Roxy's birthday

Roxy's birthday was pretty low key. Which is the best way to do a birthday for someone who has no idea what a birthday is.

We had cake for breakfast (that I made the night before for a church gathering) and sang happy birthday. Roxy tried to grab the flame from the candle. T intervened and Pippa blew out the candle. Roxy didn't care for the chocolate zucchini cake. But neither did T :) Here's how that went down:

What are you presenting me with?

Gimme.

I want it.

What. Is. This.? It is an abomination to my mouth.

(plotting) 

 Here. You try some.

Hahaha! I made you eat some!

Both sets of grandparents sent gifts that were opened earlier. As is our family tradition, Roxy got birthday flowers. Here's what she thought of that.

It was a pretty normal day. In the late afternoon Roxy and Pippa played with the water table and got soaking wet. (This was the plan. It's like going to a splash pad but I don't have to drive / haul stuff or put the girls in swimming suits or put sunscreen on them because they just stay at the water table in the shade.)

Roxy's favorite thing to do at the water table is drink the water.

After we came back in I washed Pippa's feet in the sink and put Roxy up too. Roxy figured out the faucet and was totally delighted.

All in all, a good birthday. 

Pippa says

While driving:

Me: Mom is lost.

Pippa: You're not lost. You're right here!

After coming out of a break (aka timeout)

Pippa: I don't want to be alone. I just want to be myself.

I'm in the other room and hear Roxy start wailing. I go check it out.

Me: What happened?

Pippa: I bite her. (chomps teeth together)

(This is not the only time this exact conversation has happened. I do love that Pippa is honest when I ask.)

Showing me her artwork:

Pippa: See? It's a picture of a drawing!

Pippa saw my new shoes (four inch wedges) on the floor:

Pippa: Are those for me? Move out of the way! I need those!

Talking about her birthday:

Me: And you can help me decide what kind of cake to make.

Pippa: I want a frosting cake!

Roxy at 12 months

Our sweet Roxy on her 12 month birthday.

Here's what Roxy was up to between 11 and 12 months:

• Has clam feet (sweaty cold feet that seem to rub on everything).
• Knows where things go and likes to put things where they go (not just take them out). She's been doing this for a while — things like the balls in the roll house, sunglasses on face (she will try to put them on her face or mine), comb / brush in the hair, headband in hair, shoes on feet, and so on.
• Always goes after the sound machine on the floor in her room. First she turns it on and turns it up. Then she unplugs it. Then she tries to plug it in. Sometimes she'll taste the plug then try to plug it in! If Pippa sees Roxy going for the sound machine Pippa will freak out and try to gather it up, unplug it, and put it on the shelf before Roxy can get to it. Pippa has definitely bought into the "the sound machine is not a toy" mantra :) 

• Roxy is fascinated with plugs, outlets, and putting plugs in outlets. If it's plugged in she will unplug it. If it's unplugged she will try to plug it in. Yes, we have outlet covers, but there are some outlets that aren't behind furniture that we use and those are the ones she goes for. I have to reset my alarm clock daily from her cord pulling. I actually don't mind.
• Climbs up the stairs on her own. 
• Scoops with a shovel in the sand.
• Signs more (now signed with pointer finger touching the open palm of her other hand), milk, bye, and come here.
• Likes to "draw" on the aquadoodle.
• Definitely has curly hair and is starting to get a bit of curl on the top portion of her head.
• Pulls to standing on everything. Usually fine, but it doesn't always work out when she's trying to pull up on the spinny office chair!
• At the start of the month takes one step closer or to side while holding onto furniture. Not interested in taking steps while holding our fingers.
• All of a sudden went from loving to lie down and splash in the tub to hating it. Literally from one bath to the next - 4 days.
• Uses the small chair from Pippa's play table like a walker. The chair moves because it's on hardwood but moves slowly so it's just right.
• Makes car sounds when holding cars (sometimes).
• Cruising more on furniture.
• Loves to play "Where's Roxy?" She will put one hand over one eye. Sometimes both hands go up and somewhat cover her eyes. So adorable. Sometimes she won't put her hands down and you have to pull them down. 
• Takes the bjorn bib off by herself. 
• In the middle of the month Roxy had a rough night - it took an hour (usually it takes her five minutes or less) and most of it screaming for her to fall asleep and was also up in the night screaming for an hour. I didn't know what was going on, but in the morning I saw tooth #7 (bottom left of center) poking through. Oh, so that's what was going on. Sorry, baby girl!
• Likes chewing on my hair ties and tries to pull them out of my hair if she sees them.
• Talks in her sleep sometimes. So cute to hear her little baby mumbles!
• Loves to spit / dribble out water.

And a collage of her cuteness:

Roxy at 11 Months

Sweet Roxy on her 11 month birthday

Here's what Roxy was up to between 10 and 11 months:

• Scootching around on her tummy all directions (not just backwards anymore)
• Goes from a sitting position to her tummy intentionally (sometimes it is still a bit of a crash)
• Points with one finger 
• LOVES peanut butter and jam sandwiches and always pulls the pieces of bread apart to eat them. She eats 1/2 of a sandwich on big slices of whole wheat bread almost everyday for lunch. When I offer other things at lunch she doesn't want them - she's only about PB and J at lunch!
• Rocking on her knees more
• Does "duck face" (On her own! I would never prompt that!)
• Wears 18 month clothes
• Definitely knows her name and has for a while
• Stomach sleeper
• Started growling
• Has tan lines in her arm rolls (you can kind of see it in the photo above, and it is quite obvious in person. I feel bad about this - I put sunscreen on her all.the.time.)
• Loves drinking water in sippy straw cup. (It's our fault this took so long. Before we were giving her water from an open cup and from Pippa's water bottle because they were already around.)
• At the end of June she started going from her tummy to sitting
• Has her first word (?) "no" says na, na, na while shaking her head "no"
• Pounded a crazy amount of pasta for dinner on the 4th of July (a bit of deja vu because when she was this age, Pippa pounded the pasta on the 4th of July, too!)
• Legit crawling starting on the 4th of July
• Has her first sign "more"
• Opens and closes her mouth without a sound - kind of like a fish
• Does a shoulder shimmy shake while nursing
• Likes to suck her thumb even when she's not falling asleep
• Will only nap in the crib (not on us in the carrier or the rocking chair) and will only nurse at home in the rocking chair (she's too distracted anywhere else)
• Really likes playing with the rollhouse