The Wingler Family: Happy 1st Birthday, Madelyn Claire!

I can't believe our baby girl is one already! How can it already be a year since we were in the hospital with her? It has been amazing to watch her grow and change over the past year. Oh, how many special memories we have made! She has brought so much joy and love into our lives, and we are so blessed to be her parents. We love you so much, Maddie!

Here is what Maddie is up to at a year old:

wearing size 3 diapers
wearing 9-12 month size clothing and size 3 shoes
She has become a very good walker. She now prefers to walk instead of crawl (most of the time). If she trips while she is walking, she just stands back up and keeps on going. She was even doing pretty good at walking on the unlevel grass this past weekend.
She loves being outside and will point at the door when she wants to go out.
Maddie loves reading books and is constantly bringing books to us to read them to her. Touch and feel books are still her favorites, but she loves just about all kinds of books.
Madelyn is nursing only once a day at breakfast now. (It's been hard for both Mommy and Maddie to give this time up....but it will be coming to an end soon.) We've run out of frozen breastmilk as of last week, so we transitioned her to whole milk. She drinks it, but not very much; she obviously doesn't prefer the taste of it to breastmilk. I guess it will just take some time. She eats a variety of foods, but it still a picky eater. She is very hesitant of new foods.
She now has 8 teeth--4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. The past 4 seemed to have come in all at once, and she has not been happy about it. Tylenol and Motrin have helped, but I know she hasn't felt the best. Her eating habits have suffered some due to sore gums. She usually likes it when we brush her teeth, but here lately she doesn't want anything to do with it. I believe she is working on getting some other teeth in soon too.
Her naps have remained pretty consistent. One morning nap for about an hour and one afternoon nap for about an hour and 15 minutes.
Maddie's nighttime routine has become so much easier for all of us. After storytime and snuggle time, we are able to lay her down in her crib and let her go to sleep on her own. She only cries for just a minute or so before falling asleep. She is also able to do this with her naps. I am so proud of her for being such a big girl and going to sleep on her own! Since we have been doing this, she has been sleeping through the night. She may still wake up once (or very seldom twice), but she goes back to sleep on her own in a matter of minutes.
I don't feel like she has picked up on much new vocabulary in the past month, but she is coming up with ways to express what she wants, mainly pointing at things and grunting. We try to emphasize the words, saying, "Do you want your juice? Say, 'Juice, please.'" I'm sure she'll pick up more words as she is ready.
Madelyn is going through a phase where she doesn't like to get in her car seat or high chair. She holds on tight when we try to put her down and will usually fuss when she is put in the seat. Once she gets settled in, she's ok...she just doesn't like being put in. I think she would just rather be on move instead of having to sit still.
Maddie goes to see Dr. Schmidt tomorrow for her well-child check and immunizations. We'll post updated stats after the appointment.