Where do you even begin when you talk about your own kid? Seriously there are so many things I can say about Demi Grey. She’s so funny, happy, smart, expressive, beautiful, musical, curious, physical, hungry, and she knows what she wants! She is such a joy all the way around and I’ve heard this expression come up a few times recently and I believe it to be true. Demi is a part of our present and our future, but somehow she is also a part of our past. Even before she was in my belly, she was a part of us. Our family always had Demi Grey.

So let’s break down this little character. Some things she loves:

• stroller surfing (mostly with Dad because nobody else likes doing it)
• food, food, all the food. She even recently ate an Asian rice covered in Sriracha sauce and strips of ginger from a sushi dish. If she eats a giant meal and then you start your meal, she gets angry, as if to say “why would you eat in front of me, I’m starving!”
• being chased as she crawls or pushes one of her walkers

• Dada and saying “dada”… she will say “dada” no fewer than 300 times per day, sometimes shrieking it
• baths–tries to scale the side of the bathtub while it’s filling up and can’t let brother have a bath in peace, she yells at the door for someone to let her in

• her grandmas and grandpas. She reaches her arms up or out for all of them.
• soft things, she loves burying her face in Big Bear and fresh laundry
• music, she wiggles and dances and gets excited to hear music
• her water cup
• playing in the sand

• practicing walking (she’s so close!)
• emptying baskets and filling them back up
• knocking over towers
• shoes, who knew this was a girl thing, but Cam never obsessed over shoes. This girl is constantly trying to get her feet into everyone else’s shoes
• going grocery shopping. She spins and swirls in the seat and says hi to all the patrons. We taste the samples at Trader Joe’s, so she loves that, but at Vons, they somehow always rush over with pastries and fruit for her even though they don’t technically offer samples. Is it her hungry eyes?
• brother, obviously. She loves brother even though he is only sweet to her once per day, then he turns evil. He wants everything she touches (and takes it) and he likes laying down like a speedbump in front of her so she can’t crawl or push her cart forward. Even still he makes her laugh more than anyone. At the lake a couple days ago, he was jumping in puddles and she just kept laughing and laughing.
• Night walks in the carrier. She often does her sleep yells which slow down until she’s asleep.

Some things she hates:

• sleeping alone. Oh man, this is going to make for an interesting time getting her back into her crib at night.
• waiting for food. Obviously.
• strange bearded men, and some not-so-strange bearded men. and some not-so-strange men she knows but just can’t get over the hump with (namely UnCoco, neighbor Scott and Gabriel).

• getting her diaper changed. We call it the alligator roll. You lay her down and she screams and rolls aggressively to the side to escape our grip.
• putting on jammies. The top is the worst. Maybe this is actually something I hate… whenever we put her long-sleeved jammies on, she screams the whole way through and her sticky little fingers get stuck inside the sleeves, which are already tight to begin with. Add the fact that she’s usually tired makes this one big hot mess.
• when mama or dada leave and close the door, especially if she was crawling after us. Devastation.
• Hats and other things on her head. Unless she put them there–things like my underwear.

Her stats:

• Her 5th and 6th teeth were breaking through ON her 1st birthday. They are now both there in plain sight. So, 6 total teeth and she’s gnawing on her finger, so I think we have some more coming imminently.
• She is 25 lbs and 5 ozs (97th %ile)
• She is 2′ 6.5″ (85th %ile)
• Her head is 18.5″ around (92nd %ile)
• She wears size 18-24 month clothing and I think she’s thinning out/plateuing even though she’s still a chubby li’l thing.
• Number of words: probably around 10. Ball, bird, mama, dada, uh-oh (does that count?), hi, bye (or bye-bye), cheese, eye, toe. She once said “I did it” and I have that on camera, though I don’t know if it was on purpose.

• She knows what sound a cow, monkey and elephant make and can make them
• She knows where her eyes, nose and mouth are, but is better at pointing these things out on a doll
• Can blow a kiss and often does so on her own, is very physically balanced/in control of her body, she’s a great climber and has almost no falls/incidents to date, likes switching lights on and off
• While looking at pictures, we can say ‘where is the baby?’ and she can often point to what we ask
• She likes playing with light switches and is intrigued by electrical outlets (we have baby proofed, but that hasn’t stopped her fascination)

Favorite moments from year 1:

• being born, duh!

• meeting everyone!
• going on a boat

• going to the beach
• first everything–Easter, 4th of July, vacation, plane flight, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah, etc!

• playing with the otter in Bend, OR
• learning she will have a baby cousin in July 2018!

• getting a cameo on the local news
• her birthday party!! All 4 grandparents, kids running amok, beautiful day, cake and perfect presents.

Least favorite moments from year 1:

• Blowing out at Brother’s 3rd birthday celebration at school

• Demi hasn’t really been sick nor has she had any spills (Cam had a few including a big one rolling off the bed around 7 months), so she really hasn’t had many low-lights in year 1
• Though, there was that unspeakable day when… is it too soon to talk about?… umm… when Demi blew out in her room while daddy was snoozing on the floor and… umm… she put her poopie hand in his mouth. I know.

And this video just makes me laugh. I’ve probably posted it before, but it’s a good one to end on because the poor girl just doesn’t know what’s going on!