What Scout's Doing

Scout has been doing all sorts of new things lately, as any one-year old does. She is getting more confident with walking from furniture to furniture or person to person. She's most hesitant to walk to Garrett, since they usually both end up falling over when she makes it into his arms, but she'll still do it. She loves him so much, I think she just can't help herself. She also loves to dance, whether it's on her knees, bouncing or just waving her hands in the air. I think it's so great that children do this naturally, without inhibition or any provocation.

Scout loves her newest treat, cow's milk. She goes nuts when she sees that bottle, and always wants to hold it herself. She also loves green beans, cheese, berries, brown rice, and frozen peas. Though she'll eat other things, she will always chow down on any of these.

She is saying a few more words and making some new noises these days. She's been saying "Mama" and "Dada" for awhile now, but it's definitely more specific to us lately. She has made several attempts at saying "G", which most often sounds like "juh" or "ghee" with a hard g sound. She growls when she sees any animal. She can imitate the elephant sound, but, to her, every animal growls. She also makes car noises very well and can imitate any power tool - influence of a big brother? Scout started saying amen after naptime prayers, which has now moved to mealtime prayers, as well. The first time she did it was several weeks ago when I finished a naptime prayer with Scout and G, and she said "ma meh". Garrett and I immediately recognized it, and Garrett repeated, "in Jesus' name we pray, Amen" to which Scout responded "ma meh". It was a fun game for a few days with G, and now she says it at every prayer, "a meh". She also loves "uh-oh", which she uses constantly. Anytime anything doesn't work properly, anything drops, before Scout drops something intentionally, or when she falls down, "uh-oh". She tries to use the sign for "all done" and she occasionally signs "milk". I've all but given up on teaching her to sign "please", as she completely resists it. Maybe one day. She's also been waving goodbye and has added "ba ba" to it. She used to do it every morning when she'd see Ryan, which made him sad, but now she actually waits for him to leave. She starts it when Ryan says "Word to your mother" to G (it's a long-standing routine for them, to which Garrett responds "peace out"), and follows with both hands waving.

One of the sweetest new things she's doing, though, is giving kisses. They are, of course, the open-mouth ones, with the occasional tongue. You cannot make her give them. It has to be her choice. When you ask for them, you are most often met with a vigorous shaking of her head and pulling away. Sometimes she thinks it's funny to do that, and sometimes she's just not in the mood. When she is, though, it's precious. She'll do it in the middle of play or at a snuggle session, but it's always her choice. Garrett seems to get most of them, which he loves, and he's the one with the most success of getting one by request.

We love our little Scout, and we're so happy to see her grow and learn. It's what we pray for!