mwah

In less than one week, Squirt will turn one. (Wow!) She has already received one of her birthday presents - a semester of Music Together classes. She loves music, especially if it has a good beat (in fact, she now often discovers and dances to the "good beats" of the most mundane sounds, like a churning washing machine). She's only attended one of these classes so far and was a bit shy around the new faces, but she seemed to really enjoy herself. I think that, as she grows more familiar with the other children, she will really start to blossom and learn new ways of experiencing and sharing music. Along this theme, I've added a new element to her evening routine. As we start to unwind and before we snuggle up and read, we now sit at our little keyboard on the floor and play some of the songs from the new music book. She watches, dances, and sometimes tries to play her own music. She's beginning to really understand where the music comes from and how to make her own. It's such a great pleasure to share music with her!

On top of her new explorations of music, Squirt has become consumed with mastering some new skills. While she has the basics down pat (self-feeding, walking, waving), she has recently began practicing finer skills, such as using utensils, kissing, and dressing. She stabs almost maniacally at her dinner plate with whichever utensil I dare to hand her. Sometimes she manages to skewer a chunk of food, which she then masterfully feeds to herself. It was hilariously entertaining to watch her get to this point, though. When she was first contemplating how to use her fork, she would hold it, pick up a piece of food, place it on the fork, then beam with pride. She would then remove that piece of food and eat it. Close, so close...

One of my favorite new skills that she's trying to master is kissing. She's been giving slobbery, awkward "kisses" for months, but has just recently figured out how to pucker up and smack. And when she wants to kiss you, she WILL kiss you! She grabs at your shirt, hair, face - anything she can get her little hands on - pulls you to her, and plants a giant kiss on you with an enthusiastic "mwah!" She's also started blowing kisses! If you blow a kiss to her, she will kiss in her hand and then wave it at you. It's so adorable and heart warming!

There's one "skill" that I'm not as excited about. She is increasingly interested in her clothing. She tries to put things on, but she also takes things off... When I walked into her room at daycare yesterday, she was running around, squealing, and twirling her dress over her head! She had figured out how to work the buckles and was having great fun taking her dress off then trying (and failing) to put it back on. She has figured out how her diapers work, too. If she's in the right mood, she will pull at the tabs and run around the house with a bare bottom. Since I don't care much for the filthy, threadbare carpet in our house, I don't mind this too horribly much and hope this is a sign that she'll be easy to potty train... On the flip side of this new skill, she is actually trying to learn how to put things on, too. Yesterday evening we spent a half hour (I wish I were exaggerating) just putting her shoes on and taking them off and putting them back on. She was fascinated and absolutely determined to figure out how to do it herself. With her level of determination, I think she'll have this down pat very soon.

Watching Squirt reach the big milestones - sitting, crawling, walking - has been exciting. Watching her try to master these smaller skills is just as wonderful. It's so amazing to watch this little creature who, just one year ago, was still in my belly. It's amazing how quickly she grew and how much she has developed! While this first year and the giant milestones that come with it are drawing to a close, I'm possibly even more excited about this upcoming year. This is when she's really going to start exploring the world (whether I like it or not). So many new adventures (and kisses) await!

Helping momma check out the sale flyers.

Dresses go in wagons, not on little girls, don'cha know?

Mwah!