Thirteen Months

 This little girl is growing up fast and she seems to be in a hurry to get anywhere her brothers are. She loves to get right in the middle of their games-climbing and rough-housing with them. They are usually okay with this and try to be careful around her, but sometimes they just want her to leave so they can carry on with whatever they were up to before she joined them. Heidi is very active and wants to be constantly moving and interacting. She causes me even more trouble at church than her brothers did- and here I was hoping for a girl that would sit and play quietly. I guess its kind of a silly thing to hope for when I myself have difficulty sitting still for long. Heidi's high activity level doesn't mean she can walk yet though :) We didn't really expect her to until 14 or 15 months since that's when her brothers started walking- so it should be any time now. She is a lightening-fast crawler and has even figured out how to crawl in a dress- on her hands and feet with her bum in the air to keep her dress from dragging on the ground. She also loves to cruise around holding onto things and several times a day practices just standing without holding onto anything.One of her favorite places to stand, though, is right next to the little kids' table with crayons/pencils/markers and paper on it. She loves to scribble on the paper (or table), but I've caught her eating crayons a few too many times, so now she only gets markers (which she can't get the lids off of) and pencils (unless we catch her chewing on the erasers). She loves to climb up onto some little rocking chairs that we have by our front window so she can look into the front yard and see what is going on out there. When she first started this, her only way to get down was for me to lift her down or just to fall off, so Asher started putting throw pillows on the floor for her to fall onto. She has now gotten pretty good at lowering one leg at a time to get herself back onto the ground, so his brotherly protection is no longer needed :)
Even though Heidi is very rough-and-tumble she is also still very sweet and loves to be pretty. Here she is showing us her "pretty hair" which she touches whenever she hears that phrase. After baths, she loves to go with me into my bathroom to get my comb and comb her hair. She only lets me get in about three strokes before she has to hold the comb and try it herself. She also loves to snuggle and kiss- people and stuffed animals. She especially loves to kiss her dad and makes a "mmmuuuh" sound at the end of it. She hugs me all the time as I carry her around throughout the day and is especially lovey when I get her up in the morning or from a nap. She has a pink bunny that I have had in her crib for the last few months. I have been tucking it under her arm for a few weeks now to help get her more attached to it and reduce the likelihood of her needing comfort from me in the middle of the night (which has been working quite well). She has always hugged the bunny to her when I tucked it in, but now she reaches for it as soon as I lay her in her crib so she can snuggle up to it.

 Heidi says about 5 recognizable words (mom, dad, bye-bye, no, ball) and has many others that she understands. We are also pretty sure that she says other words, but we aren't quite sure what they mean yet. She loves to go looking for things when I ask her where they are and is especially proud of herself when she finds them. She shakes her head "no" a lot, which is more of a silly game to play with people than a refusal, except when she is eating and she doesn't want anymore- then she will say "no" very emphatically and shake her head. She has also started nodding "yes", but again, I think it is more of a game than an agreement to anything.
Heidi loves her family, loves balls, loves to eat, loves to snuggle, loves to swing in the backyard, loves to splash in water, and loves to interact with people as much as possible. And we sure love her!