Just the Beginning

Copper seemed to go from crawling to pulling herself up to creating complete chaos in a very short amount of time. Once she learned to crawl she realized that there are no limits to her abilities. Every obstacle is now a challenge that she is determined to overcome. Which means a lot more supervision on our part. This video was shot on November 22 and the next day she was right back up the stairs and she had already perfected her technique. Now every time she's playing in the basement, she heads to the stairs and starts climbing.

Happy 1st Birthday, Copper Jo!

For a whole month I get to refer to my daughter in terms of a year instead of months. For a whole month she will be "One." Not 12 months. One Year Old. It feels a bit surreal having a one year old. How so much can change in just a year's time. The fascinating thing about this is that I will feel this way every year from now on. I will be amazed when she turns two, in awe of what she has all accomplished when she turns 3, and this is how it will be every year. I won't view the passage of time through my own birthday's but rather through Copper's. At One Year Old Copper is practicing standing on her own, can control her sitting from a standing position, she uses sign language to tell me when she wants "more", she pulls herself up on any and everything, she looks at dogs and ducks and makes sounds that sound like "dog" and "duck", she blows kisses and waves goodbye, she is not stingy when it comes to hugs, she likes to give kisses (big wet ones, often open mouth), she has two teeth, she likes to pet Melvin and Flea, she holds on to me tight when she doesn't want to go somewhere, she makes lots of sounds when she's "reading" books, she sort of knows how to use a fork and spoon, she loves cheese, and yogurt, she makes the weirdest faces, she makes me so happy that I don't miss the life that I had before she became a part of it. Every year we will wish her a Happy Birthday, make a big deal out of her special day, and buy her gifts. Every year I will reflect on all of her accomplishments and every year I will be reminded that on her birthday I was given the best gift I could ever imagine.

Quote of the Day

"No. No eating paperclips."

-Me to Copper

Chompers

Copper's bottom two chompers finally poked through about a week ago! As anticipated she tried to bite my nipple off. It was actually pretty funny because it happened kind of gradually and she was giving me a menacing look and smiling while she did it. It was hard not to laugh, which is why I did laugh. Luckily it was grandual and she didn't just bite down. Although then my reaction would have been more along the lines of discouraging instead of encouraging. Later that same day she was giving me quite the smooch and bit my lip too. Which she also found pretty funny. Ok, I did too.