12 months: Happy Birthday baby boy!

First of all, you are officially no longer a baby. Yes, you still have a pacifier and drag a blanket around the house so much we have started calling you Linus for short, but you are not a baby. How do I know? You fed yourself breakfast this morning all by yourself, yogurt and toast, and wouldn't let me help one bit. It was a disastrous mess and made me a little sick cleaning it up, but you had a riot.

I've been a little sad all day today because you aren't my baby anymore. One year olds can wander the house freely, not needing any supervision, and can play with whatever they want. They also decide that suddenly, they understand stuff. For example, "Do you want to help mom with the laundry" causes you to jump from whatever you are doing and race me to the laundry closet or, "don't play with dad's books, play with mom's" lets me see you to drop from one nightstand and move all the way around the bed to the other.

It's been a bit baffling to me today trying to figure out where the last year has gone. There aren't a lot of baby memories floating through my head, but I am so happy that we survived. You, my boy, are growing and thriving by the minute and I just love watching you play, learn, laugh, and hanging out with you in general. We are sidekicks, you and I, and wherever we go, it's good times.




At this point in the game, you are close to walking, but aren't that interested because crawling and begging for a ride suits you just fine. You say mama, dada, uh ho, hi (sometimes), and babble nonsense to your hearts content. There is still a love affair brewing for the washer and dryer, but your passion for phones, remote controls, and computers is ever increasing. You are your father's clone, whether I like it or not.

I am so excited for you to get older and bigger and start talking. Just thinking about the crazy things you'll say and questions you'll ask me is exciting.



You are a dancing and singling machine and we just taught you to stick your finger out to meet ours when we say, ET phone home, and you laugh, and laugh, and laugh. Oh, the tricks we will teach you my boy...just wait. You thought the last year was interesting - you haven't seen anything yet.