We love dogs around here, as my long-time readers already know. Well, Sarah says two things quite frequently—”mama” (which can mean me, or just that she’s unhappy about something and the status quo needs to change), and “woof woof” when she sees a puppy dog! (Actually, she seems to think ALL animals say “woof woof,” but we’ll get that straightened out later.)

This isn’t the best, but you can kind of hear her saying it if you turn up the volume:

And in other dog news… do you remember “Pound Puppies”? Well, I didn’t have those. :) I had the “Kennel Kuddles” from Wal-Mart, and they were great. I kept them, and I just put together a little puppy playset for the girls. There are some baby washcloths for blankets, some silver condiment cups for food bowls, a baby hair brush, and a doctor kit to play “vet.”

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Long before I had kids, I learned through babysitting and working in the church nursery that my favorite age is around 1 year old. And Sarah’s in it right now. Here are some of the reasons why:

I rub lotion on my hands, she sees me, drops what she’s doing, and starts rubbing her hands together.

She picks up the comb and tries to comb Anna’s hair.

She holds the toy phone to her ear.

She puts things IN sometimes, when directed to, instead of always pulling them OUT.

I say, “Hug Mama?” and she leans her head in to me.

These seem so simple, but they just show how she’s learning to interact with the world around her. Babies are just interested in experiencing things through their senses—they want to pick up something and see how it feels, tastes, sounds, etc. But 1-year-olds are learning what to DO with things. It’s just a cool transition to watch.

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I thought the cake warranted its own post, with instructions!

From the time Sarah was very little, I decided to make The Very Hungry Caterpillar “her” book, the one I read to her almost every day. By the time she was a few months old, she seemed to recognize it. She would even giggle  prematurely on the page where the egg went “Pop!” because she knew what was coming.

I had seen the idea of making a caterpillar cake out of a Bundt cake a long time ago, but I Googled “Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake” to get some ideas.

I increased the cake recipe by 50% and made one Bundt cake and one 9×5 loaf cake. I cut the Bundt cake in half, then cut one half in half again to make the body (more…)

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Sarah is 1 year old today! David took off work, and we all started day off right by sleeping in a bit. :) We went to the library, then shortly after we got back it started to rain. During a short break we took Sarah outside and got a few pics of me and her before we started getting wet; the rest are just some playing inside shots. We’ll party on Saturday… look for some party pics in a few days!

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Sarah here…  I’m about to be 1 tomorrow, but oh my goodness, there’s still so much I haven’t gotten my hands on yet! I’m always on the move… no time to sit still and smile at a camera. I’ve got to go explore!

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It seems like the last few posts about Sarah have featured her more serious look, so I wanted to show you that she really does have a great smile sometimes. That’s all. :)

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Eleven months have gone by, already… Sarah won’t be a baby much longer! She already thinks she’s a big girl. She crawls like a champ, pulls up, and “cruises” a bit. She’s always on the go! And she loves to eat. I don’t know how, but she eats easily as much as Anna does. (And faster too.) We mostly just give her whatever we’re having, and she likes just about everything. She shows her little sense of humor sometimes; she thinks it’s hilarious when she tries to put her paci in our mouths and when we say “baaa” like a sheep, among other things. She loves to explore closets, cabinets, her diaper bag… anything that has stuff she can pull out. And she’s better at pulling out than at putting away.

David was taking some time off today, so we went down to The Wonder Place again. So her 11-month pics are all from there. She was tired and she was pretty absorbed in what she was doing, so not a lot of smiles this time. But she did great, and she took a 3-hour nap when she got home!

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Have we ever had a Labor Day holiday with such perfect weather? Not in my recent memory, at least. This morning David and Anna walked the dogs around the neighborhood (in shifts) and ended up at the home of some friends in our community group. They mentioned that they were going to the park to fly a kite with another family in our group, and since we had planned on going to the park later anyway, we just met up with them. While the men put their brains to work figuring out how to assemble the kite, the kiddos played on the playground (and Sarah ate her lunch). Then we went out into the big field once the guys were ready with the kite. It was a wonderful day for it!

Doing something technical I’m sure:

The cheering section:

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I think Sarah is saying “Mama” now. Like, actually meaning me. It’s precious!

And how does everyone else seem to identify their babies’ first words? Here’s how I approach it. Babies just start off babbling: Ba-ba-ba-ba…. da-da-da-da…. ya-ya-ya-ya…. Then one day, I realize that Sarah has been making the “ma-ma” sound while looking at me sometimes. Coincidence? Hmm…. After a few days, I’m pretty sure she’s saying “Ma-ma” and meaning me. So I declare she can say “Mama” now. But as for that single instance when she first uttered some syllables that sound like an English word and actually meant that same English word… I really have no idea when or what.

Anna thinks that when she utters the sounds “Ba-ma-ma” that she’s saying “Bad Mama.” I told her I really don’t think so. Anna maintains her position.

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Today is Sarah’s 10-month birthday! The year is flying by! She will be 1 before we know it. She is crawling everywhere, pulling up on her knees, and building up her immunity for the upcoming cold/flu season by putting everything in her mouth. She eats lots of “big girl” food and likes most of what we offer her. She weighed 17 pounds a couple of weeks ago. She’s growing out of the 9-month clothes and into the 12-month.

I didn’t get a lot of great pics today; I wasn’t with her for a large part of the day, and then when I was, she was sporting her “serious” look most of the time. But here’s what I got:

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