MATTIE - 1 YEAR OLD

On Tuesday, March 9th, Mattie turned 1 year old! Here's some things we want you to remember about yourself when you turned 1, Mattie:

Weight: 23 lbs 9 oz (86th percentile)
Height: 29 3/4" (73rd percentile)
Head: 19" (99th percentile)

- You have 5 teeth - 2 on top and 3 on the bottom - with 3 more on the way
- You love your binkie. You can't sleep without it and it's often the only thing that makes you feel better when you're having a hard day, and if you wake up in the middle of the night, you find it, put it back in, and go back to sleep all by yourself. You even try to share it with your family sometimes :)

- You love to cuddle with your dollies and stuffed animals! It's the sweetest thing to watch you wrap your arms around them, put your head into them, smile, talk to them, and squeeze!

- You like to copy CJ, especially when it comes to screaming :)

- You already know how to dip fries in ketchup, dip spoons in food and put them in your mouth, use a straw, brush your hair, talk on the phone, blow bubbles with your spit, and rub your hands together with lotion or soap or hand sanitizer

- You like to look at books and sing songs. You hum along (to your own tune, of course) and you even know how to clap your hands for Bingo and If You're Happy

- You are a little jabberbox! you're almost always talking, even if you have your binkie in, and especially if you're enjoying yourself

- You are learning words and how to communicate. Your first word was "uh-oh" and you also say "mama" and "dada." And when you don't want something, you shake your head "no"

- You enjoy playtime, especially Peek-A-Boo and lap songs, like the riding song

- You have become quite the picky eater. You still enjoy your baby foods, especially the fruits, but green beans are the only baby food vegetables we can get you to eat. When it comes to solid food, you love your carbs - bread, cereal, crackers, oatmeal - and you like yogurt, but we're having an interesting time trying to figure out what else you'll eat

- You love to play with your feet when you're lying down, and you always pull off your socks (and shoes, if you can)

- It's a good thing you're finally getting some hair, because you've been pulling bows/flowers/headbands off your head for months. But your hair has just recently gotten long enough in the last month or so for us to put it in a little ponytail on top. It's even started to get some wave in the back too. 

- Speaking of hair, you like to pull at your hair on the sides of your head when you eat a bottle (if someone else is holding the bottle for you)

- You are super curious and get into everything! And you and CJ make quite the mischevious team

- Even though you LOVE kids - they always make you smile - you've developed reservations about other adults and get quite clingy when you're around people you don't know

- Ever since we can remember, you've had a little bit of a temper :), and now that you're older, you defintely let us know when you're not happy with something (usually when something is taken away). Hopefully you'll get a little better at NOT throwing little tantrums (because right now we still think you're little scrunched eyes and wide open mouth, red face, and big tears are kinda cute, but we also know that's gonna change...quickly :)

- Even though you've been crawling for months, and you can push your dollies' stroller, and you can walk holding just a few of Mommy or Daddy's fingers with one hand, you haven't quite gotten brave enough to stand all by yourself or take those first steps yet

- You love to dance. If there is any music on, you like to shake your hips and swing your arms back and forth in front of you
- You LOVE to laugh! you have lots of different types of laughs, but the best is when you make yourself laugh for no reason at all. It makes everyone around you happy! 

Thank you for coming to our family, Mattie! We love you very much and can't wait to spend another year making memories together!