Around Here

This is just a random post full of random things :)   I like writing out all this stuff, because I know I will never remember it if I don't write it down!  So here is what Summer is up to at about one year of age.

WALKING
*Summer took her first steps at Grandma and Grandpa Tommerdahl's trailer last weekend.  She walked from mommy to Grandpa T and took 3 steps.  She walked several other times last weeked, 2-3 steps in between people.  This past Thursday, August 18th, after having a birthday lunch downtown with Auntie Kristin, Summer walked by herself quite a bit.  She took 12 steps in a row all by herself!  Later that day, I was working in the kitchen and she came walking toward me from the living room.  She fell before she got to me, but it was quite surprising!

Here are a few pictures from our birthday lunch with Auntie Kristin and playing at the park.

August birthday buddies!

Celebrating Auntie Kristin's birthday (we met her for lunch in downtown Minneapolis where she works)

Going down the slide

Climbing

At the top of the slide!

TALKING
*Summer is saying quite a few "words" now.  Let me see if I can recap some of them:
1) Ca-Ca (Tucker)
2) Coo-Coo (Coo-Coo Clock)
3) Ga-Ca-Ca (Graham Crackers)
4) Ba (Means both "water bottle" and "book" depending on context)
5) Uh-oh (Started out as ooooh, and then went to uh-oh, usually when she drops something)
6) Amen (means "let's eat!" we pray before each meal, so she associates amen with eating!)
7) Da-Da (Daddy)
8) Ba-Ba (Bubbles)
9) A-Tis-Ah (What is that?)
10) Hi!
11) All Done
**She mimics other words when we say them too.
**We are still working on Mommy :)  She says it sometimes, but not enough where I would guarantee that she knows it!

This little video shows two of her words.  She knows that Daddy always comes home through the garage door, so around dinner time, she will go over to the door and say da-da.  On this particular day, she was VERY excited to see her daddy and started to cry she wanted to see him so bad!  It was really cute!   At the end of the video she sees her water bottle on the table, and you will hear her say "ba-ba".  That distracts her for a little bit on her wish for daddy to come home!

 

Don't want to leave you on a sad note!  Daddy came home, like he always does, and Summer grinned from ear to ear, I wish I had the video camera running!  Here is a little clip of her with daddy later than evening after bath time.

 

Here is one more clip of her being excited to see Daddy.  Summer and I were out mowing the lawn and daddy was replacing the shower door in the bathroom.  He came out to say hi, and she got so excited!

EATING
*Summer loves all fruits and pasta and cheese.  She is not super keen on meat, but will eat it if I mix it with lots of cheese!  Her all-time favorite food is graham crackers and she won't turn them down, and requests them at most meals!  Even if I just go near the cabinet where we keep the graham crackers and point to it, she will get all excited and say "Ga-Ca-Ca, Ga-Ca-Ca!!!"  She loves drinking whole milk, so that transition was easy, which was nice for mommy!

TEETH
*Summer has 7 teeth, 4 on top, and 3 on the bottom.

PLAYING
*Summer is great at playing on her own and entertaining herself.  Her favorite things are anything little she can pick up and hold in both hands.  She almost always has something in at least one, if not both, hands, as she crawls all over.  She loves to open things, take things out, and put things in.  Right now she has been having fun with a little kitchen set we got her for her birthday, because she can open all the cabinets and put play food in them, and take them out!  She still loves cell phones and anything with buttons.  (As I am writing this Summer is typing out a text message to her friend Adry....woops!....just grabbed the phone!)  We try to read at least one book a day, but she usually likes taking the books out of the basket better than reading them!

Here is a little video of her in her kitchen unloading her grocery cart:

SLEEPING
*Summer takes one nap a day some days, and two naps a day other days.  She keeps me on my toes, as some days she needs a lot more sleep than others!  On a more typical day, she will get up between 7-7:30, nap about 10-10:30, and then potentially go down for another nap around 4.  She goes to bed at 8.

PERSONALITY
*It is fun to watch Summer and who she is growing up to be.  She is in constant motion, and loves exploring and looking at everything.  She knows what she wants, where she wants to go, and what she wants to do!  We have had a few tantrums already on things such as not wanting to eat what was in front of her or not wanting to go where we are going.  Overall, she is a very good listener, and when I tell her "no", she will often stop reaching for whatever she was reaching for and crawl the other way.  I am very proud of her!  She loves animals of all types and music too.  I think I love her more every day as I get to know more about what makes up "little Summer"!