13 Months

A certain little someone is 13 months old today. To mark the occasion, she climbed up on the couch for the first time. I am ashamed to say that we didn't see how it happened, only that she was sitting on the couch holding the remote control and wearing a big smile on her face. Matt was on the computer in the same room with his back turned and I was upstairs in the kitchen. We can only speculate that she used her toy dollhouse as a step stool, as it was pushed up next to the couch of choice. Little stinker! She also has succeeded at pulling the knobs off the stove (they now remain pulled off and out of reach) and climbs into pretty much any container that will hold her...and even ones that don't. Matt also caught her trying to climb inside a baby shoe box. She apparently succeeded in getting both feet in before realizing she couldn't sit down inside of it. Last night, she opened her kitchen drawer and just climbed right on in. All of the above mentioned experiences are sadly undocumented...we aren't fast enough with the camera to keep up with her these days. It's as simple as that. This also explains why we have zero pictures of our Thanksgiving trip to see Great Grandma Helen, Grandpa, and Debbie in Iowa. I brought the camera, but I was so busy wrangling the wild child that I never had a chance to snap a picture! Great Grandma Helen has a lovely home, full of very tempting items that just beg to be explored by our curious little one! I'd like to think that we burned off most of the calories we ate by chasing her around the house.
So, today, after coming to the realization that we have very few pictures of the last month on our camera, we intentionally snapped a few pics to mark the date.

Jilly Bean and Daddy (and no, the candle in the background is NOT within her reach....I am certain of this...for awhile anyway!)


Snuggles are rare, but Mommy loves them! (I am sacrificing my self-respect by posting this pic, as I look rather dissheveled and tired...this blog is real life, people. It is darling of Jillian, however, so I had to share)


Finally, here's a short clip of one of Jillian's new skills. Matt taught her this last week and she picked up on it fast. Usually, she will also show you her answer at the same time, but she apparently thought her verbal response was clear enough that no physical demonstration was required. What do you think?