Happy 1st Birthday, Abigail!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, MISS ABIGAIL!

~Where has the last year gone?!  Our sweet Abigail is 1!  We celebrated her birthday with a fun ice-cream themed birthday party!  The weather was beautiful, allowing the kids to have fun in the pools and on the swing set.

~While we haven't made the official "call" yet, Abigail is starting to walk!  She has taken up to 8 steps independently several times a day.  She isn't extremely confident, but she is determined and will continue trying.  She appears more confident cruising and will travel around a room, barely resting her hand on furniture or walls along the way. 

~Abigail independently signs "more" and "all done".  However, don't ask her if she's "all done" or wants "more" at the end of a meal, as she'll sign both upon hearing the words!  She waves and blows kisses.  She also nods/shakes her head upon hearing yes/no.  Abigail also likes to continue "singing" while tapping her mouth with her hands.  She'll also give open mouth kisses.

~She will occasionally state "Mo" repeatedly when asking for something.  She has several babbled sounds, pitches and inflections.

~Abigail is doing a great job eating table food!  She wants what her brothers are eating, so don't try to give her anything else! However, it is acceptable to dip her spoon into two bowls -- one with her separate food and one with something they are also eating.  Some current favorites are toast, any meat, french fries/tator tots, pretzels, cereal, green beans, spaghetti, pancakes, apple sauce and yogurt.  We haven't given her whole milk yet, but she's able to drink from a sippy cup and is getting better about drinking from a straw cup, although she wants to tilt it up.  She is able to finger feed herself.

~Abby becomes quite the ham when she notices that we are taking her picture!  She'll flash a beautiful, sometimes cheesy grin!

~She loves peek-a-boo!

~She has such a wonderful personality!  She's a happy, smiley, easy going gal!

Abigail had her 1 year appointment the day after her birthday!  She received a clean bill of health and charmed the doctor with her giggles and grins.  She also received four vaccinations. She wasn't pleased about them, but calmed down quickly.  

Current stats:

29 3/4 inches    72nd percentile

22lbs 13.5oz     88th percentile

18 inch head     72nd percentile

Graduation for Gavin!

Gavin has officially graduated (exited) from Help Me Grow services! 

Help Me Grow services discontinue when children turn three.  In preparation for this transition, families and Help Me Grow providers meet with their residing school district to determine if a student may qualify for preschool services.  At Gavin's transition meeting, we discussed the great progress he has made with his communication skills.  We all agreed that he would not qualify for speech services in preschool.  Just to verify, we met with the SLP for a play date.  She agreed that he has age appropriate language skills, including his vocabulary and articulation skills.  We're so proud of him!  He has many, many words, speaks in phrases, and is intelligible!  We're planning for him to attend preschool in the fall, which should only continue to help his language skills progress!

Graduation for Brennan!

 
Brennan is officially a preschool graduate!  He attended two years at Wee Care Preschool in Fremont, Ohio, attending 3 full days a week.  He absolutely loved school and did a great job! We're so proud of him!

Watch out kindergarten, here comes Brennan!

11 Months Old!

Our sweet Abigail is 11 months old!

~Abby is on the move!  She crawls very quickly and is beginning to cruise along furniture.
~She is able to stand unassisted for several seconds.  Her face lights up with excitement when she's praised for standing!
~Move over baby food, Miss Abigail wants the real stuff!  While she will still eat pureed food with encouragement, she definitely prefers table food.  She's able to feed herself small bites of food, including noodles and grilled cheese.  She does much better with sippy cups and enjoys drinking water from them.  Abigail also likes to get food out of snack cups.
~Abby loves to swing!  She'll smile from ear to ear and giggle when pushed on the baby swing on our backyard swingset.
~In addition to "bye bye", she has also uttered a few sweet "Ma ma's"!  She will, however, consistently imitate her silly big brothers when they blow raspberries.
~Abigail will shake/nod her head when we say "yes" or "no".
~Forget baby toys, Abigail prefers her brothers' toys
~She's showing interest in climbing stairs and has been able to scale a stair or two!
~Abigail has such a wonderful and happy personality! 

She Speaks!

We've made the call as she's doing it at the appropriate times and far too often to be coincidence!

Abigail's first word: Bye bye!

She even accompanies it with an adorable wave!

9...err...10 Month Stats

Due to rescheduling her 9 month well check, Abigail was 10 months by the time we could get her in for an appointment.  Current stats:

21 lbs  6 oz
29"
17" head circumference

The doctor was pleased with her development and enjoyed her smiles.  He also liked her adorable pig tails!

10 Months!

 

Miss Abigail is 10 months old!

~Abigail has a list of adorable "tricks"!  She raises her hands in the air in response to "How big is Abigail?" ("So big!").  She claps, typically just moving only her right hand.  She'll also clap when asked to say "more" (adaptation of the sign for "more").  Abby also claps when you sing "Patty Cake" to her.  She loves to dance and will move her upper body up and down and/or back and forth when she hears music.
~She loves to eat!  She gets excited when she sees baby food containers or table food that she likes to eat.  She's doing a great job eating puffs, Cheerios and crackers.  Abigail does a great job feeding herself, including picking up small pieces and taking bites from her crackers.  She's also enjoyed a few tator tots.  She's doing well with a sippy cup, but frequently lets the water cascade out of her mouth.
~Abby is a great sleeper!  She takes 2 good naps a day and sleeps through the night.  At home, she nurses before sleeping and typically falls asleep while eating.  She's woken a few times when I lay her down, but will easily put herself back to sleep.  She is put down awake at the babysitter's and heads to dreamland on her own.  She seems to prefer sleeping on her side.  She quietly plays in her bed for a while after waking up.
~Belly laughs still give her the hiccups!
~She likes to play Peek A Boo, including attempting to cover and uncover herself.
~Abigail has such a wonderful personality!  She's such a happy girl.  We frequently get comments from others and the babysitter about her constant happiness!
~She is on the move!  She's a quick crawler and enjoys pulling herself up on everything she can.
~We've had an explosion of teeth!  She now has 8 teeth, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.  She cut all 4 top teeth in a matter of about 3 days.  She's a champion teether...only a little bit of extra drool and mouthing of objects.