Action Stella

Stella's keeping herself (and us!) busy these days....



Emptying drawers....


Rearranging the dining room chairs...


Emptying out our closet.... (her drawers aren't enough, apparently)


Emptying her bookcase....


And, for good measure, pulling the books off of our bookcase, too.


Here you can see the whirlwind in action....



Stella's also getting closer to walking, standing on her own more and taking some independent steps. So far, she still seems to prefer leading us around by the hand rather than venturing off independently. I imagine that will seem like a blessing in retrospect!


We also had our friend Breanne take one-year photos of Stella. She got some fantastic shots. Here are a few favorites, but you can see them all here.











It's amazing how grown up Stella's starting to seem. It's clear she's starting to understand more words. Yesterday, I said, "Let's go get daddy!" and she grabbed my hand and went straight to where Tyler was. And tonight, she was playing with a pasta wrapper, was done playing, took it to the cabinet, opened the door, put it in the trash and closed the door. When she started to take it back out and I said not to, let's close the cabinet, she actually did! Of course, this also means she's getting a little more willful and frustrated when she doesn't get her way. She's not so easy to distract anymore, and she could give non-violent protesters some lessons on how to make your body go limp and try to make moving you a difficult proposition!