Today you took your first steps...

...well, sort of!

To be fair, your first unaided steps came weeks ago! Only a few at a time, but you definitely had the balance and coordination to do it. You just didn't want to.

In fact, most of the steps you took without holding on were usually when you were so distracted by something else, you weren't even thinking about it. But given the choice, especially if we tried to coax you, you would just drop down and crawl.

I'm not sure if it was a lack of confidence or pure laziness.

But these past few days you have been braving it more and more and today I got your first official steps on camera - so yeah, not your first steps but the first ones we can really count :D

1 (and a ¼) Year Old

My beautiful Rayna! When your first birthday came around a few months ago, life seemed to have flown by to that point and my little girl was 'growing up fast'. The past 3 months however, have been a very different story. Your coming of age seemed to turn you into a devil child, especially where sleep was concerned. Gone were the days of self-settling and sleeping all night that started when you were only a few months old - it was like having a newborn again, only harder work!

You were clingy and unsettled. There was a monumental amount of teeth sprouting all at once (you now have 16 of your 20 teeth)! And you were getting to grips with the world around you which was expanding quicker than you could handle. It's been a tough stage, but through it all, there have been lots of good things that have come out of those stormy clouds...

You still babble and chatter like never before (nursery always comment on how chatty you are) but now there seems to be much more purpose to our conversations. You understand so much more of what we say to you and your vocabulary is coming along great. You can say at least eight clear, distinct and understandable words:

• mama
• dada
• baby
• hiya
• yeah
• birdy
• car
• tickle

Along with a few work-in-progress things like desta/dexter, di-saw/dinosaur, shuss/shoes, wo wo wo/to sing row row row your boat, ee I ee I/to sing Old MacDonald.

You point at everything to learn about the things around you.

You give yourself a clap when we call you a clever girl.

You shake your head so cheekily when we tell you NO!

I know that every time I sit down to write your blog and reflect on what has happened since the last one that it seems that so much has happened and that you have changed/grown so much! But watching you from a distance now, I notice so many grown up qualities emerging.

I love to watch you explore now. Playing with your shape sorter. Putting things into containers. Trying to build towers with your stacking cups. But most of all, I adore watching you interact with your brother. You love to join in with his games and do what he is doing. You can take or leave your dolls but will play with a monster truck any day of the week. Vrooming them across the carpet (apparently a car & a dinosaur make the same sound). Racing with Dexter. Playing together. It's heartwarming for any parent to watch their children bond like that. And he has so much time for you. Yes, you can play the role of his annoying little sister quite a bit, but he actually loves you to pieces <3