June 29, 2011
Lilly, my dear, it is the eve of your first birthday and I’ve just tucked you into bed. The kitchen is a mess and your highchair is sitting out on the deck still covered with hummus (your newest favorite food) still waiting to be hosed off. You are one messy eater! Grace, your still adoring Sister, is out late with Dad practicing riding her two wheeler, and I’ve decided to steal this time to tell you just how very special you are to us.
Let’s see...where to begin?!? You are a VERY happy girl. You smile all of the time and when you smile your whole face just lights up. Everyone is always telling me how happy, sweet and cuddly you are. You are so silly, too. We call you our Silly Lilly because you are always making us laugh. You LOVE music! You are one very good dancer too! All we have to do is sing to you “Let’s dance,” and by the time those two words are out of our mouth you are dancing away. You are an awesome eater, and it is so much fun to watch you enjoy your meals. You love just about everything but some of your favorites are pickles, hummus, peas and avocado.
You are a good talker, too. You are already saying ball, book, Gandma, bread, mama, dada, neigh neigh (Grace), bye and hi. You love to wave, blow kisses, give pat pats, give high five and low five, kiss and snuggle. You are SUCH a cuddle bug. Oh, I could just eat you up! You also do the CUTEST thing when you are excited. You smile from ear to ear and shiver/shake. Every morning when you wake up I pick you up out of your crib and as we open the window blinds I look at you and you do this little excited shake. We open the shade and say, “Good morning, tree!” We then open the other window shade and I say, “Good morning, world!” We finally open the door of your room and say, “Good morning, house!” You just LOVE it! Your joy is absolutely precious. This is how I get to start my day every day. How lucky am I?!?
You are very proud of the way you can now free stand. I am sure you will begin to walk any day now.
You are beautiful!!! You now have very thick strawberry blonde hair. It is almost to your shoulders and it is getting little curls like your sister's. You have big blue eyes and beautiful olive skin. You have eight teeth so far—four on the top and four on the bottom. You got the bottom right tooth first, then the bottom left and then the top two. Your molars are working their way through now. Your body is so adorable! You have nice chubby thighs and the cutest little (ok, not so little) behind. We love to watch you crawl naked to your bath! It is SO cute!
You are a clever little girl too. It is obvious that you want to master everything before you show it off. You said “Mama” first (and early too) and when you said it you looked directly at me saying it perfectly and deliberately. It was obvious you knew exactly what you were saying.
It took what seemed like forever for you to crawl, almost 9 months. But, again, when you had your audience and were ready you just took off and never stopped. You were a pro!
Grace swears she walked in on you walking back and forth in your crib. We all think you are practicing for your big debut!
So, in a nutshell, you are one loving, silly, active, smart, beautiful little girl and we still feel beyond blessed to have you!
Our home is very full of noise, toys, crumbs and fingerprints—we wouldn’t have it any other way! It is rarely quiet and never boring or dull. We are very, very busy all of the time!
Everyone is so in love with you, and you love your family so much. I, obviously, cherish you—just love you to pieces. You and your Dad are so precious together. You light up every day when he comes home from work. Grace loves you so much and she still loves being a big sister. The two of you love to play ball, hide and seek, peek a boo, swing and take baths together. Grace loves to read books to you and she is always entertaining you with your toys. She is a GREAT big sister!!! Grace just got home and asked me what I was writing. I told her and she asked me if I would read this letter to her, so I did. As she listened to me reading she began to cry so hard. I kept asking her if she wanted me to stop reading and she kept saying no (while crying). She then said she just loves you so much that she can’t stop crying. She loves you THAT much!!!
Grace also wanted me to tell you about your temper tantrums. You just learned how to throw them and they are pretty funny. You cry (typically because you want something you can’t have) and then you throw yourself onto your back. You do this over and over. You don’t pay any attention to what is behind you so you have hurt yourself many times now on blocks, walls, toys, etc. I am pretty sure that you will soon learn that the only one you are hurting is yourself!
On the “love” front… You love your Grandmas so much, and they adore you too. You spend tons of time with each of them and I feel so blessed watching them with you and your Sister. You are two very lucky girls!!!
Of course, everyone else loves you too. You are surrounded by the rest of your loving family, friends, and neighbors. We are all just so blessed to have you in our life.
You love life and we love you!!!
Happy first birthday my beautiful baby girl!!!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxox,
Mama
PS. Here are your "big dates" thus far:
November 2 (4 months) : Rolled over from back to front
November 24 (almost 5 months): Rolled over from front to back
November 27: Ate for the first time—first rice cereal, the peas, then sweet potatoes, pears, and apples. (You LOVED chicken and sweet potatoes at 7 months…)
December 6: First tooth, bottom right (bottom left followed one week later)
February 9, 2011 (6 months): First word! Mama—You had not babbled at all. You were sitting in the high chair as Grace sat on the stool. I was getting breakfast ready for you girls. You looked up at me and just said it, Mama. With perfect clarity. We both cheered you on and you continued to say it hundreds of times that day. You left it on everyone’s voice mail. You were SO proud of yourself!
February 24 (7 months): “Dada, Dada,Dada” You typically wave and smile while saying Mama and Dada.
February 21 (7 months): Top left center tooth is beginning to peek through your gums.
February 24 (7 months): Starting to show interest in trying to crawl. You are getting up onto your knees and rocking a bit—still not getting anywhere, but trying!
March 31 (9 months): You crawled for the first time. You seriously just took off, just like that, and you were off to the races! Grace said “Mom, Lilly’s crawling!!!” I really thought it might be one move, maybe two. But, nope! You really began crawling that day…non-stop. SOOO cute!
By 10 months you were creeping along furniture and now, at a year exactly, you are walking with the help of one finger. You sure are growing up fast, and you make us so proud!!!
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