13 months

The past few weeks have been pretty amazing for Rosie. It seems like every day she is learning something new. It started when Ba Ngoai taught Rosie how to "vo tay" (clap hands). After that Rosie's learning curve seemed to steepen.

Highlights:
* Responds to:

• "vo tay"/"bravo" by clapping
• "oh no" by putting her hands on her head
• "more" by tapping her fingertips together (ASL), usually when she wants to eat
• "eat" by putting her finger tips to her mouth (ASL)
• swinging music / "dance" by bopping her head up and down or side to side and bouncing her cute tushy up and down or rocking side to side
• "bú bú" by getting into nursing position
• dogs (live or in picture form) by doing a Rosie version of "bow wow" (at 0:40 of the video)
• "hello" and "good bye" by waving (sometimes with a 5 second delay)
• "kisses" by putting her palm to her mouth (she's still working on the blowing part)
• "hide" by hiding her face and then popping out to surprise whoever is there

* Sleep. Rosie's sleeping hasn't been great. In fact, she seems to be on a crib strike (separation anxiety?) but we're trying to be open-minded about what our expectations are of her.
* Eating. Rosie will still choose bread, rice, cheese, and fruit over anything else, but just a few days ago she seemed to turn a corner in her eating and interested in vegetables and some meats again.
* Moving. Rosie took a few steps a couple weeks ago but hasn't wanted to repeat since. She is cruising and standing on her own like a pro and continues to crawl with some major speed. She has learned to go backwards when going down a step, bed, or couch though still needs assistance to make sure she doesn't totally bite it.
* Hair. Hair is growing. In the front it's starting to come down over her eyes but we haven't decided whether we should do baby's first haircut or try our luck with clips and ties. For now she'll just rock the baby mullet look.
* Buckles, boo. Rosie now hates to be put down in the car seat, stroller, and high chair...basically, anything that involves strapping her down. She cries, arches her back, and tries some fancy spin moves for the first 15 seconds but then is usually pretty calm after. It's as if she remembered that it's not so bad after all. Mom and Dad have gotten pretty creative in distracting her.
* Phones. Rosie has learned that phones are for listening so she'll pick up a phone or a phone-like object (remote control) and put it to her ear. I wonder what she'll do the first time she actually hears someone on the other line!

Overall, this past month Rosie seems to have gotten even sweeter. She loves to cuddle and play. She will gladly read you a book. When you ask her if you can have some of her food she offers whatever is in her hand. We can tell she's going to be quite the jokester. She loves to be startled (boo!) and loves to laugh.

Love this baby!