Big Turkey

Dearest Lilah -

You've been though your first "major" holiday this year now, and I'd say you passed with flying colors! We had dinner at your Uncle and Aunt's house with them and your grandmama and your cousin. Because I have been sewing all the Christmas gifts on planet Earth, I felt badly about not ever making anything for you, so I made you a little brown velveteen dress for the special day. Then I took an image of your hand and made a little applique hand turkey to baste onto it. It was adorable, if I do say so myself. Probably the best thing is - if I get upstairs and actually do it - you'll get to wear it again this holiday season with a gingerbread man applique on it, and then you can probably just wear it plain after that a time or two more before you grow out of it.

And boy do you grow. Your weight hasn't changed much over the past couple of months - you're still shy of 19 pounds - but you are definitely getting taller. I don't know how much taller (the growth chart I'm planning to make for you is not yet cut out, see above re: Christmas and All the gifts on Earth), but you've outgrown your 9 month pj's enough to make me feel guilty about stuffing you into them at night. So into the bin of baby girl clothes they'll go. This also means we get to go PJ shopping, so yea us! Sadly, I find very few that I like; I like you wearing pjs with feet because you pull off socks and then lie in bed with little ice bricks for feet. But you need some pjs that aren't just fuzzy fleece so that when the weather gets warm again, you aren't roasting in your own precious juices overnight. Dilemmas, dilemmas.

You've also been doing a lot more in your quest for mobility. You've now decide to crawl properly at all times (unless you slip on something in the floor, then it's as if you think someone made you get down to drag. This has only happened twice that I know of since you decided to crawl via your knees at all times). You also have started to let go of things after pulling up. It's so funny; you'll pull up on the coffee table, put a fun object in each hand and when you sort of "stand back" to admire them, you'll precariously wobble a few seconds before realizing you aren't holding on to anything and you'll either plop right down on your butt or you'll make a frantic grab for the closest solid object, the latter option often to the dismay of the family pets. I think the worst things about your new-found mobility and freedom are that you end up falling a lot and bonking your head or your mouth. Tuesday you fell forward a little while holding on to the coffee table and busted your mouth, resulting in blood and a lot of tears. Luckily, you recover quickly and I think I've been able to fake being ok with you nearly busting your head open so that you don't get too scared and continue crying.

You have also caught on to the one sign language sign I have used consistently: More. Although, you use "more" to mean "eat," it seems, so it's sort of a win/lose situation. I am working very hard to teach you that there are other signs for things, and you like to put your hands on your head when I say "Good," so I'm sure that I'm failing! But you have your own way of communicating, and you're not bad at it, so we get along pretty well most of the time.

I can't believe I'm getting ready for your first birthday party in just 30 days. 335 days ago, I never thought this day would come. I thought you were going to be that itty bitty floppy baby of mine until you were five and just suddenly grew up and went to Kindergarten. It still happens that everywhere we go, you make a friend. Today we were in JC Penney and you made friends with the lady in line behind me, the sales clerk and a woman checking out at an adjacent register. The clerk said you seemed like such a happy baby and asked if I stayed home with you. When I confirmed that I did, she said that she could tell because she thinks kids are happier in general who stay at home with their moms. Now, there's no way that this can be applied across the board, but I think when you have the right mom and the right baby, then it can be true. And we're just the right people for that job right now.

I'm sure I've forgotten a lot that I wanted to right down about this time. It's just that my days are very full with you (and all those Christmas crafts) and I just can't seem to fit it all in. But we're having a good time, you and me, and your Daddy, too and I just couldn't be more excited to watch you experience your first Christmas and birthday and then I think we'll just do it all again next year.

Love,
Mommy