Noelle at one year

Noelle's first birthday party:

Noelle went to her one-year-old check up this week, and weighed in at almost 23 pounds (75th percentile) and measured 30 inches (again 75th percentile). She was fine in every way, except she is slightly anemic. So, I need to try to get some iron supplements in her (I haven't tried it yet, but the doctor said it tastes pretty nasty), and increase the iron in her diet. I'll take her back in a month or so to have her blood rechecked, and hopefully it will be better.

Noelle is a walker! She can really get around now, and prefers walking to crawling. She falls a lot, but it doesn't seem to bother her. She just gets right back up and tries again. I hope she continues with that attitude for the rest of her life, because don't we all have to continually get back up from one type of fall or another.

Noelle loves to climb. Her favorite places are the steps and the cabinets. I don't think she says any words yet, but she waves "hi" and "bye" and can use sign language to tell me she wants to nurse. She does say "mama" quite a bit, and "mmmm" when she wants to eat something.

She does already have a bad habit - when she gets frustrated, she bangs her head on the floor. Just one time, but still, I wish she would drop this habit. I suppose she has inherited from me this quick, knee-jerk reaction when she doesn't get what she wants. Hopefully, as her communication improves, she will stop the head-banging. Oh, and of course, like me, she will probably have to work on her patience for the rest of her life.

I'm okay with this kind of creature crawling in my cabinets:

Noelle's favorite climbing structure at Gramma & Grampa's house: