1 year, 1 month

Updates from the month:

• The biggest update is the walking, as we mentioned before.  It's so awesome to see her walk around our house and the backyard.  Why we are always so shocked and delighted by her walking is beyond me, but we just get the biggest kick out of it!
• Alma seems to enjoy shaking her head and laughing.  It is silly.
• She can drink out of a cup with only a few drops spilled.  This is her standard means of drinking, unless we are traveling or about to go outside (and I don't want to risk having a spill and changing her again) when she uses a silly cup.
• According to Alma, most animals make demonic noises.  She is always happy to demonstrate!
• Learning lots of new signs (bunny, boy, snow, ...) and also fine tuning her existing signs.  For example, cat is now different from milk.  The funniest sign is light which she does all the time because every room has a light or, since it's been Christmas time, there are always little lights around.
• Sometimes Alma won't eat what we give her for meals and throws it on the floor. But then when she is out of her high chair these food items are highly sought after and fought for with the dog. We call it "floor meal". Other parents give us dirty looks when we explain this practice.  Yes, it's weird, but honestly the dog wins most of the food which seems to make it seem more hygienic.  Yes, even saying that is weird too.
• Alma has found a fondness for the horse in the backyard. Reminding her to "kick-kick-kick" makes it a wild ride for her. She pets "his" head too.

• Her new doll, who I have named Pilar, is her new best friend (even over the dog and cat!).  She loves watching Pilar stack blocks or use the shape sorter (a.k.a. me moving Pilar so it looks like she is doing the activity) and then copying.  Once Pilar gets going on a project, Alma is always happy to offer her more blocks to complete the work.  When Joshua gets home from work and I tell him all the things that Alma, Pilar and I did during the day, he always gently reminds me that Pilar is not real. 
• Playing in the shoe bin can last enough time for me to cook a really good dinner.  (Yes, my resolution to cook healthy meals is going very well so far!)
• Alma is starting to move into the fussy-want-to-do-it-myself-and-why-don't-you-carry-me-everywhere stage these last two months.  To show her outrage while crying, she lightly taps her forehead to the floor.  It is a bit odd.
• My parents saved a bunch of my old toys and so we have been spending a lot of time playing with my old kitchen and tea set.  I might like doing it more than Alma does at this point because I love this set so dearly.
• We still cannot put too many things on her tray at once.  If there are too many options, most of the food will be thrown on the floor.  Not sure why this is the case, but is creates a situation where we have to sit beside her for most of the meal giving her very small servings again and again.
• Alma finally started eating bananas.  For some reason this was the most exciting thing ever, like we won the lottery type of exciting.  (Maybe we need to get out more.)
• We are starting the weaning process using the "don't offer, don't refuse" method.  She still wants to nurse first thing in the morning, before naps and the last thing before she goes to bed.  She eats enough during regular meal times so I think that this weaning should go smoothly.  I'm surprised how much work it is to feed her enough and have enough balance of foods throughout her day.  I think that I am going to miss the relative ease of nursing, although I'm also feeling done with being so tied down to it.