1 year old!!!!

I can't believe it, our little munchkin turned 1 on Monday.  We survived the infant stage and we now have a walking and babbling toddler!  This year has been the absolute best year of my life and I have a feeling that it will just keep getting better as I continue to grow into motherhood.  My little family is just everything to me.

Elise is amazing.  She is curious, interactive, observant, playful, goofy, laid-back, and active.  Here are a few of her recent antics:

• at mealtime, she takes a few bites of her finger foods, and then throws the rest on the ground
• she grabs her cheeks and then shakes her head vigorously
• she points at everything and says "dat!" as she discovers her new world
• she runs to mommy and daddy with arms wide open with a huge smile on her face
• she cuddles with all of her stuffed animals, especially her bunny
• she stands next to us when we're lying in bed and then slams down on our stomachs over and over again while giggling (actually, she's been doing this for several months)
• she points to trees and says "tree" with a baby accent
• she imitates words and sounds and body movements
• she explores like crazy when she's in new environments
• she laughs at her own burps and then tries to force more burps (unsuccessfully)
• she intentionally sips water only to spit it out
• she rapidly fills her mouth with peas, only to shoot it out onto daddy's face 

At her 1 year appointment, she received a book from her doctor.  She opened it immediately and on the first page was a picture of a duck.  She pointed to it and said "duck" and the doctor was totally amazed.  I tried to explain to him that it's like her favorite word but he insisted that she was very interactive and smart.  She continued to flip the pages and point to objects and assign different words to them.  He was pretty impressed.  I'm so excited about the talking stage!  

Here are her 1 year appointment stats:
weight: 22 pounds (65th percentile)
height: 29 inches (50th percentile)

Elise has really chunky thighs and a huge belly.  It is too cute.  Some pics:

Picking a book for our new tradition of picking out a book for your birthday! 

This is the first book Elise chose.

The last monthly sticker photo!

Smash cake all ready to be smashed into!

Someone looks excited to pound into her special cake.

She did not really enjoy it.  Just took a few tastes, smeared on her face, and then walked away.

Feeling melancholy after some good smashing