Grits

Maggie loves grits. LOVES them. She's very happy when she has them for breakfast and enthusiastically scoops them up with her spoon and her fingers and any other way she can figure out to get them to her mouth, and they get everywhere, and all these factors happily combine to make for a fun photo shoot!

Behind the wheel

Maggie loves to play in the front seat of the car (when it's in the garage, parked, and turned off, of course!) There's just something about the steering wheel that is so fascinating (not to mention all the other buttons -- she especially loves turning on the emergency flashers!)

Birthday fun

I had a great birthday today! Maggie enjoyed celebrating my birthday, too. :) She was pretty uninterested in opening presents at her birthday (a whole 2 weeks ago) but she was all about opening my presents today.

Yay presents!


Ripping some paper:




Enjoying some yummy cake:


Family portrait:


Not birthday-related but too cute not to share:


It was a fun day -- thanks to everyone who helped make my birthday special!

A walk in the woods

Here are a few pictures from our visit to the Botanical Gardens this morning. It was a bit chilly, but we still had a great time!

Waving excitedly to the ducks out on the pond

Blowing a kiss

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween! Maggie went trick-or-treating for the first time. She did great -- and LOVED all the candy. :)

Photo shoot beforehand -- Patrick and I both wanted pictures with our cute little ladybug!



Maggie went around the neighborhood with her friend, Barbora, who was an adorable dalmatian.


A forlorn (and messy!) Maggie waiting by the door after we got home -- can't we go back out, please, Mom???


Silly little bug!


This one's from the downtown Clemson trick-or-treating on Thursday. We went to the park afterward to play -- I though Maggie looked so cute climbing up the slide in her ladybug costume!

Twelve months of Maggie

I've been inspired to do a recap of some of my favorite pictures from Maggie's first year. It was difficult to decide, but here are my picks, one from each of her first twelve months:

First

Second

Third

Fourth

Fifth

Sixth

Seventh

Eighth

Ninth

Tenth

Eleventh

Twelfth

One!!!

At the park this morning -- it was kind of chilly today!

Maggie turned one year old today! Our baby is turning into a toddler so quickly. And she really does seem more like a toddler to me most of the time now. She's walking all the time -- so much so that on those occasions when she crawls somewhere, I'm surprised. And she's very steady and pretty quick on her feet -- lately she's gotten all too good at turning around and running in the other direction when it's time for a diaper change, naptime, bedtime, etc!

At one year, Maggie is starting to communicate with us, which has been very exciting! She regularly signs "all done" and "more." The only words she's using consistently are "dada" (all the time!), "mama" (sometimes), and "uh-oh" (constantly!) She may not have many words yet, but she's still pretty effective at communicating what she wants. And she clearly understands so much of what we say.


She definitely understands "no" -- though she's gotten a little more resistant the past week or two about obeying us. And she has this charming smile she pulls out when she knows she's doing something wrong. Already testing her boundaries and turning on the charm....we may be in for trouble!


Maggie's always been pretty independent, and she still is in many ways. Whenever we're at a park or playdate, she plays very happily on her own. But, though it seems a little late for it to me, she's been showing some signs of separation anxiety lately. She's been clingier than usual and cries whenever she sees me leave the room, and hasn't been as good about going to people she doesn't know very well. On the bright side, she's become more of a lap baby. I just love it every time she crawls into my lap -- something she never used to do.


Maggie loves music and starts dancing whenever she hears a song playing. She adores all animals and gets so excited whenever she sees one -- and is over the moon if she gets to pet it. She loves her stuffed animals and baby doll, and gives them hugs and kisses when she carries them around.


Her favorite activity lately is walking around and exploring outside. Whenever we go to the park, she couldn't care less about playing on the playground equipment. Instead, she just wants to walk around the fields/woods/ballpark -- whatever surrounds the playground. She loves to pick up small objects and carry them around, and the more the better. I regularly have to pry multiple acorns/berries/twigs/leaves out of her little fists!


Maggie's primary pet peeve is still being restrained -- sitting too long in her car seat, high chair, or stroller, having to lie still for diaper changes, being held when she wants to get down and explore: all of these make for a very cranky Maggie.

Still a little skeptical about the candle!

She's still a great nighttime sleeper, generally sleeping from 7:30 pm to 7:30 or 8 am without a peep. She could be a better napper -- we transitioned her to one nap a few weeks ago, but she usually only naps for an hour and a half. Maybe she'll eventually lengthen that nap, or maybe that's just all the daytime sleep she needs. I'd love to see her nap for 2-3 hours (and occasionally she does), but as long as she sleeps great at night, I'm fine with the shorter nap.



She's still a good eater, and cheese and pasta remain her favorites....with the exception of M&M's. :) What with all the parties and birthday celebrations this month, Maggie's gotten to sample a lot more sweet treats lately, and she definitely seems to have a sweet tooth!


Maggie becomes more playful and silly every day. She loves peek-a-boo and patti-cake, and thinks "this little piggy" is the funniest thing ever. She squirms and pulls her foot away every time we play, but then holds it out for us to do it again. And she loves to be chased -- she runs as fast as she can, giggling like a maniac the whole time. We have so much fun these days!

Signing "more"

Maggie is sweet and loving, a ton of fun, stubborn as a mule, one of the happiest kids I know, and also one of the most friendly (as long as you don't try to hold her!)


She's incredibly active, busy busy busy, curious as a cat, and very observant (especially when it comes to our hiding places for the forbidden objects we take away from her!)


And she's one year old -- and very, very loved.