Almost One Year - Are You Joking Me!

Taya's Tricks
- She does the cutest little wave.  I'll tell her to say goodbye and she'll open and close her little hand, and smile.  I make her wave to everyone just because I love it so much.
- One day I noticed that Taya will blow on her food.  I'm sure that she is constantly watching me do it for her and Milo.  The only problem is, she will hold the fork next to her mouth and suck air in instead of blowing out. Then she'll look at you like, "did you see that?"
-She learned how to give high fives at about ten months.  She thinks they are so fun.
-Taya is freakishly good with utencils for such a little baby.  She prefers to eat with a fork.  She tries to poke her own food, and if she doesn't quite make it I lob it on there for her and she shovels it in.  She eats about double if she's doing it herself. 
-She is my spastic little dancer. She loves to kick her feet and rock back and forth to music.
-Anytime she hears someone say, "yeah" she'll clap her hands.  She has to think about it real hard, so she opens her mouth and rocks a little bit to get started.  Absolutely darling.

First Words
-Taya did babble dadadada before mamamama.  I don't think that she has really associated them with us yet though.
-The first verbal connection I noticed was when she was eating one day.  I put a matchbox car up on her tray.  She drove it across the tray and said, "vroom."  She did it a lot for about a week, but now she's shy about it (I swear just because she knows I want to get it on tape).
- Taya is mimicking tones and sounds.  She loves to listen to her brother and make crazy noises to make him laugh.  Their favorite is to lay on the bed on their back and kick their feet.  They'll both say, "ah-ra-ra".

Favorite things
- Just like her brother, Tay is crazy about her blanket.  It started at about six months.  I wasn't really pushing a blanket, because I have seen the down side to blanky attachment.  But I couldn't help it she loves her purple snuggles.  I can't blame her, those Minky people know their stuff.
- Taya loves to give hugs to her babies, Woody, and stuffed animals.  However she doesn't seem extremely fascinated with any particular toy. She is too busy to play with any one thing for more than a couple of seconds.
-Taya loves it when Milo is on Dad's shoulders, and she is on mine.  We'll play hide and seek and chase.  It is so incredibly exhausting for Chris and I, but it makes both of our kids so happy that we play it almost every night. 
-Taya loves to be right in the middle of the big kids.  As a baby Taya was so easily entertained.   I could lay her on the floor with a rattle for an hour and she would be as happy as can be.  But as soon as she started crawling her temperment changed big time.  She's my crazy girl now.  If she sees Milo going down a slide, she needs to be going down the slide.  If he is on his bike, she needs to be on a bike.  She is extremely strong willed already and knows exactly what she wants.  She is still as sweet as can be, and is a really happy baby, but she went from totally chill to wound up overnight.
-Ice cream cones.  She especially loves the ones from Arctic Circle because they are little enough that she can hold them in her hand.  Yes I'm a bad mom and I give her crap like suckers and ice cream.  I guess I'm living vicariously through her.
-DRINKS.  She loves anything in a cup.  She's best with a straw and will drink, blow bubbles, and spit it everywhere.  It's our best form of entertainment for her.

Taya Hates
-If you would have asked me what Milo hated at this stage, I could have made a five page list.  Taya isn't too picky though.  Instead she is just constantly into things that I hate.
-Like sand.  The first time that she ate sand, I thought, "let her try it and cry and hate it, and then she'll learn not to do it again".  Ya not how it worked out.  Taya loves to eat handful after handful of sand. One day when Chris was changing her diaper, she was crying a ton.  When I asked what was going on, Chris just pushed the diaper toward me.  Ya, that baby digested way too much sand in one day.
-Any time she has to sit still.  Church is a joke.  Doing her hair is out of the question. I've even learned to change her diaper while she is standing up.

Meant For Each Other

The night before being induced to have Taya, I was an absolute wreck.  I wasn't thinking about the contractions, or the delivery, instead I was so worried about Milo.  I loved spoiling him rotten.  I still rocked him like a baby and played with him 24/7.  My attention had been completely his, and that was all about to change.  I remember crying on the phone to my mom that I was worried about leaving him for a couple of nights (yes, I have weird parent separation anxiety), and all she said was, "You will be gone such a short time, and then you are bringing him home the greatest gift in the world".  I know she meant for this to comfort me, but it didn't. . . A little sister. . . A little sister to hog all of the attention and steal your toys. . . not the greatest gift in the world. 

Milo was 19 months when we brought Taya home.  He has always been a very picky/demanding child.  He is a sweet boy... as long as you do things exactly to his liking.  I knew his pampered world was about to shatter.  When I look back at the pictures, Milo was still just a baby, but all of the sudden he had to become the big brother--it was the best thing that ever happened.

I couldn't believe how sweet he was with Taya even from the very begining.  As time goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that these two were meant for each other.  Milo needs Taya to show him that life doesn't have to be clean and predictable, and Taya needs Milo to guide her into all of the things that are new.

Last week, I took Milo to run errands with me.  Chris was at home with Taya.  I told Milo that it was our special time together.  He was such a good boy and we had a good time together.  Then after lunch, he looks over at her carseat and says, "Mom, where's Taya? I miss her".  I explained where she was, and then asked, "Do you want to go to Toys-R-Us or should we go home and see her?" . . . "Let's go see her mama."  It was the sweetest thing.  My mom was right in all of her wisdom, a baby sister is the best thing.  
He is constantly watching over her.  When she is doing something dangerous he will say, "no no no Taya. You be safe."  He washes her hair in the bathtub and crawls around with her on the floor.  He'll tell me, "look mom, I'm playing with my baby sister."

On the flip side, there is about 45 minutes every afternoon when Taya is awake and Milo is napping.  Tay loves the individual attention for about 5 minutes, and then starts looking around for him.  When I finally open the door for him to wake up, she gets so excited and flaps her hands and crawls into bed with him.  She is always trying to keep up with him and do all of the things that he does.  She loves to give him cuddles and kisses (which are more like tackles and slobbers).
Of course there are moments when Milo pushes her down for taking his skidsteer, or when Taya throws a fit because Milo is holding her drink just out of reach, but I can't imagine just having one kid now.  They are a package deal, and have made our life incredibly full.