Lucy's One!

I have loved watching my little girl grow over the past year. For her one year appointment, we found out that she was 24 pounds and in the 90th percentile for weight, but only in the 15th or so for height.  Recently Chris determined that Andrew weighed 28 and a half pounds on our home scale. People often seem to misunderstand my statement on these facts; I'm not concerned about Lucy's weight, but rather am amazed that they were such different babies in terms of growth in both weight and height. Andrew was always on the higher percentile for his height and on the lower end for his weight. Regardless, they both can be really good or really picky eaters depending on the day.

I love watching the interactions between both of them. Andrew can make Lucy giggle so much. She laughs a lot when she's attempting to chase him (either all by herself or in someone's arms) or he's speeding towards her. She likes playing with him, regardless of the type of toy; Lucy enjoys playing with the cars, trains, balls, blocks, or anything else Andrew plays with. Lucy also really likes cuddling with her doll or any one of the stuffed animals. Andrew has taken a slight interest in stuffed animals now, whereas before Lucy, he didn't care that they existed at all. They both really enjoy looking at and reading books; Lucy likes turning pages as much as Andrew did when he was one. However, for as much as Andrew can enjoy playing with his sister, he likes knocking her down just as much by pushing, running into her with one of the walkers or bikes, slamming into her without a toy at all, or shoving pillows into her (in an attempt to create a play fort around her). He also takes away whatever she's playing with just as quickly as she picks it up. If she has it, Andrew wants it.

On Lucy's birthday, I had to stay until 4 or so to organize the senior carnations, and then drove to pick up Lucy and Andrew from Chris's mom's parish, where she was setting up for bingo. By the time we got home and finished dinner, Lucy was ready for bed and fell asleep by 7:30pm. We didn't get to celebrate for very long, but we did host a party for her birthday that Saturday.

It was a nice party, although we were still doing preparations at the time the party started. Chris (with the help of Anthony and Lucy's godfather Tim) made grilled corn-on-the-cob and green beans, charcoal-grilled london broil, charcoal-grilled pork tenderloin, and homemade barbecue sauce. I had a few baking and icing disasters with her cake, and almost gave up on it several times, but finally compromised on the design and finished. Lucy had a two-layer rectangular cake with two purple butterflies and her name written in large, pink icing. When she got her cake, she was more interested in the plate at first. After a few minutes of munching on the plate, Lucy finally grabbed the cake and started squishing it. Eventually she actually ate her cake, which was more so than Andrew on his first birthday (he barely touched his cake comparatively) but less so than their friend Solomon (who months earlier shoved cake and icing through his hair and over his arms). Lucy did require a bath, and then opened her presents, which had some really cute clothes and a few books, one of which is now her favorite.

I look forward to the summer, taking her swimming for the first time, and spending more time with her.