Sweet Lilah Jane,
The first year of your life has been so much fun. I've really enjoyed watching you grow and develop into the one-year-old you now are. It has truly been a gift. It's a couple of weeks after your birthday that I'm writing this post, but I feel like you've changed so much even in the past couple of weeks that I'm just going to cheat and include that stuff.
You have such an adventurous spirit. You love the wind in your face, whether swinging on a swing, riding on a boat, or even having your brother blow in your face. You love being swung around and spun in circles. You like to hang upside down. All of these things make you smile and giggle. It is so sweet. You also don't seem to have much fear, which could make for an interesting childhood.
Here are some 1-year-old stats:
Weight: 17.5 lbs; Height: 28 1/4 inches (you're a peanut)
Number of teeth: 4
Words: hi, uh-oh, yay, yeah, read, more, no
Signed words: more, milk, bye
You have started waving. You do this cute thing where you scrunch up your nose and breath in and out of it audibly. Whenever you're excited about something, you kick your feet. Even when you're not excited about things, you like to move your feet around in little circles. I think you might have gotten that from me because I do that sometimes too.
When your daddy gets home from work, your brother and I have started saying, "Yay!!" You have picked that up and now say yay often too. You say it when Dada gets home from work, but also when other people come over or even just enter a room sometimes. The other day I went to pick you up from the nursery at church. It was a quiet morning in the nursery so it was really quiet when I walked up. You looked up and saw me and broke the silence with a loud, "Yay!!" Not sure a person can get a much better welcome than that.
You have definitely turned a corner with your social skills. You let others hold you much more readily. You even choose to go to others instead of me. You'll stay in the nursery at church without crying. It's a welcome change. Especially since you still light up when you see me.
You really like to read books. However, you definitely prefer certain ones over others and will often not make it through even a short book if you don't like it enough. You're still picky when it comes to eating as well. You're a great eater...as long as we're feeding you things that you like. If you don't like something, getting you to eat more than a bite or two is usually a hopeless endeavor.
You learned how to climb the stairs this month. The first time, your brother was right beside you showing you the ropes, egging you on. Our stairs are split into two sets with a turn in the middle so that you can't see the top of the stairs from the bottom. You made it all the way up both flights!
A day or two later, I was in the kitchen and all of a sudden realized that you'd been quiet for a while. I hurried toward the playroom, noticing that the gate at the bottom of the stairs was open. I peeked around the corner into the playroom...no Lilah. I immediately dashed up the stairs, turned the corner, and there you were all the way at the top of the stairs, standing at the railing and looking down into the play room. Yikes! I quickly learned that closing the gate is a must now.
It's so fun to watch you interact with your brother more and more. He still loves to make you laugh and if he finds something that works, he'll do it over and over until you lose interest.
We've started this little family ritual in the evenings. After dinner, when it's time for you and Caleb to get ready for bed, we all race upstairs to his
room and dive onto his bed. Then he jumps around and you join in on
the fun. You can't jump yet, so instead you get up on your knees and
throw yourself forward onto your hands and giggle. I think that's one
of your (and Caleb's) favorite things to do.
Here are a few pics from your 1st birthday party. We kept it pretty low-key. Brunch at our house with family and a few close friends. It was fun to celebrate you!
I made you some cupcakes and kept them as healthy as I could. You weren't a big fan, but you humored us.
You bring such joy to my life, Lilah Jane. I wasn't super excited about having a baby girl at first, but now I wouldn't change it for the world. God knew just what he was doing when he gave you to us. I can't believe a year has gone by already. In some ways, it makes me a little sad. But I'm also looking forward to seeing all the exciting things that your second year will bring! I love you with all my heart, baby girl.
Love,
Mama
