Dear Miriam,
You have just completed your first trip around the sun, you have been on this planet with us for one complete year. You were born last year on this day, and you made me a mommy, you made Dada a daddy, and we became a little family. This past year has been the best year of my life so far, getting to know you. I suspect it is just going to get better and better. I’m at a loss for writing a birthday post without devolving into cliches: time goes so fast, whatever stage you’re in is my new favorite, I can’t imagine my life without you in it (insert Lifetime movie dialog here).
You’re on the verge of walking but you’re not too sure about it. You are such an efficient and fast crawler that it’s still your favorite way to get around. But over the past few weeks you’re starting to enjoy being upright more and cruising around the house, always with one hand on the wall or furniture. You love running around while gripping our hands, sometimes barely holding on, but you just like knowing that we’re there.
You’ve learned a lot at daycare, and can sign “all done,” “more,” “eat,” and “milk.” Suddenly I’m realizing how much you understand too…when I tell you that we’re going to take Ardie for a walk, you hurry over and grab his leash from the basket near the door. You love mealtimes, and I haven’t found too much that you won’t eat yet. Butternut squash is a definite “no,” probably because of the texture. But you gobble up your curried chickpeas, teriyaki tofu, sweet potatoes, ravioli, avocado, bananas, cheese, and any kind of fruit.
And a new favorite this month: cake. You had your own little carrot cake on your birthday, though the frosting was a bigger hit than the cake itself. Grandma bought you a chocolate and vanilla cake for your party at her house and I think you would have eaten the whole thing if we’d let you.
It was great seeing the family all together for your birthday, and you had lots of fun exploring Grandma Rivett’s gardens and pointing out what she’d missed when child-proofing.
It was a great birthday, the first of many many more. I’m going to keep making you cakes and putting funny hats on you and making your day as special as possible as long as you will let me. Okay, so the hat thing isn’t going to last…
So happy birthday little girl! I hope you had as much fun as we did. This is the last of my monthly Letters to Miriam posts, from here I’ll be writing a letter to you every six months. I’ll still be writing other blog posts and updating as frequently as I can, but you’re keeping me so busy that it’s getting hard to write a letter to post every month!
Atomic Homestead 