Pearl's One Year Performance Review

Pearl is now one year and two days old. She weighs approximately 20 lbs and is was 27" at last measurement (although she's had a huge growth spurt since then). That means she's more than tripled her birth weight of 6 lbs 2.8 oz. Here is a list of what she can do:

• She can say the following words, or versions of them: hi ("ha"), bye-bye ("ba ba"), Luna ("bu-a"), one ("waa"), ma-ma, ball ("BA!"), baby ("bay-bay"), balloon/bird ("buu", meaning depends on context), cheese ("chs"), keys ("ks"), as well as a bunch of babbling that we can't understand.


• She seems to understand what "bye-bye" means, since she has said it when a guest has gotten up to leave the house and said something to the effect of "I better get going now."


• She knows signs for please, hurt, milk, one. She also does some other things which I don't think are official sign language, but who cares about official: yummy (rubs her tummy), bowing for Korean greeting, waving her hand hi/bye, wagging her finger while scolding in Korean ("ya-ya-ya"), all done, no (shakes her head), and she has quite the pointer finger, which she points at everything, even her elders.


• She claps in context, when she hears or sees someone clapping.


• She has been walking since ten months and has gotten much better.


• She tries to climb the baby gates sometimes.


• She likes to "kick" around a ball.


• She likes to throw around a ball while yelling "BA!"


• She is very good at pulling components off her mother's laptop.


• She has, in the last week and a half before her first birthday, started eating solids. She prefers very flavorful foods: cheese, pickles, Mexican food, curry, mildly spicy foods like salsa or Korean food.


• She knows what "be gentle" means, and she will pet Luna very gently when we prompt her. She also gives Luna hugs and kisses.


• She likes to carry around dolls and hug them close to her face.


• She is (unfortunately) extremely talented at removing her diapers - she can do it when they're on backwards, through clothes, and she can remove velcro, disposables, and snaps.


• She is very good at repeating actions she sees us do. She understands, for example, that Luna's brush is for Luna's fur, Luna's comb is for cleaning the crust around her eyes, Harmony's brush is for human hair, and that a toothbrush is for the mouth, and she will attempt to use them all appropriately.


• She loves to drag the swiffer around the house in an imitation of I-don't-know-what, because Harmony isn't the most talented housekeeper. (This statement was Harmony-approved.)


• She is a highly acrobatic nurser. She gets into positions that would make yoga instructors jealous.


• She brings books over to us and climbs in our laps, and then will sit still through... half the book. ;-)


• She plays peek-a-boo with enthusiasm.


• She plays pat-a-cake, sort of (she prefers to clap Harmony's hands together while she says the rhyme).


• She can open our bedroom door even when it's closed. Our door doesn't latch properly, and she's learned that she can pull on my bathrobe that hangs on the back of the door and it will swing open.

Exactly one year ago today:


6 months:



Two days ago: