Extended Rear Facing

We often get asked why Lennon's car seat is still rear-facing even though she meets the requirements to be forward-facing. Although 1 year old and 20 lbs is the minimum requirement, most car seat technicians are now recommending to wait until the child is at least 2 years old and 30 lbs to turn the seat around. We'll probably turn Lennon around when she's two, maybe earlier, maybe later. I think both of our car seats have a maximum rear-facing weight of 35 lbs, so we have quite a while (she's only 23 lbs). As for now she doesn't seem to mind sitting backwards, so backwards she will remain. Here's some good info on extended-rear-facing.

Lennon Loves the Baby

Since we moved back to Petaluma our computer has been in a non-child-friendly room, so I haven't had many chances to use it for long enough to upload videos or many pictures. We just moved the computer into the room where we spend most of our time, so hopefully I'll get into the habit of posting regularly.

Lennon is wonderful! She has started trying to repeat everything we say and is still learning new signs. Her favorite word right now is "please" (which sounds more like "peash"), because she knows that's how to get whatever she wants. Every time we see a little kid she gets super excited and yells "BABY!", then she tries to hug and kiss the kid.

Whenever I take out the video camera Lennon runs toward me and grabs the screen so she can see herself in it. In this video I flipped the screen around so she could see "the baby" in it while I was taping her. This was a couple of months ago so she wasn't talking as much as she is now, but you can see her sign: mom, sleep, all done, baby, and please.

Beach

We went to Dillon Beach last week and the weather was more beautiful than Ian and I had ever seen it there. The sun was out, but it wasn't too hot, and, amazingly, there was no wind! We splashed around in the surf until our feet were numb.


Lennon thought it was great and was laughing and running around the entire time. She thought it was especially hilarious when she would fall into a puddle. By the end of our day her clothes were soaked and she was covered in sand.

A Very Busy Girl

In the past two months our brilliant girl has learned so many signs. Without us prompting her to do it, she signs: milk, eat, drink, cracker, water, banana, all done, mom, grandma, potty, diaper, more, bird, fish, dog, horse, bunny, frog, baby (which she does when she wants to watch "Baby Signing Time"), hat, please, thank you, ball, wash hands, and brush teeth. Sometimes she signs "eat, cracker, please", or "wash hands, water". I can't even imagine the communication problems and frustration we would have if she couldn't tell us what she wanted. She can say a few words now, too. She says (and understands what she's saying): Dada, Mama/Mumma (she sometimes calls my mom "Mama", a little confused), Bubba (Trooper's nickname), bup (when she wants "up").

Nowadays, Lennon will sit and look at a book or play with some toys for a couple of minutes, so I get some time to get few things done around the house. She also feeds herself now, so I actually get to eat too!

If you've had the pleasure of spending some time with Lennon you know she is extremely active, social, curious, and very bright. She is proving all of our baby-proofing attempts to be failures. Her trick du jour is pulling the pillows off the couch and using them as steps to get up on the couch where she grabs everything she can before we catch her. It's exhausting chasing after her, but it's also so much fun. She keeps me on my toes, but she's one of the few people in this world who can really make me laugh.

More!

The day after I posted that Lennon couldn't walk yet, she started to walk! She falls down quite a bit because when she tries to go too fast, but other than that she a really great walker.

We've been working on the sign for "more" for months now and she finally started using it after I gave her a little bite of cake. Now whenever she wants something she signs for more.

And, for your viewing pleasure, here is a video of LB dancing to one of her signing DVDs:

I just found this picture at my parent's house

It's freaking me out how much Lennon looks like me when I was little.

Can somebody please tell me what happened to the past year?

Everyone said it would go by too fast, but I really had no idea until now. Our baby is one year old already! In just matter of months she transformed from a tiny, helpless infant into a curious and determined little girl with a huge personality.

I'm not sure if throwing a temper tantrum is considered a milestone, but she has mastered it. Walking is coming too soon. She can take six or seven steps in a row before she falls down or has to grab on to something. Climbing is a scary new obsession, whether it's on moving boxes, furniture, or my legs, she wants up.

We're still working on sign language, but she has only done three signs so far. She can ask for "milk" and now her hands never stop flapping open and closed, open and closed.

Lennon and I are starting to settle into a daily routine in the new house with regular nap times and everything! She is still sleeping in our bed, which we are all happy with, but the exciting news is that she doesn't need to be ON someone during her nap! Hurray!!!