I now find it funny when parents say “My kid got up and started walking at x months” and seem to pinpoint it to an exact day. I can say that Melina took her first steps the day after her first birthday but she then flirted with the whole walking thing for a good couple weeks. First it was a game (she would only walk to someone) and then it was only when the mood struck her and sleepiness didn’t get in the way. By 12 1/2 months she seemed to be walking as often as crawling, and within a week preferred moving upright pretty much all the time. Yay, Jelly Bean!
This video from a week ago shows off her new walking skills – though she’s much less wobbly now.
Other newfound skills: I discovered by chance at a friend’s house that she climbs up stairs – full flights in about 30 seconds flat. But now that she has mastered crawling stairs she only wants to walk them. She lifts her foot high and holds up a hand to ask for help as soon as the edge is within reach.
She also likes to climb or ask to be put into one of the little toddler chairs in our dining room, then pulls out Kai’s crayons and attempts to color, sometimes with success. Other times she just pulls the crayons in and out of the box, and eventually one usually ends up in her mouth. It’s adorable until her mouth turns waxy green.
She’s into everything, in every corner of our house. Like most fledgling toddlers, she leaves a trail wherever she goes. She’s also incredibly interested in figuring out how things work. Light switches, the buckles on her stroller strap, the lid of her water bottle, even the zipper on her lunch bag. She’s also curious about anything I put in her hair, which meant we finally had to give in and cut her bangs. She wouldn’t stop pulling out hair clips or pony tails and without them her hair fell directly into her mouth.
She’s started asking to hold her own spoon to feed herself things like yogurt. This afternoon I caught her try to stab a small piece of chicken with the rounded edge. She soon figured out it was easier just to pick it up. Speaking of food: She refuses to drink cow’s milk. And soy milk, for that matter. We’ve tried everything (bottles, sippy cups, big kid cups, even spooning it to her), but all to no avail.
Finally, a few days ago she turned into Linus, deciding it would be really cool to take her little blankey everywhere. On a recent trip to SF we got to the elevator in the parking garage when I realized it was missing. We found it next to a small puddle of oil by our car but she begged me to let her have it. You can see in the photos above that I gave in – she’s walking along the fountain at Yerba Buena Gardens with it tightly in hand.
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Last time my folks babysat, my mom said we had a little Carrie Bradshaw (“Sex in the City”) in the making with all the shoes Melina has. I just laughed, until Joey recently moved all of Meli’s shoes to the top of our entry table and we could see them en mass. Grandma Weiss had it right: Our little girl has a lot of shoes! She now loves to pick out her own pair for the morning – sometimes after I’ve already put some on her feet. 
