Happy Birthday, Little One

Dearest Sela,

You just turned 1. Already. You haven’t been home with us for even 3 months yet, but what an experience it has been so far.

When we picked you up, you weren’t even sitting up by yourself. Now you are crawling, albeit on your belly, all over the place. You have started to get up on your knees and elbows and hands with a little assistance. If we give you some support you are able to stand for a little while. It is incredible to watch you learn these new skills.

I don’t know that you have a favorite toy yet. Mostly, you like to get at whatever Brendan has and most likely doesn’t want you to have. The funniest part of this is that he wants to play with all of your toys. Go figure.

So far, you are game to try most foods. When we first gave you Cheerios – the toddler staple – you gagged on it with messy results. So, we backtracked and gave you rice puffs for a while. Once you got the hang of those, we tried Cheerios again with great success. Now, those are just too boring for you. And why not? It certainly isn’t what the rest of the family is eating for pete’s sake! We haven’t introduced a few foods that are more prone to causing allergies, but we are hopefully that will go smoothly. I mean, who can live without peanut butter and strawberries? (I know there are those out there who do, but my life would just not be as joyful without those two things!)

Your personality is oh, so much different than Brendan’s. You are fussy, particular, funny and happy. When some slight is thrust upon you (usually Mommy or Daddy taking away something you shouldn’t have or Brendan taking away something he wants) you can howl with the best of them. If you take a tumble or get bumped or scared in any way you can let loose then, too. Thankfully for us, you are also easily consolable, for the most part. Usually we can pick you up or distract you and the tears will stop. On the days you aren’t cutting teeth and your brother isn’t picking on you too much, you are just way too much fun. Your smile can brighten a sunlit day. And your laugh is different than any other little kids I have heard, but it is no less infectious. I think if they could bottle baby/toddler laughter it would solve a lot of the world’s anger. Then you have this – look. You lower your chin, furrow your brow and give a stern look that could stop the antics of the naughtiest of kids. Then you usually put your chin up and laugh because you did something really funny. Oh, and being naked? THAT is the absolute best, in your opinion.

We happen to think you are pretty dang smart, too. You know how to smile and flirt to get people to give you what you want. You have already started to make a couple of signs (“more”, “milk” and “please”), though not all the time. You are an expert at maneuvering yourself to get EXACTLY what you shouldn’t have.

While we have changed a lot in your little life thus far, we are hoping the coming year will settle down. We have a nice place to live, Daddy has a job that keeps him from traveling too terribly much, and hopefully your big brother will continue getting used to the idea of actually being a big brother. All in all, we are blessed to have you in our lives, and we couldn’t be happier.

Much love,

Mommy & Daddy