Dear Sadie: 13 Months

Dear Sadie,

You are a proper toddler now! On November 5th you took your first consecutive steps and since then you have been getting better and better at staggering around the house. At first it was a novelty for you, a new fun thing to try out when you felt like it, but your main mode of motoring was still crawling. But after a few weeks, you now prefer to walk. You take your share of tumbles and your dad and I cringe and run to pick you up, but so far no bruises or blood.

On the move in your pumpkin shirt:

You still love books. You will thrust one at us demanding to be read to, or sometimes you like to sit and read on your own. Here you are reading a big book your Great Aunt Pat gave you:

Time to clean out the too small clothes again. You like to help.

You are a very sweet baby who likes to hug and give kisses. When you kiss, you press your lips together and lean in making a ''mmmmmm" sound but your forehead arrives first so you don't actually plant your lips on anything. When you hug, you grab tight with both arms and lay your head down on us which is also very sweet.

You now have two proper teeth on the bottom and one that has just barely broken through the gums on the top. We can tell they are very sore and lately you've been getting grouchy spells which we blame on your teething.

Although your food choices have expanded, it is tricky to get you to sit still and eat very much. You hate being pinned down in your highchair and will only tolerate it for a few minutes. So we prepare little cups of food and pop morsels in your mouth as you toddle around and play throughout the day. You gave guacamole another try and decided you like it. You are a California baby after all.

You love to dance! You just start wiggling whenever you hear music or anything rhythmic like the wash cycle on the washing machine. You also like to climb on anything low enough to the ground for you to get up on top of. You like to climb all over us when we sit on the floor.

We think you know about 10-12 words that you use in the right context. When someone leaves you wave and say "bye" and you wave and say "hi" when you see someone you know, or the cat or the dog. You wake up in the morning and say "hi Larry" or "hi Daddy". You still don't say "Mama" very often but I think you know that's what to call me.

You are going through a bit of a shy stage right now. You used to smile at strangers we'd see in public but now you are more likely to frown and hide your face. When we first arrive at a play group, you want to cling to me for a while instead of crawling around with the other babies. I've learned to let you decide when you feel it is safe to go exploring. If I put you down to play before you are ready you'll cry, but if I hold you until you wiggle, you'll eventually go off and have fun.

Your Grandpa John saw how much you like to play in the sand at the park and made you a sandbox in the back yard. We spend some time out there playing almost every day.