Life with Margo

Margo saying "hi"

Margo saying "hi" again

On a recent plane ride, Margo spent most of the trip saying “hi” and waving to all the passengers on the plane. The woman in the seat next to Maia asked if Margo’s waving had been captured on video, causing Maia and Jake to realize that they have been remiss in expressing on this blog Margo’s great love — passion really — for saying “hi.”

And again...

Margo loves to say “hi.” This is absolutely, without a doubt, Margo’s favorite activity. She loves to be in a place with a lot of people, like a restaurant or plane, where there are many, many opportunities for saying “hi.” While this is certainly adorable, Maia and Jake imagine it may actually get a little annoying for the people sitting at the adjacent table at a restaurant, who have to say “hi” to Margo at least 10 times during their meal. And if someone happens not to notice Margo saying “hi” or chooses to ignore her, she will continue to say it until she gets a response. For example, at our hotel on our recent trip to Nashville, Margo would wake up very early in the morning, stand up in her crip, and wave and say “hi” repeatedly until Maia or Jake got out of bed to get her. Below is a video of Margo saying hi to some other customers at a restaurant.

While waving is Margo’s favorite thing to do with her hands, she also enjoys blowing kisses, giving a high five, and holding her toy cell phone up to her ear as if she is talking on it (most often with the phone upside down).

Margo chats on the phone

Just as Maia and Jake suspected, Margo is quickly getting the hang of walking. While she still can only walk a few steps before falling down (and she definitely crawls if she is really trying to get somewhere), she is practicing walking more and more. In the middle of any activity, she will stand up, walk a few steps, and sit down again. Here is another video of her walking.

Margo took her first steps today. Just a few at a time for now, but Maia and Jake are sure she’ll be off and running in no time now that she’s gotten the idea.

Standing on her own two feet

Margo had her 12-months doctor’s appointment on Thursday, April 30. She had experienced quite a growth spurt since her nine month appointment. Between 9 and 12 months, she gained over 3 pounds to bring her  weight to 19 lbs (between 6 and 9 months, she gained just a little over 1 lb, so this was a big jump). She grew 1.75 inches, to bring her height to 29.75 inches, and her head grew by 1/2 inch to 17.25 inches. She is in the 75th percentile for height and between the 10th and 25th percentiles for both weight and head circumference.

Margo is growing up in lots of other ways as well. Her language comprehension is quickly expanding. If you ask her where various things are around the house, she will point at them. Things she can identify include lights, flowers, books, her elephant toy, and the backyard (and probably many more things that Maia and Jake haven’t thought to ask her about). Disappointingly for Maia and Jake, if you ask her where mama or dada are, she doesn’t seem to have any idea.

She is also getting closer and closer to walking. She walks all around holding onto the furniture, and she is now able to stand on her own without holding onto anything for about 30 seconds. She stands best when she is distracted by something she is holding and doesn’t realize she is standing on her own. When she realizes this, she usually gets a little nervous and sits down. Below is a video of Margo using the furniture to get around.

Margo also “graduated” to the waddler group in her daycare. This group has a lot more structure to their day than the infant room, with scheduled times for outdoor play, music, storytime, lunch, snacks, and naps. Maia has been nervous about the move because the waddlers take just one nap per day and Margo has previously needed two naps. Margo seems to be adjusting fairly well, however, and took a little longer nap each day over the last week. Margo is usually pretty exhausted at the end of the day, however, and falls asleep on the ride home. This 10-15 minutes of rest is usually enough to put her in a good mood for dinner, bath, and bedtime.

Margo had one more birthday celebration when Jake and Maia hosted a joint birthday party for all the babies in Maia’s mom’s groups on Sunday, May 3. The party was attended by 9 babies and their parents, for a total of 27 people in Maia and Jake’s 900-square-foot house. The plan was to barbeque and have the kids play with Margo’s sand and water table in the backyard, but some unusually late rain spoiled the plans. (Maia and Jake couldn’t be too upset since the rain was badly needed, but it did put a bit of a kink in the plans). Somehow all 27 people fit in the house and had a fun time. Happy birthday to Amelia, August, Fiona, Greyson, Isabella, Lila, Margo, Max, Maya, and Naomi!

Margo celebrated her first birthday in style, with several events throughout the weekend of April 18-19.

Everyone gets ready for a ride on the steam train

Margo’s official birthday party was Saturday, April 18. Attendees included Jake, Maia, Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Jimmy, Aunt Nora, and Uncle Eric (who came all the way from Boston to attend). The party included a picnic in Tilden Park, followed by a ride on the steam trains. The train ride includes a 10-minute ride through redwoods with beautiful views. Margo really enjoyed her first ride on the steam trains, smiling the whole time. She did put on a very surprised face when the train went through a tunnel, but it didn’t seem to phase her for too long.

Margo "blows" out her candle

After the steam train ride, everyone headed back to the Avidon household for some birthday cake and presents. Margo loved her lemon cake and was very insistent that Jake give her more of it.

Margo also loved all her wonderful gifts from her family, including her sand and water play table, her Red Flyer Walker Wagon, her Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles, her bubble maker, sand play accessories, and her purse from uncle Eric (complete with change purse, debit card, mirror, and lipstick). For some reason, she especially likes the lipstick and carries it all around the house with her.  All in all, a wonderful birthday.

Margo enjoys her first taste of cake

Margo tests out her sand and water play table

Margo naps while Jake hikes

On Sunday, April 19, Uncle Eric was still visiting (and a bit of a heat wave was starting), so the Avidons headed out to Tennessee Valley Recreation Area for a short hike. Eric, Jake, Maia, and Margo took an easy, 3-mile roundtrip hike out to beautiful Tennessee Beach, where Margo enjoyed trying to eat the rocks (while Maia spent most of the time trying to stop Margo from eating the rocks). The hike gave Jake the opportunity to test out his REI Tagalong backpack. Margo loved riding in the backpack, and chatted and pointed at everything on the way out to the beach. On the way back, Margo was feeling a little tired, so she put her head down and took a nap. Jake didn’t know Margo was asleep until he heard her snoring.

Jake, Margo, and Eric hike to Tennessee Beach

Margo's first taste of gelato

The final birthday celebration of the weekend took place on Monday, April 20 (Margo’s actual birthday). The heat wave was continuing, so Jake and Maia picked up Margo from daycare early and took her out for gelato. Surprisingly, Margo wasn’t such a big fan of gelato at her first bite (too cold, perhaps), but after a few more bites she did decide that she liked it.

Margo’s looking forward to her next (and final) birthday celebration this weekend when Maia and Jake host a mom’s group birthday celebration.