A Little Mischief: 13 months

Dear Quinn,
Where has my baby gone? Who is this little kid who toddles around the apartment like an over-caffeinated drunken penguin? It seems like "walking" was nothing more than a brief interlude between crawling and running. You are so fast, Quinn! Especially when you wear your sneakers. Grammy recently introduced you to the great feminine tradition of shoe shopping, and we replaced all the baby booties in your shoe organizer with sneakers, slippers, maryjanes and fluffy boots. Thanks for the shoes Grammy!

Quinn, now that you are 13 months old, you are extremely communicative. Whether you are using your hands, your words, or even just your extra-expressive eyebrows, you are able to tell us exactly what you want - and how you feel when you don't get exactly what you want.

You are becoming very particular about your routine. During bath time, you pick up your rubber ducky and grunt, which is your way of asking me to sing the Rubber Ducky song. Last week when Mom-Mom babysat, you stood up in your crib and pointed to the window so that she would pull down the shade.

She also watched you on Saturday night so that your Daddy and I could go to a Christmas party. You stayed up late playing with her, and she taught you the letter W. You wouldn't say it for her, but the next day you pointed right to the W magnet on the fridge and said, "double u!" in your adorable little voice. Thank you, Mom-Mom!

Right now you are really into magnets, Elmo, and your farm puzzle. You have also recently started paying attention to your stuffed animals and giving them hugs. You like my jewelry as well. We take turns putting on pretty bracelets and you admire them by saying, "Ooooo!"

And one more thing - you sneezed this morning and I made a big deal of saying, "Oh my goodness, God bless you!" You laughed, and then you said, "aaa-choo!" It was a fake sneeze! I couldn't believe it. I have also noticed lately that when you cry, you will often stop and look up to make sure we are watching you before continuing the performance. You aren't fooling us, little girl - but we love you!