13 Months Old

Natalie is wearing 18 month old clothes still, and size 5 shoes. I am reluctant to pick her up as often just because she's getting so heavy, plus she is wants to be more independent, so it works out for both of us. She walks up and down the stairs holding my hand and the opposite wall for balance (she can almost use the railing!), she can climb up onto all of our couches and the bed in the guest room, and just recently discovered how to open drawers. There's always something new that we need to babyproof! She's definitely keeping us on our toes, but she does a good job of listening, too. When we say "no" and shake our heads, she will comply most of the time and walk away from what she was doing while also shaking her head. So cute!

Now that Natalie is so agile, there have been many moments where we turn around to see her in the midst of something new, odd, and/or dangerous. Upon seeing her new accomplishments, our most popular comments are "Oh, crap!" "Awww, how cute!" "Where did you get that?!" or "How did you do that?!" This was one of those moments - she was just dancing and waving the dusters around on top of the diaper box:

In order to give her a safer discovery outlet in which to climb/jump/run, we tried a couple classes at Great Play. She LOVES it! We are considering enrolling her. I wish I had a better video of her playing there:

Natalie is still taking two naps a day, but may only take one on occasion. She does pretty well telling us when she’s tired by using her signs (hand on cheek like she’s resting). We will also ask her “Are you tired?” while putting our hand on our cheek, and she will usually respond with that same sign. Unfortunately, she has found her LOUD voice, which she uses when she needs to get our attention after many failed attempts, or when she's just having a good time playing by herself. Nevertheless, we are still having a wonderful summer spending quality time with our daughter! She cracks us up! Such a silly girl: