Sweet girl,

You are almost a year old… where has the time gone?!? This month has been a good one though. You get more and more fun (and more tiring) every single day. You make yourself laugh, you push boundaries and you are learning so much. You love to be on the move, which makes getting photos in our same spot tougher and tougher, but with your Daddy acting as spotter, we gave it a shot. We got lots of funny faces, lots of crawling toward/over the front edge/pulling off the 11 month sticker/pretty much no looking at the camera. Might not be “perfect” photos, but they are perfect to me – because they are you. They are so very you.

You LOVE to wave hi. To anyone. And everyone. Including the dogs or the stranger who happens to be in the same aisle at the grocery store.

You LOVE bath time. We both end up pretty much dripping wet because of how much you enjoy splashing. It makes me hope that you’ll end up being a swimmer (at least for a little while) like I was. But if that’s not your thing as you grow up, that’s ok.

You LOVE trying new foods – recent hits include sweet potatoes and watermelon. You could eat those alllllll day. It’s been especially fun for your Daddy to keep preparing new foods for you to try, and I’m pretty sure you inherited my appreciation for his cooking! You’ve learned to sign “all done” and you’ve adapted your own version of the sign for “please”… we get a lot more of the “please” than “all done” when it comes to eating, and it’s not always consistent, but it’s amazing to watch you learning to communicate what you’re thinking with us.

You LOVE to pull the clothes out of the hamper and the books off your shelf… You’re the cutest little mess-maker I’ve ever seen, even if the mess drives me nuts at times.

And speaking of the books on your shelf, you’ve developed a new level of appreciation for them… You’ve gotten hooked on reading books, and girl, the way you want to read them has continually melted the hearts of your parents. You grab a book (odds are good it will be “Where’s Spot?”, “Pat the Bunny”, or “Llama Llama, Nighty Night”), toddle over to either Daddy or I, hand us the book and then proceed to take another step or two, turn around and sit down right in our laps. You snuggle in backwards and lean that sweet head full of crazy hair right into our chest and wait for us to begin reading.

You don’t really sleep on our chests anymore like you did when you were first born, and you’re much more interested in walking around the house than snuggling, but these moments… the ones books bring us, they find you sitting as close as you can to us. And I couldn’t be happier. The first time you walked over and snuggled into the reading position with your Daddy he looked at me and whispered “Best. Thing. EVER.” I hope you keep that love of books, Peanut. They can take you places  you’ll never be able to travel, and they will introduce you to people you will never meet although they will teach you great life lessons. They will make you laugh, they will make you cry, and they will help expand your mind. Keep reading, sweet girl, and I hope you keep wanting to read in just the right place in my lap for years to come.

Chasing you around the house is exhausting little one, but it’s so fun to watch you explore. You get this little grin on your face when you round a corner before we do… As if to say “You see how fast I was going???” You are so proud of yourself as we round the corner to catch up, and I hope you always find pride in your accomplishments – big or small. As long as they are your own, be proud of them.

And Peanut? Just in case you were wondering what my view is when trying to take your photos lately… here you go: