Lila turns ONE!

On Monday, January 24th, our little Lila turned one.

This day seems like such a long time ago, yet it also feels like just yesterday.


Now here she is, so grown up, on the eve of her first birthday.




Lila is changing and growing so much every day. She has recently started sleeping all the way through the night - perhaps Mom and Dad's favorite milestone yet. She is napping well and seems more rested and happier during the day now that she is sleeping longer and more soundly at night. We're hoping that her nights of being awake for hours on end are behind us, for her sake as well as ours. Everyone is so much happier in our house with solid sleep!

Lila is eating 3 meals a day of solid food now. She's pretty much eating what we are eating, chopped into tiny pieces. She's still got just the 4 teeth, so she likes to bite and then gum food down. With only a few exceptions (watermelon and avocados) Lila has really liked the foods we have given her. She really enjoys yogurt, black beans, clementines, homemade whole wheat bread, cottage cheese, peppers, lentils, peas, curry, tofu, and apples.

Lila is still nursing in the mornings and evenings, and is still taking breast milk at daycare 3 times a day. Just yesterday they transitioned her away from the bottle to the sippy cup (or "zippy cup" as they call it - hee). Lila wants nothing to do with "zippy" cups at home, preferring to drink out of regular cups, so I was really worried about how the transition would go at daycare. I was also kind of bummed that we were going to have to get her started on the sippy cups - one more thing to wean her off of - when she doesn't even like them. We decided that even though she'll take her milk in the "zippy" cup at daycare, we'll continue to only use regular cups at home. Hopefully that will prevent any sort of need for us to make a big transition later on. Anyway - apparently Lila drank all of her milk out of her "zippy" cup yesterday with no problems. All that worry and it was a non-event - yay!

Lila has her one year check-up later this month and then we'll talk about partially weaning her onto cow's milk while still nursing in the morning and evenings at home. I'm not a huge fan of giving her cow's milk - not for any nutritional reasons, but rather because I really dislike cow's milk, so why should I expect my child to drink it? Then again, her dad loves cow's milk, so maybe she'll love it (or at least like it) well enough to drink it a few times a day for the fat, calories, and nutritional supplement to her food.

Lila is quite the chatterbox these days. She is saying, "mamamamama!" and "daaaad!" (practicing for her angsty teen years), and "baa!" She also likes to blow raspberries and do the yodel thing where she makes noise and pats her hand over her mouth. Of course she also likes to sing.

Lila likes to stand, and is frustrated that she's not walking yet. She does not want to sit down, but has also not quite figured out how to put one foot in front of the other. Soon! She's very content standing at the edge of the coffee table playing with her toys. That's her favorite.

Such a busy little girl! Without further ado... on to the big birthday!

Lila's friends and family joined us on the Saturday before her birthday to celebrate with us. She had such a great time!

Here's a video of everyone singing "happy birthday" to her while Mom and Dad present her with her mini birthday "cake".



Lila was not sure what to do with all of the attention... and that crazy hat!

After some coaxing, she decided to dive into her birthday dessert (a whole wheat apple muffin with yogurt "frosting").

Tasty, but why are all of these people still staring at me?

Lila's Grandpa and Grandma flew in from New York to spend her birthday with her. Here she enjoys a chat with Grandpa.

Lila loves to sing and dance, and she particularly loves making her own music. She is a huge fan of the maracas at daycare, so we decided that she needed a set of her own at home. Here she is singing and shaking the maracas for Grandpa and Grandma.

She is now the proud owner of a tambourine, too. Her favorite thing to do is play the tambourine with the maracas. Smart girl!

Lila especially enjoyed opening her birthday cards and gifts.

Her Godparents went all out and got her a pony. Of course she loved it and she immediately decided that it needed kisses. Her new favorite thing is kissing. Open mouthed and sometimes with a little bit of tongue. We've got to work on puckering.

Lila enjoyed a relaxing bubble bath after her big day. So sleepy!

Another one of Lila's favorite gifts is her new car. (A pony and a car for her first birthday? Wow!) She would like you to know that the only acceptable way to learn how to drive is pantsless and with a maraca in hand. Of course.

Look out, world! Lila, coming through! BEEP, BEEP!

Hey, look what Daddy found in the laundry!

Lila LOVES clementines. And beans. But especially clementines. :)

This has been an amazing year, in every sense of the word. It has been the hardest, most rewarding, most tiring, most joyful year of our lives. We are so excited for this year and all of the changes and exciting things that it holds for our sweet girl - and us!

Happy first birthday, and happy second year of life, little Lila!