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

Dear Ana,
Happy Birthday my little bug! Today you turn twelve months, or one year, old. The other day a lady asked how old you were and I said “almost twelve months” to which she promptly replied, “Oh! A year!” Then it hit me that I have really got to get use to not saying your age in terms of months–you are on to YEARS, baby!

Once people hear how old you are, the first thing they ask is if you are walking. While not technically “walking” you are definitely taking steps. Last week you started doing what we refer to as “the pivot.” You would be holding on to something, step, and grab on to the next thing. Only one of your feet actually moved; hence the pivot. But in the last couple days you have taken full on steps. You are still incredibly cautious and only take small, manageable steps between things, but it is progress!

While I love that you are learning new things and meeting all your milestones perfectly, the best thing about you walking is how excited you get. When you take a step you are so proud of yourself you squeal and shake your hands or clap in sheer delight. Watching you take chances and dare to try new things makes me so proud to be your mother.

Naturally as you get older the way we do certain things has to evolve and adapt to your needs. This has happened with getting you to sleep. For the longest time I would nurse you and then rock or cuddle you to sleep. However, as your mobility increases and your desire to GET UP AND GO! is physically possible, the rocking and cuddling is no longer an option. We have started just putting you in your crib and within a few minutes of pathetic whimpering you fall fast asleep. However from time to time, you like to express your displeasure with being in bed the only way you know how. The result? Stuffed animal carnage. You have started emptying the contents of your crib one thing at a time until your bedroom floor is littered with stuffed animals. The only problem with this is that you quickly run out of animals and tend to throw your blankie and binky (which help you sleep) out as well. So on nights like this, your father or I come back in your room, return all the items to their place, hand you your blankie and binky, which you promptly accept and drift off to sleep. Silly little girl.

Speaking of silly sleep issues, I am fairly certain that you have inherited your mother’s sleep habits. You see, I have been known to do strange things in my sleep, ranging from sleep walking and talking, to yelling at your father to take the sheets off the bed in the middle of the night. A few nights ago I went into your room to check on you before I went to bed and as I walked into the room you stirred. I quickly froze, afraid I had waken you up, when you rolled over onto your hands and knees and started crawling. I was sure you were awake, except that as you crawled, you bumped into the edge of the crib, crumpled down and started snoring. You totally sleep crawled! It was simultaneously the cutest and creepiest thing I had seen you do. However, it does help me to understand how you end up in such strange sleep positions!

This month you have really started acting like a girl. Not only do you love to get into your Mama’s make-up drawer, but you love talking on the phone. As soon as I set down the phone you quickly rush over, put it to your ear and say, “Hi…Da-dee.” In fact, it doesn’t even have to be an actual phone. Just about anything you find becomes a phone…

Or a hairbrush. If something is not suitable for chatting into in your own little language, it promptly gets run through your hair. It is just about the cutest thing ever.

Well, that’s not entirely true. In my opinion, everything you do is the cutest thing ever. However, I am pretty biased since I did MAKE YOU. But in all honesty, you truly make everything better. I love seeing the world through your eyes. Books are more exciting when you are turning the pages. Ice cream tastes better when I share it with you. Things are funnier when you laugh at them with me. Thank you for each and every moment we spend together. It’s been an amazing first year.

All my love,
Mama