The Journey of Parenthood…

Brittlynn – 12 Months Old!

Brittlynn turned one year old on December 6th! I am in disbelief about this!!! It is the LAST month of her stickers and the last month in the What to Expect the First Year book. Time to dig out my toddler year copy! 

While I’m glad I did the monthly sticker thing as I like the picture comparison thing…it was kinda annoying! Pretty glad to not have to deal with it again until baby #3 comes along 😉

At 12 months old Britt can do everything a baby her age should be able to do including:

  • walk holding onto furniture (cruise) 
  • use a few gestures to get needs met

She can also do almost everything a baby her age will probably be able to do including:

  • play patty-cake (clap) or wave bye-bye (most kids should be doing this by 13 months)
  • drink from a cup independently
  • pick up a tiny object neatly with thumb and forefinger (pincher grasp – many babies don’t develop this until nearly 15 months)
  • stand alone momentarily (and by momentarily I mean she can do it for 10 seconds or less, many don’t accomplish this until 13 months)

From this category she is not yet saying “dada” or “mama” discriminately (it says most babies will be able to do one of these words by 14 months) and she is not saying any words other than “dada” (it says many babies don’t say their first words until 14 months). She talks CONSTANTLY in her own little babbling language and sometimes it will SOUND like she’s saying words but really she’s just not yet! I’m not stressing over it because I have heard 2nd borns tend to not talk as quickly since they have an older sibling speaking for them!

Brittlynn can do a couple of the things a baby her age may possibly be able to do including:

  • “play ball” (roll a ball back to you) she also likes to throw them haha (many don’t accomplish this until 16 months)
  • use immature margining (gibberish baby talk – most don’t do this until after their first birthday and many don’t until they are around 15 months)

She cannot yet:

  • stand alone well (many don’t reach this point until 14 months old)
  • walk well (three out of four babies don’t walk well until 13 1/2 months, and many not until considerably later. Good crawlers may be slower to walk; when other development is normal, late walking is rarely a cause for concern)

Britt can do one that a baby her age may even be able to do and that is that she can respond to a one-stop command without gestures such as “give that to me” without a hand out. (Most children will not reach this stage until after their first birthday, many not until after 16 months)

She cannot, however, do the other thing from the may even be able to do category and that is say three or more words other than “mama” or “dada” (a good half of babies won’t read this stage until 13 months and may not until 16 months)

I know as a first time mom I would have been STRESSING. I mean Britt started out SO head in all categories and now she’s not achieving every little milestone as early as she was before. The beauty of being a parent for the second time: much less stress. I know she’s developing FINE and I am zero percent concerned about her lack of standing for long, lack of walking on her own, and lack of saying legit words. It’ll all come with time! She IS at the point where people are starting to ask “is she walking yet?” and I remember being annoyed by that with Kye…and yes, it’s still annoying. I really do think she falls into that category of “good crawlers” who take longer to walk. Girl is a SPEED DEMON with crawling!!! Why walk slowly when you can crawl quickly, right?

At lot of this chapter was devoted to weaning. I am SO PROUD of myself for nursing for Britt’s full first year of life. With Kye, I was proud of myself for going beyond my goal. My goal was 6 months and I went 9 months with him but with Britt I wanted to go the full year. I’m so thankful I did and will discuss all of that in an upcoming post about the entire weaning process 🙂 

This chapter also talked a lot about self-feeding, which Britt is already a pro at. It also covered some questions about SIDS safety. When is it okay to put a blanket and pillow in the crib? The book says that it’s actually better for ALL of us to not sleep with a pillow at all. I know myself I have been having neck pain recently so I started only sleeping on one (very flat) pillow at night instead of the two I’m used to and the pain is gone. I did not give Kye a blanket or pillow until HE requested them (and they are his “friends” that he became attached to when he weaned from the paci. I do not plan to give a blanket or pillow to Britt in the bed anytime soon either (the pillow in these pics stays on her chair all the time). I would consider a blanket to help keep her warm (we STILL have issues with the guys who did our ac work when they built the house…the kids rooms are FREEZING) but she’s such a wild sleeper she’d never keep it on her anyway! The book recommends holding off on pillows and blankets until they transition to a bed, at around age 2. 

Here are LOTS more pics of my BIG 1 year old!

Notice her little belly button…it’s an outie!

Amazing to me how well her hair has grown in!

Kye had to get in some pics too

Showing off his “big boy feet”

I love my babies 🙂

Goodbye Monthly Stickers!!!

You can look back at Britt’s 11 month pics here and Kye’s 12 month ones here! I love how I can look at Kye’s pics from then and see Kye today in them. Don’t you wish you could go back and REMEMBER everything about them when they were little??? While I ADORE the age Kye is at now I do miss him being the age Britt is at sometimes too 🙂 

Here’s a look back at ALL the monthly pics Britt has had! Hard to believe it’s been a YEAR already!

(notice a trend…this child CONSTANTLY has her mouth open haha)

Emily Parker
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