To my Little Bitty Claycito:

You turned one on Saturday, which caught me completely off-guard! I knew it was coming, but, still, I was surprised 1). because time just moves so much more quickly than I think it ought to and 2). because you are just such a little thing that I never think of you as being as old as you are. But, good news! I took you to the doctor today, and, at 16.5 pounds, you are finally on the weight-for-age growth chart. Right around the 7th percentile, but, hey, we'll take it! You are about 29 inches long (24th percentile). The doc also informed me that you have a double ear infection, which I never would have known about because you haven't been grumpy, fevery or restless much at all. In fact, you are just about the best baby I have ever been around, period. You are always just so happy and easy-going, which I can't thank you enough for, and which causes everyone who meets you to fall in love instantly.

You LOVE your older siblings and are always eager to play with them. But you are also quite happy to play by yourself. Your favorite thing to play with is a ball, but you also enjoy cars. And for some reason you get an enormous thrill out of emptying the shelves in the pantry, the lid drawer, and the drawer with all the appliance manuals, as well as any cabinet or drawer you can get open. And, if you can get away with it, you like to smash the remote controls and splash in the potties, though we do try to keep these activities to a minimum.

You have just started drinking regular whole milk and juice, and you will eat pretty much anything we put in front of you, though your favorite thing is definitely mac and cheese. And when you're done, you're done, which we can tell because you start to throw the things you don't want on the floor. You are starting to wear nine-month clothes, but you are still in size 3 diapers. You're getting bigger, but you still aren't big, by any means.

You have learned to say quite a few words, including words that sound like: mama, Ruth, dada, milk, cracker, bye-bye, hi, light and ball. And, you will mimic the sounds of other words you hear, as well. You also communicate a great deal through pointing and babbling. And smiling, clapping and kicking your feet. You are absolutely adorable!

You are still performing a very unorthodox crawl--more of a scootch, really--but you are cruising a good deal, and you are starting to take a few real steps now and then. It has to be your idea, though. If we try to stand you up and get you to walk for us, you usually just make your legs go completely floppy so you can get back down into scootching position.

You are still taking two good naps a day and are usually sleeping about 12 hours at night. Usually the only time you get fussy is when you're sleepy. And when you are truly ready for sleep, you will usually hug your blanket and then roll over and close your eyes without so much as a peep. It's definitely something the rest of us appreciate about you.

You love music and will "dance" and clap whenever you hear it. You thoroughly enjoyed every off-key singing of "Happy Birthday," during your several birthday parties.

This year with you has been so much fun! Your dad and brothers and sister and I love you so much, and we're so glad God decided to place you in our family! You are such a blessing to us! Every. Single. Day.

I love you more than words can say,
Mom