Today you are a year old. Even as I write that, it is hard for me to understand. An entire year. Of you. It doesn't seem like it could have possibly been that long.
And yet, there you are. You've grown so much from the little tiny thing we brought home from the hospital... You're independent and smart and stubborn and all of the great things I could have hoped for you when you were born. You constantly amaze me with the things you learn and understand - you pick up so much, even when we're not really sure we're teaching you. You have an amazingly sweet spirit - you love people, and animals, and seem to make friends wherever we go.
You are walking - running, and want to be on your own feet everywhere we go. Even though you only have two teeth, you love grown-up food and would eat chicken at every meal if we let you. You love to give hugs and kisses, and this morning, for the first time, you responded to my request to "give mommy kisses" by planting a big slobbery toddler kiss on my cheek. You understand so much more of the world that I would have thought possible for a one-year-old.
I hope your next year is as special and amazing as your first - and that you every bit as much this year as you did last year. I am starting to miss my baby - but I am loving the girl you are turning into, and looking forward to seeing you grow even more as a person day by day.
This is my brain..... in part, at least.
