December 2009

Dear Lincoln,

   December 2009 has been somewhat historical for our family.  My parents celebrated their 25th anniversary.  You turned a year old.  Less than a week later, it was Baby Jesus' turn.  Merry Christmas!  And to top it all off, I finished the last semester of my 5-year college career.  What a month.

   What does one look like?  Well, my dear, you are walking around the house, chatting in your own, endearingly high-pitched language.  You consistently reach for, grab, open and press buttons on the items we have specifically told you not to.  I have set aside one cupboard in the kitchen that is all yours, and you love to open it and pull out the large baking bowls.  You tote them around the house, kick them down the hall, try stashing them in drawers and underneath the kitchen table.  It's the most adorable thing I've ever seen.  That, and how you snatch the kitchen hand towels off the oven handle the moment you spy them.  I am constantly turning around from the sink, reaching out with my dripping wet hands, only to find you were faster than me, yet again. 

   Your father and I both say this almost every day, but the older you get the more fun you are.  Of course we loved you from the beginning, but as you grow into a person, displaying your own quirks and developing a personality, we're able to interact with you more-- and for some reason, that's what I've hungered for from day one.  At some point during my own infancy, my mother asked her mother, somewhat despairingly, when I'd be able to speak to her.  And I totally know what she was feeling.  I am incredibly excited to find new words that you understand.  So far, you know "ball" "book" "Tub-O-Lard (your favorite teddy bear)" "bath" and of course, "dada" and "mama."  I'm sure there are more, too.  As your father continually reminds me, you're smarter than we think.  ;-) 

   As an avid reader myself, I am delighted by your fascination for books.  We read to you every night and before every nap, but that simply isn't enough.  In the weeks leading up to your first birthday, you began to pull books from your bookshelf and actually bring one to me, holding it out and whining rather forcefully.  Then one day, book in hand, you actually backed up to your father in the living room and sat in his lap!  This has been your first realization that you can make requests.  Of course, you've been making demands instinctively all along, with all the wailing and squawking of a tired, hungry, soiled, baby.  BUT, now the wheels are turning in that sweet little head of yours, and you're discovering the power you have to ask for and receive.  I love that your first request was to read. 

   So. There you have it.  You're one and full of fun.  I wonder what the next year will bring?

Mama