Esther is ONE!

Happy Birthday, Esther!

Esther has been the sweetest addition to our little family. The kids literally can't remember life without her, and we love the little person she is growing into :)

We officially have a toddler! She took her first steps at the beginning of December (10.5 months), then reverted to crawling for several weeks. She finally started walking a bit more just before Christmas, and I noted January 6 (11.5 months) as the day she began walking more than crawling. These days, she's walking all over the place! She gets up and down with ease, and loves to carry things in her hands while she's toddling around.

Sleep. She's napping fairly consistently, usually around an hour, twice a day. Still a rock star nighttime sleeper, going to bed easily at 6:30/7pm, and usually still sleeping at 7am when I have to get her up so we can get Jonah to school on time. (Although, we've reverted to the habit of a pre-wake-up 5 or 6 am feeding...ugh! At least she goes right back to sleep after.)

Have I mentioned that we love winter in Kansas!!

She still has just 6 teeth, but is currently working at least 6 more - final two incisors and the first 4 molars. (I think?....she hardly lets me look in her mouth). She is wearing size 4 diapers and a lot of 18 month clothes. I think that makes her bigger than Jonah at this age, but maybe boys clothes are just bigger? She is definitely bigger than Cora at a year.

Esther is just plain fun. A super happy baby, both silly and sweet. She is inquisitive and playful. She and Jonah still have a special bond, mutually delighting in each other's company. His is always asking if he can carry her around, and most afternoons, he begs for me to let her nap in his bed - ha!

I usually change Esther's diaper on the floor in the living room (out of convenience), and recently, if I don't dispose of the used diaper right away, Esther has taken to carrying it around like some sort of comfort item. Weirdo.

Esther LOVES babies. She will carry her baby around, give her lots of hugs, and has recently started feeding her baby with a bottle or spoon. She also imitates other things: eats pretend food, grabs a pen and "writes" on paper, rubs a chapstick tube on her mouth, tries to put her socks on her feet and her shirt on her head.

We celebrated Esther's birthday tonight with an avocado-chocolate-pudding "cupcake" after dinner - she got to blow out a candle (with Cora's help)! She mostly played with it for quite a while, but I think she did end up eating some of it. She also got to open a few gifts, including a new (noisy!) ride-on toy from Mom and Dad, which was very exciting!

 

Esther is still a very happy, easy-going kid. But she is starting to have some opinions and ideas of her own; this leads to some protesting when we have to redirect or take something away. She is also a hitter :(

She's still putting lots of things in her mouth. She used to respond very well to, "Esther....what do you have? Can I have?" And she'd take it out of her mouth and hand it to you. Now, we get as far as, "Esther...." before she takes off in the opposite direction. And she will clamp her mouth shut and contort her body into all manner of configurations to keep you from digging whatever it is out of her mouth.

This year has flown by! Happy 1st Birthday to you, Esther :)