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| teething is hard work |
Dear 1 year old Liam,
You will have officially completed your 12th month of life tonight at 11:01pm. What a ride it's been.
This past month you've been starting to stand on your own for 3 seconds or so, and are walking more and more using us as your guides, though you get frustrated after about 10 steps of slow steps, and collapse to your knees crawling away quickly as if to say, why should I waste my time your way when I get there so much faster my way? You're loving feeding yourself, and will pick the food piece by piece out of a bowl I hold for you. I am mesmerized watching you decide what you want out of the bowl, and then pick it up yourself. You've been eating it all, but you have an order in which you want it, and it's eerily (and awesomely) adult. You are eating more and more of everything - steak, asparagus, lamb, zucchini, purple and white potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, chicken, pasta, breadsticks, sweet potato pancakes, baked apples, bananas, pears, mango, cheese, black beans, chickpeas, the list goes on. To keep up with your zest for food, you've cut 6 MORE teeth this past months molars top and bottom, and canines on the bottom as well, bringing your total number of teeth to 16, which is just craziness. You do know it's not a race, right? You look like a very small 2 year old, with all your teeth and hair.
You have such a sense of humor now. You know you're not supposed to go in the bathroom, so whenever you see the door ajar, you make a beeline for it, and if one of us starts to go after you, you giggle as you dart away. You also love pretending to eat my fingers - you grab my hand and start to slowly bring my ring finger to your mouth, all the while looking as me, waiting for me to react, and then as soon as our eyes meet, you chortle. You love our daily games of "chasing" Billie, only to catch her and give her a kiss, and being surprised by one of us popping out of a doorway. You have grown attached to your stuffed penguin Shedd, and he is now a must-have for walks and bedtime. I've jury-rigged a harness for him out of a shoelace (MacGyver Mom, that's me), so that we don't have any unfortunate losses! Your dad's favorite stuffed animal was a penguin as well, Opus (he's a penguin from a comic strip) but Dad's was named Nosh (instead of Schnozz, which your dad couldn't say), in any case, it's apt that you have a similar plush pal.
We've been out and about a lot lately - you rode the train to the West Loop and saw your first art show (for about 25 minutes, the CTA bus tracker so failed me, but I am committed to us exploring the world, no matter what the hassle of public transportation/baby accoutrement is...) and the same weekend we went to the Harold Washington Library to see an author speak about her book. You made it through about 15 minutes of that, and then we listened to the rest of the talk from the hallway, where you did your best windup baby impression, crawling from one end of the 25 foot marble hallway to the other at least 10 times before you started putting your head down for 10 second breaks. We take a walk every evening these days, unless it's over 90 degrees outside - sometimes it's all 4 of us, and sometimes it's you in the carrier, me, and Billie. Luckily you think my bending over (with you strapped to my chest) to pick up after Billie is great fun, and you haven't yet reached out to help. A word to the wise, continue keeping those hands to yourself, kiddo.
You've graduated from baths in the kitchen sink to baths in our bathtub and you LOVE it. I anticipate many a night wiping down a drenched bathroom, but it's good clean fun, right? Billie usually comes in to check on you during your bath (and to lick some of the water off your face) which is so lovely to see, especially since she has always hated getting wet herself, and generally stays away from the bathtub.
I've been documenting all these little things this past year, and I can remember the strangest tiniest details of this day, a year ago, but I just don't know, Liam. When was it that you put your tiny hands around my heart and fused yourself there? You're mischeivious, and curious, and clever, and silly. You smile often, love animals, and give big open-mouthed sloppy kisses. You're loud - you scream and tense your whole body when you want to be heard or when you want something. You're still not quite clear on the not going headfirst off the couch, the bed, pretty much anything, but you're starting to get down feet first, so that's something! I love all of this, even the screaming is okay for now. I think of you all the time, and while I'm glad to have a break and get things done when you're asleep, I also kind of miss you when you're not in the room. I honestly don't know how I lived without you for so long, and am so very glad you're here with us now.
