We went to the park yesterday to soak in some late January sunshine before the rain returns. It was a family affair with John and myself, a rarity. Stella surprised both of us by walking all over the place. She’d walk, fall, knee walk to an object, pull herself up and throw herself out on her feet again. It was a sight. And she is, of course, looking at us and smiling the entire time. Look at me, I can do this now.  She also learned how to slide down the toddler slide all by herself. I called her the “butterball express” as she swooshed down a giggles and shuffled (on her knees) back to the stairs to go down again. She was an amazing collection of energy and gross motor skills.

In the hustle and rush of our daily lives, I need to remember to back off and give the girls time to explore. To try things out and to also remember that for them each day is so new. One day Stella wouldn’t walk. Now she’s stepping out. It’s amazing.

But after thinking about Stella and her general physical milestone attainment, John and I thought it best to wait it out. Stella is on her own schedule. She loves to be held, picked up, and is not very motivated to try new things unless she initiates it. We find she does hit gross motor milestones about a month to six weeks after Elise does. And when she hits them she masters them fairly quickly.

So the other morning when Stella was just yelling her head off and we went to her room to investigate we shouldn’t have been surprised to see her standing in her crib complaining she couldn’t get down. That’s so Stella.

And yesterday she pulled right up on our friends ottoman and just beamed with pride. And this morning she finally took to the kitchen step stool I keep out just so the girls can play on it, grabbing hold and lifting herself on to her feet with no fuss. Until she tried to get down and just, you know, let go. The dismount learning will be quicker than the pull-up learning was, I imagine.

Welcome to the vertical world Stella dear. We are so glad to see you.

You’re mommy made you a most delicious pumpkin spice cupcake for you to do with as you pleased after dinner. And, while you were very happy smashing it up at first, you quickly realized that the sticky gooey frosting did not, in fact, come off of your hands; at all. To which, you sat there and made the milk sign repeatedly with that frosting covered hand. Not that you were thirsty, no; I’d imagine that sticky sensation was something entirely new to experiment with and you had the most quizzical look on your face while doing so.

And then, it was fun no longer. It made a lovely moose in your hair as you tried desperately to get some of the frosting off and wailed insistently with displeasure in that way that only you, dear Stella, know how to communicate to others your unhappiness.

Props to ya kiddo — your mess required serious detergent to clean up all that butter cream.  You have a future as a grease monkey helping your dear ole Da in the garage.

Happy birthday, Stella!

Complete pictures can be found *here*.

You are about to reach the first and arguably the biggest milestone of your life thus far. Tomorrow you turn one.

I was thinking of when you were born and the nurse held you up and I saw that red red hair of yours and I knew, right at that moment, that you were my Stella. My little star girl.

You were such a tiny peanut and now you are a Viking child, rolly-polie  and oh so curious. You just fit in my arm last year and now you hold on to my hip and ride arms slung around my shoulders for comfort. You are a snuggle girl and a child of amusement. You don’t laugh often but when you do, I know it’s a good joke.

You are a blessing and you light up my day like a star-baby should. I love how you smile when you see me in the morning and how you search me out in the house. It can be trying when you only need me, but oh. Your kisses and hugs make up for that small inconvenience.

Stella. May you always find joy in the absurd. And continue to love a good funny bit of writing and a silly smile. I hope you always make your opinion known and find a way to just be yourself.

I love you with all my heart, little star.

love,

your mommy

Also. She might be a greyhound and not a racehorse. She loves to pick up toys, flotsam, jetsam, anything, put it in her mouth and crawl away. Keep the rabbits away from this one!

Stella’s Stats:

Weight: 19#1oz puts her into the 52 percentile

Height: 28 3/4″ puts her into the 90 percentile

Head Circumference: 17 1/2″ puts her into the 55 percentile

Stella is doing great…I like to call her my Viking baby with her *still* red hair and her height. She’s not a huge baby by any means, but she is so solid and chubby. Her thighs are so folded and dimpled. I love them. She is also such a snuggler–with me at least. When I pick her up, she folds her legs around my waist and snuggles into my shoulder. I could carry her for hours, except for her almost 20#! It’s hip-hammock time for sure.

Stella has been going through some very normal “stranger anxiety” or more to the point, “You’re not my mother!” anxiety. She gets kind of agitated if I leave her alone in the company of others, especially if she’s tired or hungry. If she’s feeling fine she will last a few minutes, at least, without me being in sight.

While she’s not so much about the mamama and the dadada, she does growl and roar. Which is so very funny. She’ll respond in kind if you growl at her so we can go for minutes making each other laugh and growl. Her laugh is the sweetest hic-up giggle I’ve ever heard. The very baby ideal of a laugh. She likes to have her feet and tummy tickled and loves to be hugged and snuzzled in any way. Such a chunk of baby love I just can’t get enough of.

Next appointment is at the one year mark! I can’t believe it’s almost here.

I think wearing her helmet had gotten her used to a certain level of recklessness concerning her head whick she will have to unlearn, quickly, now that her head is no longer protected by a hard plastic shell.

I also think her less top-heavy self is going to lead to her beginning a traditional crawl fairly soon.

What she really needs to do is figure out that she can, indeed, move from a sitting position to a crawling position–or any floor position–on her own. I’m pretty sure she was “stuck” in bed last night for an hour or so after she somehow managed to sit up in bed and couldn’t figure out how to get down again.

She is working on popping some more….at least I think she is as it’s drool city around here.

And yes. Each tooth shall have a post. I am teething obsessed.

But oh glory! Now, both her little teeth are visible. I really hope the teeth just come in smooth sailing after these two otherwise, I might not make to #20.

Tonight she began her “commando crawling”. She has been so strong lifting up on her hands for about a month now, that it’s not surprising she’s begun to push herself around that way. She was turning herself from side to side to get to the direction she wanted to face and then pushing off from there. She was reaching for toys and playing with the ends of the thick wool blanket I put down for the girls to play on. And she was so very happy with the entire process, let me tell you. That baby can smile. And laugh till your heart melts.

Before this Stella was just rolling wherever she wanted to be. And with her helmet* on, I could always tell she was on the move by the distinct “thump” “thump” she made as she rolled over.

Now all the girls have to do is switch skills and they’ll both be set.

*Stella’s helmet is a whole story unto its self.