Cupcake Demolition

 Here is the progression of cupcake demolition. I didn't get one of her blowing out the candle as it was a bit hectic since we had both Chris and A do cakes at the same time. It took her a while to get into demolishing the cupcake, but she went for broke quickly after she figured out we weren't going to try and make her eat it nicely. She also tried to decide if she liked it or not, and decided that the chocolate cake with peanut butter icing was a pretty tasty treat. She did vastly prefer the icing, but she is a peanut butter fiend, so that didn't really surprise us.

Wielding Books

Don't get too close or she'll tell you, "duck!" since one has a duck on them and she loves ducks. You should take it as the verb though, not the noun.

I Push the Cart

We have a very independent, exploring baby girl on our hands. We went to get her some good shoes yesterday and she immediately took off. She gave smiles to everyone at the mall and insisted on going up and down and up and down and up and down the escalators. She just wanted to go the opposite direction on the one she just got off. She walked everywhere though. Then after we went to the mall we went to Joann to look for remnants. She refused to sit in the cart, instead she wanted to push it. Then we went to Costco and the same thing happened. She walked everywhere. She was quite the little trooper. I know both Chris and I were tired from all the walking around that we did, so I can only imagine how pooped she truly was because of course she took a short nap on the ride home (it was about 90 minutes) and then was up FOREVER since she had her energizing cat nap. Today we went to the park and she just wanted to swing and swing and swing. Then she wanted to bounce. We also tried to play with the teeter-totters, but that is more difficult when one person weighs all of 20 pounds and the other several times that. Here is a video of her pushing the cart though.

This video is of her playing at the park on her birthday. She found the wheels and likes to "drive." Since we have been traveling a lot this kind of makes sense!

One Year Ago Today

Baths were not her thing for a long time, as is evidenced here

 We had a baby girl. We now have a toddler, who is officially walking. She is also starting to repeat sounds and it is great fun to listen to her and Chris "talk" when he gives her a bath. She is also normally fairly vocal about what she wants and doesn't want, she just doesn't always use words. Today went fairly well, though no one came to the library for reading time except us. I ended up talking with the librarians while she played with the trains and legos. She doesn't seem to like the dolls they have at the library or the house they go in. She also likes climbing in the chairs and sitting at an A sized table. She is starting to color, but not really. We went for a run and a lady passing the other direction said, "You can't see how happy of a baby you have in there," which was quite nice of her. A really likes her stroller and just babbles as I run most days. She also learned how to get things out of the side pockets today, so she got to play with keys and her sippy cup.  After we ran we went to the park and played. She walked around the equipment and did some swinging. She seemed to have a lot of fun, and when she started pulling at my shirt (have I mentioned that she no longer cries when she wants to nurse if she is in range of me, she'll just walk over and attempt to help herself?) so we left. She was asleep before we got out of the parking lot. We made a good dinner and she "helped" by getting into the cabinets and making sure all the lids were on the pots. We also had all of her favorite foods today: peas, cheerios, butternut squash with black beans, green beans, pork, focaccia bread. The big one we missed was avocado. We have trouble finding good avocados here. Hopefully this weekend we will remedy that as we are going to Cost-co. Here are a few pictures from last year, and a couple from tonight when we opened presents. My mom skyped with us, so she got to see A opening all her presents and it was pretty entertaining. A kissed the screen several times and even blew a couple of kisses. She just didn't always open her presents...

She got alphabet ducks, as she is a duck monster, these were probably her favorite.

reaching for mom with one hand still on her spoon.

A couple of other fun things that have happened recently...

1) She demands to feed herself. She wants to take the spoon and put it in her mouth herself, thank you very much. She very well may not eat if you are trying to feed her these days.
2) She will allow bows in her hair since it is long enough and she wants it out of her eyes.
3) She is shaking her head a lot. One day last week as I was leaving for a bit I asked her if she was going to be a good girl for daddy. She emphatically shook her head no. I came home to a screaming baby girl...
4) She will tell you yes or no to a lot of things and seems to know when it is comical to "say" the wrong thing.
5) She likes ducks. A Lot. She also has a lion hooded towel and will "roar like a lion" when Chris prompts her.
6) She is also starting to "tackle" us when she wants something.
7) She LOVES to push the cart. When we go to the store if we get a cart she does not want to be in the seat, she wants to push. She will have a cow and wiggle wiggle wiggle until she is let down to push the cart. We get a ton of "How cute" after people realize that I'm not actually talking to myself when I give directions like, "Go left here" and such. 

Playing Xbox

Chris has been playing some XBox lately and A has picked up on it. She is also starting to walk as she discovered she can carry stuff while she walks.

At church this morning as part of the children's part they did a "relay" and A stole the show. She was carrying the envelope (the baton) in one hand, no fist, and Chris's finger in the other as she went down and back up the aisle.

Wish List

I know several people have asked what we want/need for A since her birthday is coming up. I've created a wishlist on Amazon that has some stuff we think would be nice. Here is a link: AES Wishlist.

Chocolate Cake

Since it is birthday month I really want to make a chocolate cake. I have a mini oven, so sheet cakes are a bit more difficult. However, a cool thing with us being at 3000 feet is that my flours rise. Here is the recipe I used to make a chocolate cake.

3 Cups flour mix (1 c brown rice, 1/2 c sorghum, 1/2 c oat, 1/4 c tapioca, 3/4 c millet, 2 tsp guar gum, 1 tsp gelatin)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/3 Cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter
2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
4 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk

Butter and flour 2 9 in circle cake pans. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix dry ingredients together in one container, mix the cream and milk together as well. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time waiting a bit between additions to make sure the egg is incorporated thoroughly. Add the vanilla with the last egg and beat on medium speed for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the dry ingredients and the milk to the egg mixture, alternating and ending with milk. Cream until smooth. Divide into two 9 in circle cake pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.