From the Desk of Chloe & Abram's Mom: Chloe

At her one year check-up Chloe weighed 20 pounds, 9 ounces. We thought she was more like 22 pounds. She seems so hefty lately. She was in the 40th to 50th percentile for height and weight. Her head circumference has finally caught up and she is now in the 60th percentile. People are so funny. Those who have babies Chloe's age usually say Chloe is such a peanut. People who haven't had a baby in quite some time think she looks big for her age. She is really just average, though. She had to have four shots, and while she screamed her head off she ended up doing okay in the long run. The doctor said Chloe was right on track and is a healthy little girl. Chloe loves middle aged men - anyone old enough to be someone's grandpa, really - and it is a bonus if you have facial hair. Well, this doctor had both things going for him, and Chloe was just mesmerized by him.

So much has been happening with Chloe over the past month that I have been at a loss for words. She has pretty much ditched baby-Chloe and is moving ahead full force as kid-Chloe. At twelve months Chloe has finally started to take some steps. Her personal best is about five or six feet, but her primary mode of transportation is still crawling. She is so fast that I really can't blame her. For a while there she got confused about whether she wanted to walk or crawl and came up with a quasi crawl wherein her butt protruded straight into the air, knees locked, hands and feet on the floor. It was very entertaining. At one point she decided to dance while she quasi crawled and I think she might have a future in rap videos - pop, drop, and lock it! Don't worry, I'll never say that again.

The other thing is that she just looks like a kid these days. She has four top teeth and two bottom teeth with two more bottom teeth popping through. So many teeth! They really make her look like a big girl. And her hair. She has so much hair now! I put a little pony tail in the back the other day, but Paul said it looked like a rat tail. It was adorable and hilarious and I loved it!

Chloe has really started communicating with us. She understands a few commands with the most common being "give that to Mommy, please" because she still insists on putting everything in her mouth. There are a few things that she has snuck into her mouth that are just so terrible that I don't care to admit them here. A few other phrases include: roll the ball to Mommy, Griffin, or Daddy; come here; are you hungry; do you want some milk; do a flip; do you want your cup; and a few others. The other day she was pointing and grunting over and over so I followed her finger, and it turns out she was pointing at blueberries. No surprise there. But she was so thrilled with herself for showing me what she wanted. Big girl!

Doing flips is her new trick. I'll tell her to do a flip and she will put her head and hands on the floor and stick her butt straight in the air while she waits for me to flip her over the rest of the way. Then she claps for herself. I swear it is the cutest thing that I have ever seen in my whole life and every time I just want to scoop her up and kiss her a million times.

You can tell that we maul Chloe at home because she is famous for giving what I refer to as nail-gun kisses. She usually leans in for a kiss and then proceeds to give you fifteen more. She says "mmbah, mmbah, mmbah" when she give kisses. And she gives a million hugs. She is so lovey.

I know I mentioned that Chloe climbs everything, but lately she has been out of control. She uses anything as stepping stool with the most common things being Griffin and her chair. She will push her chair up to the end table and then proceed to climb on top of the end table. Chloe had woken up super early one Saturday and Paul and I were lying on the couch while she played just "resting our eyes a little" and when I looked up she was freaking standing on the end table!!!! Crazy girl. We have to be more careful.

Here are a few pics of Chloe during her dreaded monthly photo shoot: