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

Dear Ana,
Today you turn eleven months old, which is so close to a year that I can’t even wrap my brain around it. When you turn a year old you will become a toddler and no longer be a baby. So this is officially the last month we get to use the excuse that you don’t know any better because you are “just a baby” so make sure you use this last month well my friend!

While the big news last month was the fact that you are mobile, this is the month you got really good at it! You can make your way around the house like a pro. You crawl only as a means to get to something you can pull yourself up with and then you walk around the entire house. You have even figured out how to climb all the way up the stairs! Tables, chairs, walls, even the animals, are all just tools to help you in your quest to continually be in motion. But while you have gotten better at getting around, you sure haven’t gotten much faster. You are very deliberate with your mobility and don’t take a single step without thinking it through. I think it is because you hate falling or slipping more than anything! So much in fact, that you very gently lower yourself to the ground to transition from standing to crawling. It is so cute and just about the most prissy, girly thing I have ever seen you do.

In the last couple days you have increased your confidence in yourself and started standing. That is, letting go of my hand (or the nearest piece of furniture) and standing all by yourself. The first couple times you did it were entirely on accident: you would be standing up and holding on to something then pick up a toy and without realizing it, you would let go of the furniture entirely and stand all on your own. Then as soon as you realized you were doing it, you would panic and grab on for support. But now you have started doing it deliberately and even get excited and squeal with happiness, knowing what an accomplishment this is.

Even though you have started standing, you are still using your hands to steady yourself as you walk around the house the majority of the time. So you needed to figure out how to bring your toys, or whatever you happen to be playing with at the time, with you. Ever the little problem solver, you started using your mouth to carry your things. Let me tell ya, you are one creative little girl… that or you have been paying a little too much attention to the dogs.

Watching you eat has become quite the entertaining event at our house. There are some days you will only eat food you can feed yourself, which makes for some rather mess meal times. As the meal progresses, and you get more tired, you start rubbing your eyes and ears, and more often than not your hands stray into your hair. Once there, you run your fingers through your hair and depending on what you have eaten, create some pretty interesting hair styles. But seeing how proud you are when you finish all your peas, carrots, cheese cubes, and pasta makes the clean-up totally worth it.

As your developments increase and your abilities broaden, you are becoming quite the analytical little girl. You are always concentrating and studying the world around you. Just like your Auntie Jeni and your Daddy, when you are really focusing on something your “thinking tongue” comes out. Your father and I are always looking at you and wondering what is going on in that head of yours, but before we know it you will be talking and I am sure you will be more than willing to tell us every little thing!

My favorite quirky think you are doing this month has to do with when I put you down in your crib. For awhile there as soon as I would lay you in bed, you would stick your feet straight up in the air, drop your legs over to one side and curl up to go to sleep. While you still do this, you have added a little more to the trick: now you curl up, then tuck your legs under you and end up in the crawling position. Most of the time you squirm around enough that you end up sleeping on your stomach, but sometimes you are so tired you just fall asleep, with your butt up in the air, as if you are about to crawl away. All I know is you are lucky you are young, because if I were to sleep like that I would be so sore the next day I wouldn’t be able to move at all!

Oh Ana, I just love you and all your little quirks so much. You amaze me in so many ways. I want you to know that while this is technically the last month that you are a baby, just know that you will always be my baby.

All my love,
Mama