You will have officially completed your 12th month of life tonight at 11:01pm. What a ride it's been.
This past month you've been starting to stand on your own for 3 seconds or so, and are walking more and more using us as your guides, though you get frustrated after about 10 steps of slow steps, and collapse to your knees crawling away quickly as if to say, why should I waste my time your way when I get there so much faster my way? You're loving feeding yourself, and will pick the food piece by piece out of a bowl I hold for you. I am mesmerized watching you decide what you want out of the bowl, and then pick it up yourself. You've been eating it all, but you have an order in which you want it, and it's eerily (and awesomely) adult. You are eating more and more of everything - steak, asparagus, lamb, zucchini, purple and white potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, chicken, pasta, breadsticks, sweet potato pancakes, baked apples, bananas, pears, mango, cheese, black beans, chickpeas, the list goes on. To keep up with your zest for food, you've cut 6 MORE teeth this past months molars top and bottom, and canines on the bottom as well, bringing your total number of teeth to 16, which is just craziness. You do know it's not a race, right? You look like a very small 2 year old, with all your teeth and hair.
You have such a sense of humor now. You know you're not supposed to go in the bathroom, so whenever you see the door ajar, you make a beeline for it, and if one of us starts to go after you, you giggle as you dart away. You also love pretending to eat my fingers - you grab my hand and start to slowly bring my ring finger to your mouth, all the while looking as me, waiting for me to react, and then as soon as our eyes meet, you chortle. You love our daily games of "chasing" Billie, only to catch her and give her a kiss, and being surprised by one of us popping out of a doorway. You have grown attached to your stuffed penguin Shedd, and he is now a must-have for walks and bedtime. I've jury-rigged a harness for him out of a shoelace (MacGyver Mom, that's me), so that we don't have any unfortunate losses! Your dad's favorite stuffed animal was a penguin as well, Opus (he's a penguin from a comic strip) but Dad's was named Nosh (instead of Schnozz, which your dad couldn't say), in any case, it's apt that you have a similar plush pal.
We've been out and about a lot lately - you rode the train to the West Loop and saw your first art show (for about 25 minutes, the CTA bus tracker so failed me, but I am committed to us exploring the world, no matter what the hassle of public transportation/baby accoutrement is...) and the same weekend we went to the Harold Washington Library to see an author speak about her book. You made it through about 15 minutes of that, and then we listened to the rest of the talk from the hallway, where you did your best windup baby impression, crawling from one end of the 25 foot marble hallway to the other at least 10 times before you started putting your head down for 10 second breaks. We take a walk every evening these days, unless it's over 90 degrees outside - sometimes it's all 4 of us, and sometimes it's you in the carrier, me, and Billie. Luckily you think my bending over (with you strapped to my chest) to pick up after Billie is great fun, and you haven't yet reached out to help. A word to the wise, continue keeping those hands to yourself, kiddo.
You've graduated from baths in the kitchen sink to baths in our bathtub and you LOVE it. I anticipate many a night wiping down a drenched bathroom, but it's good clean fun, right? Billie usually comes in to check on you during your bath (and to lick some of the water off your face) which is so lovely to see, especially since she has always hated getting wet herself, and generally stays away from the bathtub.
I've been documenting all these little things this past year, and I can remember the strangest tiniest details of this day, a year ago, but I just don't know, Liam. When was it that you put your tiny hands around my heart and fused yourself there? You're mischeivious, and curious, and clever, and silly. You smile often, love animals, and give big open-mouthed sloppy kisses. You're loud - you scream and tense your whole body when you want to be heard or when you want something. You're still not quite clear on the not going headfirst off the couch, the bed, pretty much anything, but you're starting to get down feet first, so that's something! I love all of this, even the screaming is okay for now. I think of you all the time, and while I'm glad to have a break and get things done when you're asleep, I also kind of miss you when you're not in the room. I honestly don't know how I lived without you for so long, and am so very glad you're here with us now.
love, mom
