Caitlin turned one year old Friday! It seems as though we thought this time would never come and now it sneaked up on us! One thing we did make sure to do was take a photo of her the exact minute of her birthday…
This has been the month of learning and discovery! Caitlin discovered the light switch and how it works. She learned how to give “high fives” (although not for strangers). Caitlin also figured out that she could stand up and open the front door at Grammy & Papa’s house… needless to say the door stayed locked at all times after that discovery! She is also fascinated with inside doors. She likes to sit and swing them open and closed. We play peek-a-boo quite a lot this way!
Caitlin is learning to climb…… one day she was a little bored so we brought out every pillow in our house and threw them in the center of the living room. We sat her right in the middle and just let her climb out. It was a riot and she loved it! Apparently these climbing skills came in handy this weekend when we went to South Florida where she learned to climb up Grammy & Papa’s stairs quite efficiently and quickly (some would argue quicker than Mommy)! I couldn’t even count how many times Eric followed right behind her up those stairs. She was very proud of herself! She grinned from ear to ear the entire time!
She also learned how to “give kisses” – which amounts to opening her mouth really wide and leaning in. Yes, our daughter gives only open mouthed kisses at this point! Too funny! Not only do people get kisses – dolls, stuffed animals, mirrors, and even our dogs get kisses!
Eric has taught Caitlin to play with the dogs. She knows where the dog toy bin is now. She will crawl over to their toy bin and pick out a toy for Reese. She will hold it up to show us and we say “that toy is for dog – can you give it to dog?” This will prompt her to hand the toy to Reese. He will run away with it and play. She will follow him around until he drops it and we repeat the process. It is so cute to watch. Reese is so gentle taking the toy from her hands – he knows how small she is. We think he enjoys the playmate since Carmie is older and mostly just wants to sleep!
It is amazing how much Caitlin remembers now. If you tell her the name of something “this is your baby doll” she will remember if you then ask “where is your baby doll?” She also remembers which toys go together – grabbing the farm toy and then searching the bin for the animals that go with it.
She is still crawling – but much quicker now. She takes off in an instant! She will walk with support and sometimes stand for 5 seconds at a time before falling down. She walks with her little push walker around the couch now.
We still have four bottom teeth, but the top two teeth are coming in with a vengeance now. I know they must be hurting her because they sure look painful to me! She has her hands in her mouth 24 hours a day now as you can see in the photos. Yesterday I think one of them may have finally popped through on the corner – sometimes it is hard to tell!
We celebrated Caitlin’s first Fourth of July (I kept thinking – this is her last “first” holiday!) We went to the Mount Dora parade in the morning. She enjoyed the parade and her favorite part was the big shaggy dog walking in the parade campaigning for Sheriff Borders. This dog got a true round of applause from Caitlin! She clapped the whole time he was in sight. We went to a fun barbeque at our neighbors house before going to fireworks in Eustis along the lake. We gave her a late nap so that she would stay awake for the fireworks and she made it right towards the end. She loved the fireworks and clapped for them. She wasn’t afraid of the noise at all!
We celebrated her birthday on Friday by going to Castaway Island in T.Y. Park. It is a fun little water park there with a special area for toddlers. She had a fun time there as she loves the water so much! Saturday we had a party at Grammy & Papa’s house in South Florida for the family. She had a fun time and dove right into the cake. She loved feeling and playing with the icing. When I stuck a bit of icing in her mouth she was not a fan though! She started to gag and did not like it one bit! Later I gave her some cake without the icing on top and she did like eating that quite a bit.
