One Whole Year

Dear Boo Bear,

The past year has been the most... well, everything. It has been the hardest and the easiest year of my life. I has been the happiest of my life because I have gotten to spend every day with you. A year ago today, my world became something I could never have prepared for and never could have imagined. The love you have brought to my heart is bigger than anyone can comprehend prior to having children. Your birth was a wonderful experience for me and bringing you into this world was the best thing I have ever done.

In the past couple of months, you have really made the jump from a baby to a little girl. You have grown so much and sometimes as I look down at you while you are nursing, it feels like I am nursing a two year old. You are very tall and thin and I can't wait to see how you have grown at your year check up.

Right after Christmas you started walking and we are now the proud parents of a true toddler. You love to walk. You like being able to move towards what you want much faster. You still revert to your crab crawl when you really want to book it, but you prefer to move on two feet now. You do still spend a lot of time on your rear end, but you pop right back up and keep going. You are still in the baby Frankenstein phase, but I can see it won't be long before you are running.

You are a really good eater and until recently seemed to eat as much as me and your father at meal times. You have slowed down recently, just in time to begin weaning, which of course worries me. But all in due time. You love meat and pasta goldfish, cheese, crackers and oatmeal. Not so much the veggies and the fruit, but you will eat it if I put only that on your plate. You clench your mouth shut and turn your nose up in a sort of pucker when you are done or don't want what I am trying to feed you.

You are such a happy child. We are so blessed with you for so many reasons. You are constantly smiling and babbling to yourself. You insist on being the center of attention and when you aren't, you let out a scream that makes sure that all eyes are on you. You have quite a voice and are not afraid to use it. Many times you are screeching just for the sheer enjoyment. Your enjoyment, not mine. When we take you out in public, you smile and talk to anyone who will so much as glance in your direction. And if they are paying no attention to you at all, you screech so that they will and then you grin. On occassion you will pretend to be shy and you make the cutest face as you bury your head in my chest. It's a very coy look that says, "I'm pretending to be shy." You are not shy at all in reality. You will go to anyone if they just hold out their arms to you and talk to anybody who will listen and make those who are not listening, pay attention to you.

You hate being told no and if you really don't like what I am telling you no about, you scream and sometimes it is so hard not to laugh. Your face goes through 100 different emotions as you try to figure out whether to cry or not and then you let out a scream that could wake the dead. Ironically when I tell you no for screaming loud for no reason, you scream even louder when you start crying.

You love, love the cat and will babble in his direction if you see him through the back window in the living room. You call Tigger "Ga" and sometimes even seem to be saying "kitty." You have various books with cats in them and anytime I open a book to the page with a cat on it, you immediately grin and start babbling.

You have the attention span of a normal child your age I suppose. You are constantly moving, never sitting still. Even when you hurt yourself, you won't let me simply hold you to console you, you try to wiggle free while you are crying. We have never read a whole book, because generally you will sit still long enough for me to read about a half a word and then you grab the book from me and play with it. You have no interest in me reading to you, but sometimes try reading to yourself. Especially if there is a cat.

This morning as I put on my makeup, you confiscated a piece of paper off the counter. For a good 10 minutes I watched as you walked from the bathroom to the bedroom window and then back again. You did this repeatedly for ten minutes like it was a bedroom/bathroom relay. It was cute. You are cute.

My little boo ba, boo bear, poo bear, ba ba, vannah boo, Savannah pants, my little girl, I love you so much and hope that you always know that. I look forward to what the next year brings and the next and the next and the next. All of them, until you turn 13 and then we might have to re-evaluate. I look forward to all the years we have together for they are blessed years. I love you my dear little girl, I love you. Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mama