I don't suppose there is any one moment when you leave "baby" behind and really start growing up, but looking at RR now, it certainly seems she is well on her way. I don't know if it's the dress that is no longer too big for her, a different pair of shoes, the more confident walk and posture, or her increasingly engaging expressions. She is more frequently repeating words she hears us say, although not all of them have reached her permanent vocabulary yet.
Lately, RR has been distracted while eating. She tends to reach for random remote objects and becomes more difficult to feed, but a few toys on the dinner tray have placated her. Just this evening, we were excited to see her build up her very own tower with the available toys! Previously, she has confined her tower activities to knocking over what we had stacked up for her. I am sure she has a great future in architecture or engineering.
Ever vigilant against the possibility of sunburn, we bring a hat for little RR whenever we go out with her, and we usually put it on her head before opening the door. She has quickly picked up on this cue, so now if she finds a hat (of any size) she seizes upon it eagerly and marches towards the door. In a pinch, some non-hat items have also been pressed into service this way.
The AAP recommends that children under 2 should watch no TV at all. However, bad parents that we are, we turned on the insidious box as a distraction while T attempted to trim a fingernail.
At this point it must be mentioned that T, looking over my shoulder, protests that RR is clear on the meaning of the phrase. For example she says "all done" when reaching the end of a bottle. But be that as it may, she has recognized and announced the end of a video as well, and in fact, she also seemed unhappy that the video had concluded, and clearly wanted to see more. Is she falling into the clutches of the TV already? Wondering about this, I started another of our home videos, this one showing her crawling around the living room and playing with a few toys.
She watched the screen attentively, not being distracted by daddy playing nearby with his camera, but she did not seem as enthralled with this one. Not as much exciting movement as the swings at the park, I suppose.
"All done!" she said cheerfully.
Our little RR turned one year old on April 27, 2009. Counted by the minutes before she falls asleep, the time drags, but from a longer view the time really has flown by. We had a small party on Saturday 5/2 attended by Great Aunt K, Great Aunt I, the Doting Grandmother, and the Proud but Still A Bit Tired Parents. To commemorate her first year, she stood up on her own for the very first time this week, and even took a few tiny steps.
Our little Redowa Rose is really growing up! She has already been saying "dada" and "mama" for some time, although that includes some interpretation on our part. To be more complete, she usually says "da-da-da-da... da..." or variations on that theme. But just this week while watching a dog outside, she has said "do-guh" pretty distinctly, so that's an exciting development. 
We put up the baby fence in the living room in part to protect the electronics from curious little fingers, and that worked for awhile. Little RR is now standing up by the TV and "cruising" sideways along the railing to the stereo, which she turns on and selects tape, CD or radio, often listening to NPR. After playing elsewhere for a bit, she comes back and turns it off again. Her musical taste also extends to various toys that play tunes, ranging from Beethoven's 5th to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She has become very adept at pushing buttons to play her tunes, and tonight was regularly getting two toys to play the same tune concurrently.
RR got a clean bill of health on her 9-month checkup, at which time she was the height and weight of the median 12-month old (!) In related news, she has already outgrown some 12-month outfits and we have been buying more baby clothes. So far she wears them contentedly, however mismatched or over-the-top pink they may be.
We have reached several new milestones in the past few weeks. When she woke up before, she would usually be lying down or sometimes sitting, but now when get her after a nap, we usually find her standing up! She can pull herself up on the crib railing. Another big moment for me came this week, just after getting home, I heard her high clear voice distinctly say "da-da". Probably not intentional, but a wonderful moment nevertheless. Last week she was doing a caterpillar-like crawl with her tummy on the ground, but this week she has started doing a real hands-and-knees crawl. That means she can get around much more quickly now, so we're going to have to make sure to keep up!
With her feet extending past the front edge of her infant carseat, little RR has grown into the next size up. The new "True Fit" model is quite a bit bigger (it even has its own cup holder) but should last her several more years. Add one to the list of baby items now outgrown. Note, this is a composite photo- we do not have twins.
In the last month, little RR has seemed more awake and aware than before, paying attention to us (at times) as if understanding something of what we are saying, and looking at each person speaking in turn. Several times she has indicated by looking at the water bottle and saying "Mmmm! Mmmm" that she wants a drink. She also continues to improve her hand control- no longer just flexing all fingers at once for grabbing, she is now picking up toys deliberately and tracing along edges with a single finger, seeking out interesting bumps and textures. She will clap her hands, and bang two toys together. 
She will consistently turn the pages in the books we read to her (if often a bit faster than we would) and sometimes picks out a book she wants. She lies on her side to play with toys, and will easily turn herself over, sometimes making changing difficult! On the other hand she helps when dressing, pulling her arms in and out of sleeves, ducking her head when pulling off a shirt. We are working on getting her to fall asleep in her crib by herself, and have succeeded at least once. We always put her down on her back, but she now sometimes ends up sleeping on her tummy. One thing that hasn't changed is her big cheery smile greeting us each morning, a great boost for her sleepy parents.
