I still need to write Savannah’s 12 month letter! I just didn’t have time in the midst of everything else going on.

She has started scootching around on her bum, and is getting quite efficient! She is really cute. The downside is that the bottoms of her clothes are getting REALLY dirty! I’m happy that she’s using her hands to help with the scootching – I really want her to learn to crawl if she can, so that she reaches that developmental milestone. According to people I’ve talked to (both in the medical field and not), there are many advantages to babies crawling that affect them later in life too (as far as muscle development). Today Savannah started using her hands and getting kinda on her knees – could this be the beginning?

She still doesn’t pull herself up at all, nor does she put weight on her feet when we try and stand her up. I can hold her by her arms and she’ll kick her legs, but that’s about it. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to take her to physical therapy or not. I’m very encouraged by her current mobility, and am currently inclined to just wait it out and let her develop in her own time.

We have her 12 month checkup next Monday, so I am anxious to talk to our pediatrician about all this. I also am hoping that Savannah has put on a bit more weight – at her 9 month appointment, a different pediatrician at that practice was concerned and told me to feed Savannah more. I finally discovered that Savannah just prefers to feed herself, and I stopped worrying about baby food and concentrated instead on giving her a variety of finger food. She does really well at that! Of course, it makes life much more messier…

I can’t remember if I mentioned this, but I have been working at my old job once a week. I have had issues pumping enough for a bottle, so I have just had the babysitter give Savannah formula before her naptimes. Last week and today, Savannah refused to take the bottle, so I guess we are done with that? She’s still nursing and I don’t plan on weaning her any time soon, but I think she’s at the point where she doesn’t *need* a bottle. It makes me a bit teary-eyed – she’s growing up!

Another way that Savannah is growing up is that she’s really good drinking out of a straw. I finally found a sippy cup that she could figure out – they are so complicated, with the anti-spill feature that is nice but makes it difficult to get the water out! Once I figured out that Savannah mastered the straw, I bought a sippy cup with one and she’s been drinking a lot of water. The other day after we had dinner at Chick-Fil-A, I was standing holding Savannah and my Coke. I wasn’t paying attention and Savannah leaned over and took a big gulp of my Coke! She wrinkled her nose like she always does when she tries something new. It was cute.

She loves to put things into things. She picks up smaller toys and puts them into bags or boxes. The other day she was playing in our den with a toy that included 4 balls. At one point, I was trying to collect all the balls and could only find two. Then I spotted in the trash can the other 2 balls, 2 other small toys, a small flashlight, and a paci. It cracked me up that Savannah “threw” them all away. I guess I need to be vigilant when I empty the trash cans!

She’s so cute. :-)