Dear Ana,
Today you turn thirteen months…I know, back to telling your age in terms of months again! Thirteen is usually considered an unlucky number, but not for us. This month has been as perfect and magical as we could ever hope. I had fully intended on only writing these letters to you for the first year of your life, but like a lot of things involving you, I am not ready to give this up. There are just so many things I want to tell you, to share with you, to help you understand what an amazing person you are.

The biggest news of all this month is you are officially walking! You started walking on your birthday and haven’t stopped since. It was perfect timing because so many of your family and friends were all there to witness your first real steps. We had the video camera rolling as you took about ten steps right into your cousin Emmitt’s arms. It took a couple days before you really got the hang of it, but now you walk everywhere with confidence!

But walking hasn’t been your only great accomplishment this month. You have started talking as well. It seems like you learn a new word every day and it is becoming difficult to keep track of your expanding vocabulary. When you learn a new word you mouth it first, then whisper it for a couple days as you practice the way the word sounds coming out of your mouth, then once you are confident you are doing it correctly, you say the word aloud. (Being a perfectionist is totally something you get from me, sorry! But I swear it’s not always a bad thing!) These are the words you can say: Mama/Mom, Dada/Dad, kitty (which is sometimes shortened to just “ki” like you are so excited you just can’t complete the word), Abby (our cat…you can tell what you find important), baby, bite, cheese, treat, up, uh-oh, please (pronounced “peas”), hi, bye, guys (as in “Hey! Guys! Come get me out of my crib!”), happy, book, ball, balloon (pronounced in one syllable as “bloon”), blankie, binky (pacifier), go, yes/yeah, no, and don’t.

But unlike most children who use “no” or “don’t” as part of a tantrum, you use it as more of a baby alarm system. When you are doing something you know you are not suppose to be doing I hear a faint, “No, no…don’t” from across the room. Then I am able to come over and quickly remove the object you shouldn’t have. I can also tell when someone forgot to put the baby gates up because the pitter-patter of your little feet speeds up when you are racing towards something you shouldn’t be doing. I just listen closely to you and your noises and we can prevent most major accidents. Works like a charm!

We have recently expanded your language boom to include some fun “baby party tricks.” When asked what noise a puppy makes, you reply “woof.” In fact, when you hear our dogs bark, you often woof back at them…then more often than not you follow it with a “shhh!” You also know that a sheep says “baa.” But when we try to tell you a kitty says “meow” you simply laugh at us. I think it’s because you have never heard our cats make a noise anywhere close to that. And you would know because you pay very close attention to those cats!

Aside from animals, you are also very into music right now. Anything that sings or plays music captivates you and makes your eyes light up in a way that warms my heart. A lot of your toys sing the alphabet so every once in awhile you belt out a random string of letters. It usually starts with “ahh, bee, cee, dee,” then warps into your own twisted version of what I imagine you think are “letters.” We have also gone to a lot of birthday parties in the last couple weeks and you have become very fond of singing “Happy Birthday” only your version goes more like, “Happy to ooo.” If we even mention the song or say “happy” in a sentence I often hear you whispering the song under your breath.

Oh Ana, my sweet baby girl, I am just so happy you and I are able to spend so much time together. I know you won’t be able to remember these moments when you are older, so I try my very best to document our lives through my website, photographs, and even these letters, so when you grow up you will always know we filled our days with happiness and laughter, but more than anything you will know that you were loved.

All my love,
Mama