1 Year!!

Yesterday, Evelyn turned 1 year old!! We made it through the first year! She is thoroughly enjoying all of her new toys and took her 12 month immunizations like a trooper. She got four shots today, two in each leg. And they pricked her finger to check her iron levels (which were fine). Poor Evelyn wailed and gave the nurse the most hurt why-did-you-do-that-to-me face I have ever seen...it broke my heart. But as soon as we were back home and she got some hugs from Daddy, she cheered up and settled right down for a 3-hour nap.
She's weighing in at 22lbs 3oz and 29 inches tall. They double-checked her measurements because it looked like she'd shrunk since her 9 month appointment, but it turned out that they recorded her measurements wrong in September. Her growth curve is a little less lumpy now :P The pediatrician was very pleased with her growth and development, and Evelyn chattered away while we talked (she has to be part of the conversation).
Developmentally, she is speed-crawling, pulling to stand on everything, cruising along furniture and walls, and bridging (reaching between pieces of furniture and taking steps to get from one to the other), and will take steps if we hold onto her hands. She is walking on her knees behind the push and ride-on toys she got for her birthday, pushes buttons to make music play, and is crawling around the kitchen with her little cars in her hand. She's making strings of sounds now...instead of "mamamamamama!!" we get "ma da ga ga ba do magah!" and we can hear inflections and tone in her voice. She is seriously attentive to our faces when we're talking to her, and she will even try to wiggle her nose if we do it first. She's also starting to show a little attitude, too. Shaking her head and pushing our hands away when she's had enough, or flailing if she wants us to stop touching a toy so she can play with it.
The one area that has us flustered is eating. But that's the story of the last year. It's always been something with her eating. Right now we're trying to switch her to whole milk, and she gets 4 bottles every day with 75% milk and 25% formula. We tried a cup of plain milk and she just wasn't having it. I'm hoping she adjusts soon because I don't want to have to buy another can of formula:-x She is also getting a little more opinionated about what and how much she eats. She used to inhale 2 little containers of food at each sitting, but now we're lucky if she finishes one (or a half a jar of the chunkier versions of her purees). So our new strategy is to give her some more control over mealtimes by offering her more foods she can eat herself (like chopped up fruits and veggies). We're also trying to introduce her sippy cup in place of one bottle per day, which I had a little success with this afternoon. The pediatrician didn't have any hints or tricks, but just said what we already knew--we can't make meals a struggle and we just have to be patient with her. She'll eventually adjust to these changes.
All in all, I think we've had a pretty successful first year:) Evelyn is a joy to have in our lives, and this age is so fun--she's learning new things almost every day and it's so fun to watch. Although the sooner she learns some words, the better...the screaming is getting a little old:P