Baby Milestones — One Year Old

Happy Birthday Sweet Charlotte!

It's official! As of 1:07p.m. today, Charlotte has successfully made her first complete journey around the sun all on her own. Way to go baby girl! She's grown so much since she was less than eight pounds and could barely move a muscle. Now she's a walking, talking, dancing baby with the personality that would go places in pageants . . . although we'll never know for sure. I'm eager to share what Charlotte is up to at one-year-old.

Talking & Reading. Lately Charlotte has been picking up her books, flipping through pages and reading out loud in sweet baby gibberish mixed with some recognizable words, which are more often than not, "up, dada, mama, happy, baba, papa, hi, hey and hello." She's been experimenting with new sounds lately, so she interchanges all her consonants and vowels, often surprising herself with what she comes up with. She also will choose to mimic certain phrases I say, which is adorable and kind of scary. 

Moving & Swaying. Dancing has taken on a whole new level recently, as Charlotte is bouncing at the knees, isolating her hips from the top half of her body, moving in all sorts of creative ways. She inherited my inner cheerleader and Josh's drummer rhythm. She's loved heavy metal since day one, and it makes me laugh all the time to see her little body shaking around to Black Dahlia Murder, especially when I used to turn my head sideways when Josh would play it for her in the hospital at one day old, and she would instantly stop crying.

No. Charlotte is really starting to understand concepts, one of which is "no." She shakes her head side to side, saying no when she is about to get into something like my purse. Other times I swear her shaking her head back and forth is really just another signature dance move, but either way it's pretty cute.

Climbing. Charlotte is a little rock-climbing baby. With or without assistance, I watch her climb up and onto baby gates, boxes, her toy box, toys, people and anything else that's in front of her. She loves climbing stairs, and she's actually really quick at it too. I have to be careful with which toys I put in her playpen, as she has already figured out stacking things together could make for a great escape.

Schedule. I work outside of the home no more than four hours a day, a handful of days a month. On most days that we spend every waking moment together, Charlotte is on a perfect schedule. She wakes up at 7a.m., naps before noon and again before 4p.m. Then she's down for the night by 8p.m. She will wake up once or twice in the night, which I'm not complaining!

Can I brag a little bit? I think Charlotte is the happiest baby in the world. During her one year photo shoot, we watched this little girl come alive on camera. She was just beside herself having the full attention of her mom, dad, aunt Natalie and new friend and photographer Katie (A Simple Story Photography). Katie admitted ours was the easiest one year photo shoot she's ever done, because Charlotte is a sweet babe.

Happy first birthday baby Charlie! You're a silly goose, and you bring so much joy to everyone around you!