Baby Fries's Blog

Milestones Reached in 2010

On August 12th, 2010,  Layla crawled for the first time.  She had been trying or getting ready to crawl for several days, inching up on her knees, getting on all fours, but never really taking off.  She would look at us and would look like she was so ready but never did make a move.  Then, on that Thursday Aug. 12th, I just happened to finish practice early and Jared and I were able to go pick up Layla from daycare together.  When we walked in her room,  Rebecca, one of her teachers, said Layla crawled today!  We got very excited when we heard the news.  So Jared and I kneeled down on the carpet and held our hands out for Layla to crawl to us.  All of sudden, she took off…. and crawled right into her daddy’s arms!  It was amazing how she went from immobile to moving, everywhere!  The next week, she just became faster and faster and wanted to explore everywhere.

On November 7th, Layla made the next step in her moving ability.  She took her first steps all by herself!  It was about 4-5  steps and I missed it (at first)!  I was away at a meeting for club volleyball on the Sunday night.  Jared sent me a text saying “Call me when you can!”  I asked if it was an emergency while in my meeting, but he texted no.  I thought immediately in my mind, I bet Layla walked.  She had been pulling up on a lot of furniture at that point and could walk around the coffee table holding on.

As soon as I left the meeting, I called Jared and immediately said “Don’t even tell me Layla walked tonight.”  And Jared responded “OK, I won’t tell you.”  She had walked!  Just a few steps, but she had walked.  So I rushed home to see for myself.  She would take just a few steps and then fall to her knees but again it was amazing to see.  It’s just incredible how babies teach themselves really.  After that first week of walking, taking a few steps at a time, again she took off!  Our little baby was toddling everywhere and quickly picking up speed.  By her birthday on Nov. 24th, she really had it down for the most part.  By Christmas, it was almost like she could take off running, she would walk so fast.

It was around the same time in November/December, that Layla made her first signs in sign language as well.  The first sign she learned was “finished”, the second “more”, and her third sign is “dog”.  She signs more all the time when we wants food, she signs finished whenever she wants out of her high chair, wagon, or anything else, and she signs dog when she wants to look out our backdoor to look at our landlord’s dog.

On November 24th, we celebrated Layla’s first birthday.  Jared, Layla, my parents, and me had a party at home in our kitchen.  It was Winnie the Pooh themed.  We sang to her, opened presents to the best of her ability, and had a little cake with icing as well.  Layla looked really confused when we put a hat on her head, sat her on the kitchen table, and sang to her.  She didn’t crack a smile or anything the whole time, she had a very skeptical look on her face like “what are ya’ll doing!’  Layla did put her hands in the little heart shape cake that I made (sugar-free per dad’s request, vanilla with chocolate icing) and tried eating cake.  She wiped the icing off on her jeans when it was sticking to her fingers and overall seemed to enjoy it.   That is also the day we learned that she understood “Bye Bye.”  My parents had bought her a toy laptop.  When the lid is closed, the voice on the laptop says Bye Bye.  Layla kept opening and closing the lid to hear the words Bye Bye.  Once, she closed the lid, heard the words bye bye, and then waved her hand as to say bye bye.

It was an exciting first year, with some many changes made in Layla’s appearance and growth, it really is incredible to think back on.  I was told by a friend on mine that the second year has even more in store and so Jared and I are happy to see what this year has in store for us.