Daughter is at the perfect age

I’ve discovered the perfect age.

As we near Baby Schanz’s first birthday — how has it almost been a year already?! — I’ve determined she’s at the perfect age.

She’s cruising around the house now on all fours. (Previously, she would army crawl, but she’s picked up the natural crawling motion and loves to make her way around.)

Our daughter is discovering her favorite foods. Top of the list is blueberry pancakes, followed by macaroni and cheese, lunchmeat and sweet potato.

She’s currently got her bottom two front teeth and is cutting all four front teeth on the top. Her two-toothed smile, at the moment, is adorable. Once those others come in, I’m sure it’ll be even more joyous.

I once thought it was impossible to have too many toys. 

“You can’t spoil a baby,” or so I’ve read. 

Baby Schanz has a ton of toys. So much so that we recently went through the toys in her nursery to cut down on the amount, but also to make the room less crowded. 

We put some away that she’s just not quite old enough to play with yet, and sequestered others to have a “rotation” of toys so she can have “new” toys every so often. We don’t want her to get bored with what she’s got and start playing with non-toys (like the cords and wires hanging down from the desk in our home office).

Despite the wide array of options, one type of toy has reigned supreme for her 11-month-old self: Squishmallows.

And, as expected, we have plenty of those as well. There’s a pig, an avocado, a small blue monster, a Pokémon and even a mini keychain Squishmallow.

Her favorite of all, though, is a mallard drake that’s as big as she is. The waterfowl hunter in me knew as soon as I saw it in the store that I had to get it for her. Perhaps it’ll start her love for waterfowl and she’ll want to hunt them just like her dad.

She’s developed quite the personality, as well. She loves to “fake cough” and mimic her parents when she does it. 

She gets excited when she hears her voice echo in rooms. It helps that we have hardwood floors and very few decorations on the walls, so her voice can carry throughout our house. Because of that, she’ll babble loudly just to hear her own noises.

If she’s in a small public bathroom with one of us and she discovers how her voice will carry, it is borderline embarrassing as she tries to make sure people in parking lots can hear her.

If Chrissy or myself are away from her for a handful of hours, she lights up with excitement when she recognizes us. Picking her up from day care is a prime example of this, and no matter how stressful my day might have been, seeing her light up when she notices us makes our days instantly happier.

I know there are probably “better” ages than where she’s at now. Once she figures out how to walk, I’m sure it will be my new perfect age. And then when we can finally have conversations, THAT will be my new perfect age.

I also know there’s no way she will stay this age forever.

For now, though, we’re enjoying this chapter.