Maybe you heard already but today is Jezebel's birthday; we're one year old. What do you do with a one-year-old? Since none of us have kids, we turned to world-renowed expert Dr. Spock. His book has six sections on one-year-olds: 1. What makes them tick? 2. Avoiding injuries 3. Fears around 1 year 4.Independence and outgoingness 5. Handle them matter-of-factly 6. Nap hours are changing. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Around the age of one year, Dr. Spock explains, is when children "seem to realize that they're not meant to be baby dolls the rest of their lives, that they're human beings with ideas and wills of their own." Jezebel? Willful? And how. Spock also says: "One-year-olds are demon explorers. They poke into every nook and cranny, finger the carving in furniture, shake a table or anything else that isn't nailed down, want to take every single book out of the bookcase, climb onto anything they can reach, fit little things into big things, and then try to fit big things into little things. In short, they are into everything." Baby Jezebel has been into the economy, anthropology, gender studies. We definitely fingered the carving. Right on track!

As for injuries, ours were mostly psychic.

Fears around one year include frightening sounds and sights. Check, check.

As for independence, Spock says a baby becomes more daring in her experiments and explorations as the months go by.

To handle a one-year-old matter of factly, Spock says, you often must distract her. How about with pretty pictures? Or crazy insane gossip?

Lastly, naptime. Yawn. Zzzz.