12 Months

Wow. Wouldja look at that?! A year. A year?! How did that happen so fast?! Well in any case, it's also been 12 months, and forget how much has happened in a year, lots has been going on just in the last month!
Little One can do all sorts of new things. She can push her walker-wagon around the house like a miniature geriatric patient, enjoying the view from almost two feet higher.
She can play "pat-a-cake" and "peek-a-boo" for hours on end, doing all the hand motions and holding up the tea towel Herself.
She can talk talk talk all day, singing in the crib, singing in the car. Making music for me all the time.
She has figured out how to not only seek and destroy, but to put things right again. (woo hoo!) She can put her toys back in the box, build a new block tower after smashing the old one, stack the rings on the peg after pulling each one off, smile adorably after yanking out my hair.
She is interested in how things work. She will put the cylinder block through the ring-shaped one over and over, in multiple configurations, or press a button to hear a song over and over to make sure there is really such a thing as cause and effect (a phenomenon I play an unwitting experiment version of myself throughout the day).
All this study has helped Her learn what things are for. She knows that shoes go on feet, and will try to put them on. Or eat them. She knows that daddy's glasses go on faces, and tries to get them on, too. Or eat them. She knows what forks and spoons and zippers and buckles are for, and wants to use them Herself (or eat them).
In fact helping is Little One's new favorite pastime. At bedtime, for example, I comb Her hair, and then She (with an air of utmost importance) "combs" Her hair. She can also help brush Her teeth, get dressed, put on lotion, and wash Herself. She can pick her own book to read before bed.
Which is Her other big hobby right now. Her favorite toy is books. She wants them read to Her, She wants to read them aloud to me (all the stories go "bah bah-da! Dadada mama ma!" Rrrawwwr!!!") She wants to sit alone quietly, turning the pages and lifting all the flaps. She wants, very much, to eat them.
Which gets them taken away, which ends in tears. Because Little One knows when She's in trouble. She knows it for sure, and She knows it's NOT fun. Sometimes this is good, because She really will listen if I say No, and stop before She, for example, chomps down on the vacuum cord or dog's tail. Sometimes it just means lots of noise and waterworks because She didn't want to be told no and really didn't want to have Her book taken away/ be pulled out of the dishwasher/not get to crawl on the public-bathroom floor. I totally get it. I don't like limits much, myself. But I guess I'd rather get the concept of their inevitability across now, rather than wait for Life or the police department to teach Her later.
Anyways there are lots more smiles than tears around here for all of us, and we're having a really really fun time watching our sweet little baby turn into a sweet little toddler. Which is happening terribly fast. In fact, Little One celebrated Her big One Year by completing an incredible feat on Her birthday- She took Her first step!
It all seems so amazing. J and I somehow managed to get Little One into the world and carry Her with us all the way around the sun! And here we are. Starting off on the journey again, and this time, Little One making Her way on Her own two feet.

We know you'll do great things on the way, Little One, and we can't wait to see what you'll learn and become as you go. Just remember that even when you don't need us to carry you anymore, we'll still be right behind you.
Happy Birthday.