Maggie is One!

My dear Maggie,
I really don't know what to tell you. You are growing up so quickly. Your personality is exploding in every way.

I'm pretty sure that you think you're a big kid. For the most part you keep up with them and you don't really like it when they treat you like a baby. And you certainly love big kid toys. Their toys and the things they're doing are always way better than what we have for you.

You're a big 'ole lover. You give hugs and kisses on demand and hand them out pretty freely.You really, really love babies. Sometimes we have to hide real ones away from you because you love them so much. You give them super sweet hugs and slobbery kisses. You love your dollies too. You carry them around in the toy car seat and you give them hugs and kisses too.

Yesterday, Dr. Engle asked if you "work to get a toy," the typical 12 month well check question. I had to laugh out loud. Mostly you work to KEEP your toys. Every time I turn around, someone is taking something away from you. You're constantly finding things, dangerous, dirty, gross, tiny, terrible, little things. And you hate it when we take them away. When you know you have something good and you see me coming, you turn around and run as fast as you can. Don't even get me started on the cat food. Every time I turn around, you're trying to eat the cat food. In fact, Jack freaks out when someone feeds the cat - he hears the clinking and thinks you're eating cat food again.


Speaking of cat food, you're a great eater. You'll eat just about anything. You love all fruit and veggies. Mostly you eat everything that Daddy and I do. Your big sister and brother are far more picky. And you're pretty sneaky. You know where I keep the good snacks and you catch me whenever I'm sneaking one. You even figured out how to open the container of cookies. So we let you eat one. Man you have a sweet tooth.

You love to laugh and you think we're all hilarious. You love your bebo and randomly show strangers all the time. You know your nose, and your hair and if we tell you that your hair is pretty, then you smile, put your hand down and stop trying to rip out your bows.

Right now you're in a full mimic phase. You put your hand to your ear and yell "hay-yo." You love it even more when you get MY phone.  But you drop things, so much... so, so much. You love to "brush" your teeth and whenever you get a hold of clothes, you try to put them on. You know how to brush your hair, though you have to work on being gentle.You love to sit on the counter when I get ready in the morning and you put on your make up too. You almost always squat down like this and I think it's so cute.

You love to talk I mean yell. You're always making noise. Dada, Jack and that all sound pretty similar and are your favorite words. You say mama, but it's just usually when you're crying or tired.  You can say hello and bye-bye. You wave, blow kisses, clap, sign all done and more. And created your own system for communicating what you want. You point at yourself and then point at the item or where you want to go. You're so smart.

Your mornings are hot and cold. Sometimes, you're all about cuddling and chatting away happily, other times you cry your brains out and push Jack away. Same with the nights, most of the time, you fall asleep happily around 7:30, other times, you decide that you're a party animal and want to stay up until midnight. I'm not sure what's up with that. Crazy girl.

 You love to swim, tolerate the beach and refuse to participate in the fun at the splash pads.
 

 For your birthday we took you Soup Plantation. You love that place - all you can eat peas and olives - woohoo! You ate more than your brother and sister combined and way longer than any of us. And you thoroughly loved the dessert.

It's hard to think back and remember you as a little blob. At the reunion, you were barely 8 weeks and you didn't do much. I felt like you and I sat in the corner and nursed the whole time. You didn't have much of a personality, aside from preferring me and going to sleep sharply at 7:30 every evening. You still prefer me, but other people are a whole lot more tolerable and that 7:30 thing has gone out the window. Though you are a pretty good sleeper, that or we're just more tolerable. And I certainly never get to sit in the corner any more. Now a days, it's all chasing you, making sure you don't fall from where ever you've climbed and I never get to sit down. You're lots of fun, exhausting, crazy fun.