Oh goodness, I can hardly fathom how on earth our baby is ONE. That was officially the Fastest Year Ever.
These days, our girl is spirited and playful, she wiggles to herself when she’s happy and babbles (often alternating between da-da and momma, her two words, over and over all day long, which is as adorable as it sounds). She tilts her head in communication, likes to shake things, and knock towers of blocks over. She still loves the water and is a fun playmate in the pool. Yesterday we took her to the beach and she crawled right into the water.
She loves flipping through her books and has strong opinions about which ones she likes having read to her. She doesn’t clap or wave but she can wiggle, shake, and dance. She gives the sweetest little (very slobbery) kisses.
This lady is an excellent eater and enjoys most things we offer her including salmon, meatballs, kale, quinoa, blueberries, mango, pineapple, French toast, pancakes, eggs, and much, much more. I really enjoy our time together at the table and I love that I can take her out to lunch and not worry about a meltdown. (My only concern is how I can apologize enough to the waitstaff for the inevitable mess that winds up on the floor.)
She can go from happy to irate on a dime and her cries have the power to make an entire plane disembark as quickly as humanly possible. She throws her food on the floor when she’s full and loves drinking water. She bites my leg when she wants to be picked up and doesn’t think I’m responding fast enough. (She also goes through phases of biting me while nursing and yes, it’s as painful as it sounds.) She’s impatient when she wakes up and always wants out of her crib immediately.
She likes her personal space (though definitely doesn’t always give it to other babies- her poor younger cousin is often climbed upon!) and will generally play with others as long as she’s free to move around on her own. She does not sit still much. She loves music and already knows how to strum the guitar strings. She understands the word “no” and yet will often flash a sly grin and go right for what she knows she’s not supposed to do or have (such as stairs, a recent interest). From what I hear, this is how I was as a child…
For me, this year mark of being a mom feels pretty monumental. It both went extraordinarily fast and also, in some ways, it feels like it took For-Ever, especially the early, colicky months. I haven’t always been as patient as I would like to be (some days I don’t feel patient at all) and I have days when I cannot wait for bedtime. At the same time, there are many moments that I’m still in disbelief that she’s my daughter—that I have a daughter—and it’s endlessly fascinating to watch her figure out the world.
She loves being around other people, and yet she’s extremely attached to us. I love and value my work and yet I am so incredibly grateful that I have a flexible career that has allowed me to spend so much time with her. Each day is a balancing act of time, commitments, and energy, that is for sure.
So my sweet girl, thank you for sharing your spirit, laughter, energy, and light with us. I can’t wait to see what this next year brings us!
P.S. I used this template for the crown and used hand-dyed wool and liberty of London fabric, with fusible webbing sandwiched in between for weight. It’s embellished with a little fabric “1″ and pink ric-rac.