one year, one candle, one chocolate cake, one crepe shop, one fun day!
Pepper, a year has gone by. A year has flown by. Baby girl, you’re one. This is so hard to believe! Happy first birthday, lovely daughter. Your father and I continue to be delighted by your presence, surprised by your creativity, engrossed in your babble, blessed by your sometimes kisses and always giggles. We just love you to pieces and pieces.
Here is a sample of some very sweet and very Juniper things you are currently doing:
- last night you walked across your room, from your bed to your bookshelf, backwards.
- you have a special voice, higher and quieter than normal, that you’ve reserved for Yoda Puppet when you have him babble and move.
- on the last week of October, you stopped crawling. We’ve enjoyed the soft pitter-patter of your little feet ever since.
- you have eight lovely pearly whites, of which the bottom center two slant slightly inward on themselves. Precious.
- we are surprised by all the words you recognize and remember! You know the signs for “more,” “all done,” “milk,” “yes,” “no,” you can blow kisses and of course give dramatic hello and good-bye waves. You know where your nose is, can find your ears, head, teeth, mouth, hands, feet and sometimes even your eyes.
- you have an affinity for belly buttons and love to honk our noses.
- when the mood strikes you just right, you blow raspberries on my stomach. And won’t stop.
- your favorite toys include the harmonica, the kazoo, the pitch-pipe, the piano, the keyboard, and Papa’s guitar. Also, you let me read and sing nursery rhymes to you, which makes me happy.
- and can you dance!
- “Yoda” (which you pronounce “Doda”) and “shoe” are tying for third place for words you say. Your first two were “Mama” (*sniff*) and “uh-huh.”
- you are such a grown-up eater. You use your spoon most efficiently and have just in the past three days started drinking milk and water out of a small glass by yourself. I knew you were ready for this when you drank the bath water out of a plastic play cup in the bath the other day.
here we go...
one last little sip.
cow's milk. yum.
a sweet girl with her Monet tray, tortilla plate, blue green glass & chippy chair.
- when you’re done with a meal, you ask for a rag to wipe your hands on (by yourself, of course), then proceed to scrub the table with it.
- when we’re outside, you somehow manage to hear and respond to each neighborhood dog you hear, even ones so far away that we hardly notice their bark. The Clifford book taught you how to bark months ago, and now you apply the doggie sound to real life whenever you can, including barking in the pauses of the song “How much is that doggie in the window?”
- when you hear the words “breakfast, lunch, dinner, food or quieres comida,” you make a “munch-munch” noise with your mouth.
- the other day I was rocking you and started singing “Are you sleeping, Brother John?,” at which point you sat up, smiled brightly, and wiggled your pointer fingers. You were recognizing the tune for “Where is Thumpkin?,” a song Grandma loves to sing with you.
- you have a special sound reserved for fire, which is kind of a soft, reverent “foosh-foosh,” and use it when you see a candle burning or when the wood stove is lit.
- your best friend is Little Panda, whom you love to squeeze tightly and pat.
- when you nurse, you’ll take frequent breaks to reach up and give my neck the dearest hugs. I also get a pat on the shoulder with these squeezes, just like Little Panda does.
pretty pretty dress courtesy of christina c.
We think you’re pretty amazing, Juniper, and are happy to keep learning and growing right along with you. Thank you for being you. You are smart, silly, beautiful, kind, and good. I’m such a proud mama; we love you, love you dearly.
a pumpkin amongst pumpkins.
