13 months

Josie is 13 months old! I don't have any more of the "number" onesies and at this point I'm pretty sure it wouldn't really matter because getting her to sit still for a picture is darn near impossible.

This month she's learned a bunch! She is very close to walking and has accidentally taken one or two independent steps at a time. She uses her walker from Gram and Pop Pop to push around on her knees- its very funny to see. She will take a couple steps with it but prefers to zoom on her knees. Speaking of zooming, she has become a fast crawler. Occasionally I will "chase" her which she thinks is hilarious. So hilarious that she often gets too excited and ends up doing a belly flop on the floor when she starts laughing and crawling too fast. 

She has learned to negotiate steps and we have now entered my most dreaded stage. I can no longer leave her in the living room for a sec and be confident that she wouldn't move off the designated play area (separated from the rest of the living room by one step). She will practically throw herself off that step and just the other day she has learned how to go down the steps by our front door. Which is somewhat frustrating because there isn't really a gate large enough to put in front of those steps because of the way our house is set up. I hover in between letting her learn how to do things on her own and making sure she doesn't really hurt herself. So while I want her to learn how to use the stairs...I want to be there in case she loses her balance and falls backwards. Luckily she doesn't think those steps are the most fun thing ever...yet.

Her favorite word by far is "dog". Which comes out more like "DAAaahhh". No "G". She says it when she sees Paisley, when she expects to see Paisley (when I get her up from her crib), when she hears a dog barking, and sometimes just for the fun of it. Dog sounds a LOT like Dada and Dada is sometimes used for Mama so basically we all get called dog a lot. Even Aunt Megan, much to her dismay. 

She is waving champ and will often wave unprompted when she sees someone new. She'll wave when you say "bye-bye" but often waits till the person wanting the wave turns around to leave. She's sneaky like that. I think she's beginning to understand that shaking her head means that she doesn't want something, though she still shakes it plenty when she's just being silly. I love it. It's so cute!

At the beginning of July we upgraded her to convertible carseat. I think she likes it better because she's more upright but I do think it's harder for her to sleep in. We still have the infant seat in our car (the convertible is in the SUV that I drive most often) and she still does well in that (and fits safely..in case anyone was wondering!).

Her naps are now all over the place. Gone are the days when I could count on two 1.5 hour-ish naps. That was a nice 3 months. I keep wondering if she's getting ready to transition to 1 nap a day but she almost always seems tired enough to take a morning nap-which is sometimes 1.5 hours and sometimes 45 minutes. This napping thing is frustrating to me. I like knowing what to expect from my day and with no predictability I have to go with the flow. Which if you know me, is (unfortunately) not my strong point- that's more Charlie's domain. Also, Josie has started consistently waking up earlier- 6:30 am to be exact. I miss the days when she slept till 7:30. I've noticed that when kids do transition to 1 nap they sometimes start sleeping longer in the morning...I hope that is the case for us! I suppose I shouldn't complain- I have friends whose babies get up at 5:30. UUUUGGGGHHH. 

Josie's current favorite activities include petting Paisley, putting things in and out of containers, playing with her play remote (a birthday gift) and just moving in general. Her other favorite thing to do is find my wallet and empty the contents. She continues to eat fairly well though some days its a mystery as to why she refuses something she wolfed down the day before. She eats a good amount of fruits and vegetables, loves dairy and whole grains. She isn't a big meat fan but this doesn't worry me as neither am I as I've gotten older. An example of the love/hate relationship with certain foods is salmon. The first few times I gave it to her she loved it but the last few times she eats a few bites and then wouldn't finish it. We did introduce whole milk this month and she is a fan. Right now we're still nursing so she's getting both at this point. She's learned how to hold and suck the food pouches which is awesome. It's so much less messy to put yogurt in one of those and they're great for leaving the house.

13 months

Clothing size: 9 months though some of her 12 month clothes are starting to fit (mostly the one pieces)

Weight: Unknown. Guess is somewhere in the 18 pound range

Favorite foods: Cheese, Banana, Strawberries

Quirks: Her wave is (like I described last month) more a chop/gang sign, she likes to pull up my shirt and put her head on my stomach (embarrassing in public)

someone is a slightly more cooperative subject