to take your birthday card away and you yelled "ahh" in his face, clutched it tight and pushed him away. Then opened it up again to look at it. It's not always easy being the baby but you hold your own. Overall, you're a tough little thing. You didn't even cried that much during a blood draw. The all-done fall aside, most falls don't even phase you. You're always climbing on or into something and about as soon as one bruise heals, you find a way to give yourself another. But your pretty good with your motor skills. You can climb up and down stairs on your own. You like to walk backwards. Sometimes this is to be funny. Like when you walk backwards into the wall over and over again bumping your head to get people to laugh. I really love it when you want to sit on our laps, for a book reading or if you need shoes. You walk up to about a foot away, turn around and then back up until you are close enough to sit down.

 You try your hardest to get onto the field and play soccer with the big kids and don't seem to understand why we insist on holding you all game long. You love to play wrestle with Lucy and Jonah and again, don't understand why we are always stopping that game.

But you really love to do anything with them. Earlier this week Lucy found a caterpiller so we were all looking at it while you played int eh sandbox. Suddenly, you realized we were leaving you behind so you marched over, squatted down and started looking at all our faces with this "okay, what are we looking at" expression. You love to give them things. Even when they don't want it. You insist Lucy takes her doll with her places. And when she tries to put her away, you'll go get her and take her back to Lucy. So helpful!

So, what's going on here?

Okay, I think I got this.

You also are starting to like dolls. You give them hugs and carry them around. You also love balls and the sandbox and the cozy coupe, especially if Lucy or Jonah is willing to push your around. I saved you when Jonah thought it would be fun to push it to the top of the hill and watch you go down but I think you might have be disappointed I stopped that too. When you aren't moving or chasing them around, you like to read books and snuggle. You naps are changing so you've started joining us for the table time portion of our school day. You love to dance in your high chair to all our folks songs and hymns and this of course makes Lucy and Jonah laugh. You'd probably do anything to make them laugh and the same could be said about you.  I can tell you are starting to realize that Lucy is better if you want to look at books or hug someone and Jonah is better if you want to climb on someone. I love watching you form relationships with everyone else in our family.

Of course, you aren't quite perfect. You do have a nasty habit of biting. Especially noses, chins and if you can get a hold of them, cheeks. But you do know what "no" means and most of the time, you listen. You also spit things out on command which is still one of my favorite baby "tricks." Very useful.

So, despite your few teeny tiny flaws, we all love you to pieces and I can't imagine this past year without you!