THIRTEEN Months Old!

I know you were wondering whether I would keep taking monthly pictures of Mikayla past a year.
Well I was wondering too, but I think the answer is YES. She keeps doing new things, so I might as well document them with a picture.

At thirteen months old, Mikayla has many new or improved skills:

- GROWING TEETH - three new ones on the top this month! That brings the grand total to FOUR

- DANCING - Scottish dancing to be specific. She's got the first part of highcuts down. Next stop pas de basques!

- SIGN LANGUAGE - She's all of a sudden really taking to sign language, which is forcing us to learn it. We pretty much just have to show her once and she gets it. This month she learned: duck, bird, more, all done, and drink.

- KISSING - She's improved her kissing skill set from just slobbery open mouth kisses to blowing kissed and even closed mouth kisses on the cheek! (See video below) She likes to blow kisses all around her bedroom before she goes to sleep. It's pretty adorable.

- BOSSING US AROUND - She wants things and now she has the means to tell us what. She brings us clothes she wants to put on, she shows us when she wants to take a ride in the stroller, she shows us when she wants snacks from her snack drawer, she lets us know when she wants to read a book...or 10. She also lets us know what she does not want to do - like go to sleep. She will give us the 'all done' sign quite frequently at bed time.

So with that, here are Mikayla's thirteen month pictures. I must say, it's been a lot harder to keep her on the chair lately, but at least I got a few shots in:

I'm 13 Months Old!

Is that right? I can't be thirteen months old already!
One, two...oh wait, I don't know how to count, guess I'll have to trust you

Here's looking at you Piggy, guess we're both pretty old now.

She's Scottish!

When my sisters and I were younger, we used to do Scottish Highland Dancing as a hobby. We went to the Scottish Games and competed with other dancers from around the state. Good times!

When Mikayla Was born, our dance teacher from way back then, got Mikayla a special kilt so that Mikayla could take part in our Scottish traditions right away.

Well, I'm pleased to announce Mikayla has officially been indoctrinated into the Scottish culture by way of the Santa Cruz Scottish Festival. She wore her kilt, she watched caber tossing and learned to dance. There is no denying it; Mikayla is now Scottish!

A Scottish Lass at last!

Learning to dance with the experts

A natural a Scottish Dancing!

Point those toesies!

Running through the Scottish prairie...err, fairground

Ooooh! Caber tossing is so interesting!

Stolen by a Gypsy, happens all the time.

Daddy, can we go again?

Mikayla Graduates from Berkeley!

A few weeks ago, Mikayla went to Berkeley to participate in an experiment at the Berkeley Early Learning Lab. I'd seen the Lab's work in a movie called 'The Baby Human.' It was awesome; babies driving cars, walking off cliffs, you name it. I couldn't wait to get Mikayla involved. So here are some pictures from Mikayla's experiment as well as a video of the entire thing. After Mikayla was done, she received her B.A. from Berkeley. At this rate, she'll have her PhD by the time she's two (I always knew she was smart for her age).

I'm a guinea pig!

Hmmm... where does this ball go?

Yes, in the square hole! 

Where'd it go?

I'm taking this one home.

Here's the video of the whole thing. My favorite part is when Mikayla smells the flowers painted on the wall:

Graduation at last!!