ONE YEAR OLD… and GROWING GROWING GROWING

Just one short year ago:

I can’t believe Noa is already ONE YEAR OLD! The time really flies! I haven’t really given an update recently on what she’s up to so now seems appropriate:
Noa sleeps like a champ. She usually gets up around 6:30 or 7 to nurse but then goes straight back to sleep til 8 or 8:30. She takes one morning and one afternoon nap, each averaging about an hour and a half. Then, she goes to bed anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30. She rarely wakes up in the night and usually puts herself back to sleep. If only this next one will do the same!
Noa is also a great eater. Since coming here where there aren’t many options for baby food, she has done great eating almost everything we eat. Her favorite foods right now are yogurt, toast with strawberry jam, any kind of fruit, Mabu-dofu (a tofu/rice dish), inari-zushi (another tofu/rice meal), any snack foods like goldfish or rice crackers, and (now) cheesecake. Our times at the table are some of our favorite times together as a family. Its also been great time for Noa to learn how to communicate. Noa can now say “please” and “all done” in sign language. She understands “more”, “eat”, “drink”, and “get down”. Other non-table words that Noa understands are “passy”, “NO!”, “Daddy” and “Mama”, “books”, “toys”, and “dog”.
Some of her “tricks” include talking on the phone (holding her hand to her ear and tilting her head), saying Hallelujah (raising both hands in the air), waving hello and bye-bye, pointing, giving kisses and blowing them, clapping whenever we say “yay” or “clap” or sing in church, laughing at jokes, and fake coughing (we call it “the black lung”).
Noa is very verbal and talks all the time, we just don’t know what she’s saying. She loves to read her books out loud to herself and she yells when she wants something she can’t explain (we’re trying to break that habit).
She is still slow on her gross motor skills. She crawls everywhere and has gotten pretty fast, but only just a few days ago pulled up onto the sofa for the first time. I am just praying that she’ll walk before this new baby comes… I don’t want to have to carry two babies!
Noa is full of energy and charm. I know I am biased but I really don’t think I have ever seen a kid who smiles as often or as readily as she does. She just melts the hearts of those around her and is a little picture of God’s glory and goodness to us and to others. Most days its easy to remember that as she is a very easy child. But some days, when it feels like I am telling her “No” all the time and keeping her out of trouble, its good for me to remember that its not just me teacher her but her teaching me too!
And here she is, ONE YEAR OLD! beautiful and precious and such a joy! (she is saying “please”)

Tags: milestone, Noa