Genevieve has decided to toughen up her persona. Instead of leaving just a path of destruction behind her, she now leaves a path of destruction behind her while riding away on her new wheels.
We're thinking about getting her a leather onesie.
It's actually just red right now, but we'll see how it looks tomorrow. Genevieve has been taking learning to walk very seriously lately and has started to take some shaky first steps. She can usually get one or two steps out before grabbing onto something or falling. In this case she fell on my cedar chest. It has a padded top to keep it from being really dangerous, but Genevieve managed to miss the top altogether and hit her eye on a sharp corner.
Being the good mother that I am, I had already read up on what to do in situations like this. I promptly picked Genevieve up and put an ice pack on her eye to keep down the swelling. This really made her mad. She screamed more from the cold cloth than from hitting her eye. So I went to Plan B, which involved her destroying things I was hoping to read, singing silly songs and dancing around like an idiot. This worked immediately. So much for all that book learnin'.
Genevieve had a good time at her birthday but didn't nap very well in the morning. Rather than have her super cranky for the entire party we put her to bed in the middle and then woke her up for cake. Here is a tired little girl wondering why I'm pushing her face towards an open flame while a group of people watch. She never really figured out what was expected of her and after a few minutes of anticipation I gave up and blew out the candles myself.
When it came time to unwrap gifts, however, Genevieve was a pro. She knows all about tearing paper and making a huge mess. I would start each gift a little bit and then let her work her magic. A few pulls later and the paper would be off the gift and in her mouth. Sometimes she would get side tracked and only unwrap one strip of paper and before being ready to move on to the next one. Here she is having a good time unwrapping.
At least, she's not my baby any more. She's now my toddling toddler. I could go on and on about how this year has flown by, but I think it is one of those things that cannot be described but has to be lived.
Genevieve concluded her first year of life with the following stats:
Height: 31" (95th percentile) Weight: 24 lbs. 8 oz. (90th percentile) Head Circumference: 60th percentile # of teeth: 6 Walking: no
For some reason the doctor asked at her checkup if she eats well. Having seen him just check her weight, I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not. How many ~25 pound 1-year-olds does he know that are picky eaters?
Since Genevieve is the size of two 1-year-olds, we had two birthday parties for her (not the real reason, but it sounds good). She has enough toys to keep Danny entertained for several years, and enough clothes to keep her warm at least through the winter. She had lots of cake and a little bit of ice cream. She is very funny when she has had a lot of sugar. She squeals a lot and does her Tom Cruise/Risky Business impression by scooting across the floor on her knees.
