Davis Family: Avalon's One Year Update

I cannot believe that our baby girl is a year old. I feel like this posting should be very detailed, but frankly I was so behind with my 10 and 11 month updates that almost everything has been covered. I definitely enjoyed Avalon's first year. Poor Waylon was our guinea pig. We joked that he was trying to send messages to the outside world that his clueless parents needed serious help. The second time around things were crazy because there were two, but I did not feel so incompetent. I also spent a lot of time just enjoying Avalon's infant stage, knowing that it goes way too fast. That said, I still cannot believe twelve months have already passed. At this rate she'll be driving before we know it.

The big news this month was that Avalon started exclusively high crawling on December 2. She just decided to get up off her belly and that was that. She still scooches now and again, but most of the time she crawls to her destination of choice, immediately holds on to something (even the wall) and stands up. She likes to cruise. About two weeks ago we pulled out the walker, and she loves walking all around, but does not know how to fix her course when she bangs into things. She loves it so much that she will grab on to any toy with wheels and start pushing it around to get where she wants to go. This girl is dying to walk! However, she doesn't have the confidence to let go and stand, or to take independent steps.

Avalon is still playing a lot with Waylon's toys, and I can often just chill out while they play, either independently or together. She is eating a ton, and as of today (12/28) she is done nursing. She still wont take a bottle very well, but I am trying to sneak milk into her cereal, and the pediatrician assured us that she will be fine. Since I dont have to worry about the milk feedings, I am letting Avalon eat as much solid food as she wants at all three meals, and she loves it! The girl can eat, and will make crazy pterodactyl noises to let you know what she wants, especially when she sees other eating.

At her one year well check, Avalon was 19 lbs, 1 oz (20th percentile), 28 inches (20th percentile) and her head was in the 30th percentile. She is proportional, but still small. People are often surprised when I tell them her age, and I am shocked when I see other babies her age that look so much older. I am in no hurry to have her get bigger. I know it will happen. She is a healthy baby, and our main goal now is to encourage her verbal skills, including her receptive skills such as following simple commands. Like her brother, she can be stubborn so its hard to tell if she does not understand what we are asking her to do, or she just chooses not to do it.