12 months old

• Gwynn is one!
• She had her 12 month check-up and here are her stats:
  • Length: 31 inches (99-100th percentile)
  • Weight: 22.6 lbs (75th percentile)
  • Head Circumference: 18.5 inches
• She can follow some directions fairly well. If we ask her to touch her head and touch her feet she can do it with just a verbal cue. She is also responding well to being told “no.” We try to use it sparingly so she knows we mean business when we say it so I think this has helped.  She still gets a big grin on her face when she hears it, but generally will stop whatever the negative behavior is (trying to get in the fireplace for example).
• Gwynn is getting into everything. One of our phones will be in a toilet soon, I can tell.
• While she gets into things all the time, she’s also very, very good at putting things where they belong. For example, she’ll take everything out of her play purse (keys, cell phone, bracelet, mirror) and then put it back later even if it’s spread out throughout the room!  She also searches for all of her animals (cat, dog, rabbit, and bird) that belong in her house and will put them all back together where they belong.  She loves when Mommy and Daddy sing the “Clean Up” song and will help put blocks, books, etc. away when play time is finished. 
• Gwynn has 8 teeth now. We brush them each night before she goes to bed, which she enjoys.
• Gwynn is down to two bottles a day – one in the morning and one at night. We are slowly weaning Gwynn off of formula an onto milk. Milk mixed with formula in her bottle works fine, but milk in a cup isn’t her favorite. We usually have to pretend we are drinking it and really enjoying it in order for her to taste any.  She still prefers water or a juice/water combo at meals and snacks.
• Her eating habits are fairly typical of a regular person (minus the two bottles). She eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a couple snacks thrown in there. We don’t really use baby food anymore (although we'll have to use some since we have some in the cupboard). She’ll eat whatever we have. Her recent favorites are cheese quesadillas, spaghettio’s, and any fruit (especially watermelon, cantaloupe, and strawberries).  
• Gwynn is on the move. She walks full time now, no crawling at all. In fact, she will pick up the pace and almost run sometimes. She loves to hold as many toys as possible when walking (usually she’ll have a toy in her mouth too).

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Happy Birthday Gwynn!

We’ll celebrate Gwynn’s birthday on Sunday, but thought it would be nice to let her have a little fun on her actual birthday too so we  got her a doughnut.

After some initial hesitance she decided it looked good.

“For me?”

“Mmm, diabetes!”

Mommy broke up the doughnut into smaller pieces that Gwynn could eat.

It made for a much bigger mess when she took each piece and threw it on the ground. She did eat some doughnut though.

On to the McWane Center!

We started in the little kid’s section with a water station. Gwynn thought she was getting a bath I think.

Racing against the clock in the a wheelchair.

Gwynn was hesitant to go into the forced perspective room. She could tell it wasn’t right. I don’t think she’ll be an M.C. Escher fan.

McWane needs a room with nothing but buttons for kids like Gwynn.

The light up floor was reminiscent of something from Studio 54. Gwynn was not a fan.

Daddy punctured his kidney due to the extra weight. Notice the sign on the wall clearing saying “1 person at a time”. Rules are for squares.

A confusing station where you put objects on a large turntable. We made it halfway to the next floor before we realized she still had this ball.

Playing some Beethoven with my Nikes.

Anything that involves putting things in or pulling them out is right up Gwynn’s alley.

These interactive video walls are fun, although this one didn’t seem to work too well.

Putting coins in a coin slot is something pirates do apparently.

Her first slide.

“That was lame, where’s the bungee jumping area?”

This was Gwynn’s favorite area.

They had two dozen flowers planted and she took out every. single. one.

“Whoops, missed a few.”

“If you’re trying to clean the place up, don’t bother.”

Working on that upper body strength.

That seems like an awfully oversized opening.

Daddy would hold out his hand and collect the rocks and then drop them on the heads of the kids’ shadows.

Daddy channels Han Solo.

Grammy channels the bad guy from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

Daddy trying his hand and meteorology.

Getting into the hurricane simulator.

Gwynn checking out some jellyfish.

Now that we know The McWane Center has things that Gwynn enjoys…we can’t wait to go back!

Happy 4th of July!

We went to Grammy’s house for July 4th.

Gwynn prefers to use water for sustenance, not recreation at this point.

She never quite got used to the water.

Gwynn and her second cousin Hunter.

Like two peas in a pod.

On the move, as always.

After dinner Gwynn sat in her rocker and read us stories.

Gwynn is getting much better at simple puzzles.

Uncle Jeremy was not trying to be funny, this is how he holds children.

Our little girl is a year old!!

This is the last of the weekly pictures.  It’s very bittersweet.  We love documenting Gwynn’s growth in pictures, but it has become very difficult to get her to sit still for a picture!! Can’t believe it’s been 52 weeks already! (Week 51 was taken in Virginia since we were on vacation and away from “the chair”).