Regeneration

The Daily Betty has regenerated! Come keep up with Betty the toddler via our new blog, The NKFB.

Birthday Girl

Dear Betty,

Today you are one year old!

When you were born I held you in my arms…and gazed into your bright little eyes…and you promptly pooped on me. That has set the tone for the past year: life with you has been wonderful, surprising, funny, and, at times, a little gross. I can't wait to see what the next year holds!

Here you are enjoying your birthday ice cream. It appears that, like your mommy, you are highly suspicious of surprises, at least at first.

Happy birthday little monkey!

Fast Forward

Don't worry...Betty didn't say any bad words. She just traded in her sock for the "soap" from her Going to Bed Book.

We had a pretty relaxing Saturday playing in the nursery. Betty is getting more confidence walking. She isn't taking more than 2 or 3 steps at a time, but she's walking now instead of crawling when the distance between point A and point B is short. And she chugged her cow's milk tonight once I warmed it up a bit.

She's pretty much ready to turn one tomorrow! I don't know if I can say the same for us! And I don't just mean that we aren't ready in terms of presents or cake* (though we haven't got any of that stuff either thanks to the impending move). I can't believe how quickly she has grown. Everyone told us it would be like this but y'all weren't kidding.

*Betty's T-shirt says "Ice Cream Makes Everything Better." There's not much hoopdepoodle planned for tomorrow, but she will be getting ice cream. I'm even a little jealous--what must it be like to eat ice cream for the first time? So many fun discoveries await you Betty...this is just one of many (albeit the most delicious).

Walk the Walk

Another reason that taking photos of Betty is harder than it used to be: she wants the camera. She's wanted the camera since about 3 months or so, but back then she couldn't do much about it except flail her arms. When she learned to crawl she started to come after us, but she got around slowly enough that it didn't have much impact on photos. Ever since she got really fast, though, we've had more and more pics of the top of her head. Sometimes she actually reaches her target and we get close-ups of one eye or a nose. The baby is fast; the shutter speed is slow: Baby 1, Camera 0.

Today, however, this obsession (both Betty's desire to get the camera, and our desire to relentlessly document her life) paid off.

When Steele texted me that he got a pic of Betty walking I was incredulous. Usually to get her to walk I have to use some sort of bait. I haven't even tried to get it on film, er, "film." How did he get this pic? Well, it was actually quite simple; she wanted the camera!

Moooovin On Up

Since this is the last week of the Daily Betty in its current incarnation, I made a promise to myself that I'd strive to make it the Best Week Ever. But, not unlike the way the Lost writers promised a series finale in which all questions would be answered, we get to the finale and I'm just digging up old material. Today was another busy day, it was too hot to go for a walk, the house is a wreck, and I had one of Betty's fingernails in my eye, so I didn't take any good pics. This pic is from last weekend. I thought you might like to see Betty as Smeagol.

But it's not all Mt. Doom around here. We made two big strides at supper tonight. Betty ate off of (plastic) dishes without throwing any on the floor, and she had cow's milk instead of formula. She didn't seem to like it quite as much as her formula but she drank some before tossing the sippy cup at the dog.

Put A Sock In It

Betty likes to crawl around with a sock in her mouth at all times. You haven't seen this phenomenon much on the Daily Betty, but it's there behind the scenes responsible for many botched photo ops. This is actually a pretty good pic, even with the sock. For once she doesn't look like Smeagol. (And in case you are wondering, the socks are clean!)

Rain Delay

From the looks of things here, both the baby and the house are in disarray. It's controlled chaos though. The house is mostly packed. We're just waiting around for the floors at the new house to cure. And Betty is simply wearing a day's worth of food and fun. It was raining after supper, but we let her crawl around a little on the wet front porch. In this pic she's waiting around for her bathtub to fill and trying desperately to attract Tessa's attention.