I'm up to four teeth now! 

Okay, okay... I'm almost up to four teeth.  The fourth one is just barely breaking the surface today.  The third one came the morning of my birthday party, just in time to eat the cake.

Mommy and Daddy are very happy the teeth are finally in.  I've been pretty unhappy the past week because it's been very painful.  I haven't been sleeping well or eating well.  But now that I can chew without pain - look out world!

Good morning everyone!  Here I am, the one-year old!  What a great year!

We had a little party over at TY Park this weekend to celebrate.  It was a lot of fun, but we also had a lot of rain.  It made the ground muddy and more fun to play in!    We had lots of good food and cake - although I spent more time playing with my candle than the cake!

Aunt Heather came out from Las Vegas for the weekend.  We had a great visit with lots of play time.  She likes to kiss my belly.  It tickles!

There are lots of birthdays and anniversaries in the family this month - too many to even name!  Happy Birthday to all!  And Happy Anniversary!

Mommy has been so bad about helping me update the site!  We've been busy playing and growing, so I guess I can forgive her.

Over the past week or so I've gotten a few new skills we thought we should report.  Last Saturday I finally learned to spontaneously clap my hands.  We have lots of fun clapping to music and celebrating my little accomplishments, like climbing my slide on my own - but that's another story.  I am also practicing standing up by myself to clap and dance to music.

About 24 hours after clapping I learned to say "uh oh".  Now my vocabulary consists of "mama", "dada", "up" and "uh oh".  Mommy's pretty sure I also have my own word for "kitty", but she's not positive and I'm not telling! 

Last, but not least, I'm progressing pretty well on balancing and walking.  I can efficiently use my lion walker to get around the room, or hold on to furniture and move pretty quickly.  (Last night we had a funny episode where Mommy chased me with the DustBuster while I ran using the couch as support!  I laughed so hard!)  I can take 2 steps, basically between support structures, by myself as well.  Walking will be right around the corner!

Mommy and Daddy have long wondered when I would get my first tooth.  They've started humming "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth".

So, right after celebrating my first Thanksgiving with turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and ice cream (all self-fed!), I spent Friday complaining of sore gums.  Finally, on Saturday the first tooth broke the surface!  My lower right tooth can just barely be seen above the gumline now!

I had my first trip up the stairs by myself today!

I saw a cat toy at the foot of the stairs, which caught my eye.  Once I had my prize, I noticed something even more interested on the stairs themselves - the kitty!  Ginger was about halfway up.  Since I've been practicing on the slide at school, I decided that this would be a good chance to test my climbing skills.

So, I just started climbing.  And climbing.  Mommy thought I would tire out, but the kitty ran up the rest of the way and I kept my eye on the prize.  I made it all the way to the landing - 14 steps - without ever looking back!

I had a fun first Halloween!  I went to school in costume, and Daddy took me trick-or-treating at the College for a little while.  I got animal crackers from the President's Office.  What a great invention those things are!  I'd never had one before.

Then, in the evening, lots of people came to see me!  There were goblins and princesses and pirates!  Mommy and Daddy thanked them all for coming with candy.  It was very cool! 

I was so excited about the day I didn't nap well, and Mommy says I missed most of the visitors.  But it was still a lot of fun!

I have made great strides in my mobility this past week!

Last weekend I learned to sit up all by myself.  I roll onto my stomach and then move into a sitting position.  And you know what?  Once I made it past that hurdle, I was ready to move on!

Now that I understood how to move my legs around, I began playing around with crawling and standing.  On Tuesday the school told Daddy they saw me crawl, but Daddy and Mommy couldn't get me to repeat more than a lunge.  It took a couple more days for me to really get everything together.  Then, on Saturday, I crawled about 6 "steps", for a total of about 6 feet.  Now I practice a little with a mixture of crawling and rolling.  It gets me around the living room pretty well. 

Daddy also showed me how to hang onto the ottoman to hold myself on my feet.  A couple times I have crawled over to the ottoman and stood up.  Daddy says once I learn to quit standing on my tippy-toes I might be able to start walking!

Because of all this new mobility, Mommy and Daddy moved my crib down a notch.  Mommy was worried because most mornings over the last week she would come to pick me up and I'd be on my knees, peeking over the rail to see when someone was coming.  For some reason she seemed to think I might launch myself right over the railing!  So, they moved the mattress lower.  I showed them, though - now it is just the right height for me to pull myself up to a standing position!  It is much more fun now to sit and play in the crib!

We've had a bad week around here.  Apparently last week I caught a virus at school.  I didn't really get sick because I was vaccinated, but I did bring home the stomach virus for Daddy and Mommy.  They were feeling so bad they sent me over to Grammy Sara's one night and Grammy Pat's the next.   Both Grammies also caught the virus and got sick.

Then, just as Daddy and Mommy were feeling well enough to go back to work, the stuffy nose I've had for a couple weeks turned into a respiratory infection!  We went to the doctor yesterday and she gave me a decongestant to take.  She wasn't too worried about it because I didn't have a fever.  Then in the afternoon I started running a fever, and by last night it was 102 degrees!  Daddy and Mommy threatened to take me back to the doctor's this morning if it didn't come down.  Luckily, about 4 in the morning my fever finally broke. 

So today we are resting up from a long, worrisome night.