One Year with Edith

I don't know how it can possibly be true but, as of Monday, Edith is really one. Really. My advancing age and the fact that I have 5 kids are surely to blame for the fact that her birthday seemed to get here so fast. It's amazing how much more quickly the years go by when each one is a smaller percentage of your life. 


Edith is up to so much these days. She is a champion mess maker, leaving a wake of destruction wherever she goes. I can often be heard singing, "Messmaker, messmaker make me a mess..." Edith is starting to try to figure out how to climb things-- the chairs at the table, the computer desk, the gate... when she finally gets a little more coordinated and figures it out I think I'm in trouble.


I can't believe Edith still only has two teeth. It's hard to believe because her top two teeth have had her gums bulging for so long. It should be any day now, though, that Edith becomes a four-teether. I can see her top two teeth through the thin layer of gums she has left. I'm really hoping we can both sleep better once they're in.


Still fascinated with clothes, you can find Edith hugging and snuggling any clothing items left laying around by the other kids. She investigates the buttons, zippers, cuffs, and snaps very carefully. Edith giggles with delight when we kneel together in front of her drawer for her to pick an outfit to wear, and the girl loves to shop waaay too much. I pray she never gets ahold of our credit card as a teen (stay strong, Rophone!).


Edith is our most well-rounded child yet. Maybe it's because she's the 5th. She was just pretending to use a saw to do some fixing of the fireplace hearth, then crawled along pushing the school bus, making engine noises, only to pause to throw a ball and give her brother's pajamas a hug. Now she's over rocking her dolly while she looks at books. Way to multi-task, Edith.


She is a pretty picky eater, that Edith. Baby food is for babies and she doesn't seem to want little bits put on her tray because that's for babies, too, don't you know. Give her a cracker or let her eat food that she thinks belongs to someone else and she's all over it, however. You will often find Edith standing at the table while the kids eat, begging for food and trying to snatch a morsel off of their plates. 

Edith is now constantly pointing and asking what things are. She'll point and ask, "That?" or "This?" and wait for you to tell her what it is. Yesterday during her check up at the doctor's office she asked what the otoscope specula was and then actually said, "Want it." (much to the doctor's surprise) She expressed a little displeasure when I told her no. Usually when she wants something she points and says 'that' again, only you can tell it's not a question but a command. A little diva we've got, I think.


Although Edith still isn't walking, she's getting better and better at cruising around furniture and sometimes catches herself standing without support before she remedies the situation. Caution appears to be the name of the game for Edith. She doesn't seem to want to do things until she's sure she can do them. She has never once gotten stuck standing up or flopped to the ground because she tried something before she was totally able. Edith lowers herself to the ground with complete control, even when she's not hanging on to anything. We just may have another perfectionist child on our hands. Hmmm... wonder where she got it from?


Sunday night we went to Rophone's dad's house for dinner and ended up singing Happy Birthday and having a little candle-on-a-cupcake for Edith to blow out. She was a champ, blowing out her candle after only a few tries. Picture perfect. Except for the fact that I forgot my camera!! Never mind, I'll just use the camera on my phone. Oh, wait, I forgot that, too. I felt bad, but I figured I'd just capture it all the next night on her actual birthday. 


The problem is that since Edith had already been through it once, and knew what cake tasted like, she just wanted to dispense with the candle blowing and get right to the good stuff. I got a few pictures of her making half-hearted attempts at blowing out the candle before she made a lunge to grab the cake.

Well, at least she blew the candle out the night before. I love how when we gave her the cake Edith wasn't sure how to access it. You can see the uncertainty on her face.

You can tell she thinks it's pretty tasty, though. Even in small amounts.

Rophone finally just dumped the cake out on her tray to make the good stuff a little easier for her to access. Oh, yeah. It's waaay easier now.

(Okay, now just ignore that I didn't use my flash for the rest of these pictures-- the lighting is a little funky, sorry)

Edith isn't a thumb or finger sucker, but apparently she thought it was necessary when cake is involved.

She finally started getting it in her hair, too. Way to go, Edith!

And I love these next two shots (I really need to get better at narrowing my pictures down, don't I?) because you can see a bit of Edith's diva attitude at work. Someone at the table was doing something that displeased her and she was telling them 'no, no!'. Apparently they didn't listen.

We will now move on to the present opening pictures with a minimum of commentary. Really, I promise! Well, except to say that I love her little curls when her hair is damp and I know some of the pictures are blurry, but my camera kept focusing on Big's helpful arm/large head/non-window-like back as he lunged in to give his sister a hand. Okay, here we go!

Oh, and I guess I should close with Edith's stats from her appointment yesterday. She's turning into a tall, skinny drink of water!


Height: 32 inches (99.72%)
Weight: 21.38 lb (73.74%)
Head: 18.5 inches (93.71%)


Happy Birthday Edith! We love you!