One Year Old

Victoria is now one year old. She is certainly growing up quickly now. It's quite interesting how different she is from Kathleen at the same age. Some of that is her own personality, and some of it is the different things she is exposed to by having an older sister. For example she already knows how to use a paintbrush and paint on an easel. I was quite surprised the first time at Playcentre she crawled over to the easel and picked up the brush, but she has obviously been busy watching everyone and everything for months.

I know it's far too early to tell, but I would say that Victoria is a hands-on learner (like me), whereas Kathleen learns by listening and seeing (so should do well at school). For example - with the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Victoria loves to stick her fingers through the holes but doesn't care much for the story, whereas Kathleen would sit and listen to the story and not even touch the holes in the pages (her favourite bit was the beautiful butterfly).

Victoria is now fast developing into a little girl as opposed to a baby. She certainly has the makings of being every bit as stroppy as her big sister and already knows how to throw a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. Hopefully she will learn sharing and turn taking at an early age too.

For the most part Victoria is happy and content to play by herself, discovering the world around her. She is obsessed with putting everything she finds into her mouth. She would prefer to eat off the floor than off her plate.

I think Victoria will be a dentist when she grows up. She is obsessed with mouths. With putting everything in her own mouth, as mentioned. But also with other people's mouths. She'll reach out to grab your mouth (rather than eyes or nose). If you open your mouth wide and go "ahhh" she'll giggle. Then the more you giggle back at her, the more she will laugh. If I put a toy in my mouth she will laugh, then try to pull it out and put it back again.

She is also currently obsessed with climbing. I think her favourite birthday present was a little plastic chair (like Kathleen's) because she just loves to climb on it. And once she's on the chair she can then climb onto tables too. :-S

Victoria's birthday was on Monday 17 November. We had a party for her the Saturday before. It was a lovely little party with a couple of other 1 year olds. Victoria enjoyed cruising round the coffee table eating a little bit of everything that was there, especially the chippies. By the time it came to the cake I think she was full because she didn't eat much.

On Victoria's actual birthday we had a Plunket appointment at 3pm (she was born at 3.11pm). On the way out of the house (at about 2.50pm) we stopped at the place she was born and ate a bit of leftover birthday cake, then went on our way. Sitting down there on the grass really brought back strong memories of her birth.

It is amazing how far we've come in the last year. Victoria took a long time to start sleeping through the night (not till 9 or 10 months) and a lot of this past year has gone by in a blur of over-tiredness for me. There were times I definitely did not cope too well. But all that is over now, and we have the exciting times ahead of learning to walk and to talk.

A week after her birthday, Victoria spontaneously started to stand up on her own, unsupported. It came as a real surprise as she hadn't shown any sign of having the balance to stand by herself. Now I hope that she will walk for me at Christmas. Last year her Christmas present to me was smiling for the first time. This year I hope it is walking.

-Meg

PS: Despite the date on this post, it was written a while back but unable to be uploaded due to moving house.