Numero Uno

(notice the three teeth!)

Our spunky little McLayne turned one last month. She's just amazing. You still cannot leave her alone for two seconds (or you'll get a ringwraith shriek), but luckily she's cute enough that I hardly ever want to leave her alone, ever, even for 10 seconds. Ahem. =)

Jared and Natalie and fam were in town to celebrate with us, which was just a blast. She got an actual GIRL toy. Now she has something to play with that isn't a car or sword.

Birthday girl crown courtesy of Madeline

At one year old she is walking really well (since 11 months), she's finally getting the matching fourth tooth on the top (although the three teeth for several months gave her an extremely adorable, lopsided grin), she's good at everything, it seems--she picks up on so much very quickly. This girl LOVES to dance. And she can shake it. The week she could walk she was trying to dance more vigorously than her balance could handle. She'd get up and take a couple steps and then shake her little self and bob up and down and fall right over. She swings her arms from side to side (kinda like the secret karate move in Karate Kid II) and shakes her head. She has a singing/dancing Elmo and when they get together it's just ridiculous. She stands next to him and dances, picks him up and drags him around the room (he looks like he's dancing for dear life), and uses drumsticks on his head. She also sings! Her "aaaah" is always preceded by an "ah-ah," so it goes, "Ah-Ah-Aaaaaaah. Ah-Ah-Aaaaaaaaah." I love it.

She can say uh-oh, and dad, mama, banana, hi, ba-ba, ball...I think I've heard cracker, please, baby...several others. Mind you, when she says these words it really sounds like dada with some extraneous consonants thrown in. And she has the cutest raspy voice!

She shakes her head yes or no with a lot of enthusiasm, but I don't think she quite understands how to use the gestures yet. It's very entertaining to ask her a question and watch her fiercely shake her head no and look at you like you're crazy.

 She LOVES balls. She likes them as much as Cruise. That gives them something fun to play together. You can ask her to go find a ball (like a little puppy) and she'll saunter off on a mission. Last night, Eric asked her to find a ball and heard her wailing a minute later. She was squeezed halfway under Cruise's big-boy bed, reaching for a ball and very stuck, but she refused to back out until the ball was in her hand.

She is spicy. I think Cruise has never hit anybody in his life (or maybe he's done a good job hiding it from me! There are probably a few of you out there who are remembering a time where he hit your kid--sorry!) but she's been popping us all on the face since she could sit up! I can't quite figure out why she does it...I think partly she's just playing, but the girl does know how to express her frustration to her brother when he takes a toy.

She is sweet. Despite Cruise taking things from her constantly, she'll go find toys and bring them to him with a bright smile. I think she's trying to make him feel guilty (and I think it works a little). She'll give me hugs when I ask her, but kisses are another story. If anyone but Cruise tries to give her a kiss she'll whip her head away so fast and scrunch up her eyebrows and nose. She will let Cruise hug her and kiss her, but then it always progresses to him spread eagle on top of her trying to squeeze all the air out of her. She even puts up with this temporarily. There have been many times when I've walked in the room to find two motionless bodies stacked in the middle of the room. Then suddenly she becomes the ringwraith.

Baby girl definitely has my expressive brows. She's surprised a few first time acquaintances with a scathing glare. However, she bestows her joyful smile much more often.

The girl loves to eat! It's so easy to feed her. She absolutely loves beans and corn and turkey. She probably eats as much as Cruise already.

Don't you worry, I try extremely hard to do my mom-ly duty of putting headbands on her. It no work, as you can tell. She rips them right off. Someday she'll have hair and it will be obvious that she's a darling little girl. =)

Scathing glare caught on camera

I still CANNOT get over her most amazing mouth. Love that perpetual pout.

McLayne is little Miss Scrumptious to me. We love her so much. I'm so happy to have my own little girl. She's like my best friend, following me around and making me laugh and smile.

I think every mom wants their daughter to look like them. I see a lot of Baker in her and wondered how much she actually looks like me. Then my sister sent me this picture she found of me (I think it's me--either me or Jen) and my mom. It could be Layne in that picture! It is so crazy! That's the little face I look at every day! I am now at ease, knowing that she definitely looks like me. =)