On Wednesday you turned one year old, my little pumpkin pie. Let's allow that to resonate for awhile. One. Year. Old. Wow.

You're big on pointing this month, so we like to pretend that you can tell us how old you are. Sometimes we can get you to do your trick for others, and sometimes we can't. As you like to remind us every day in a thousand subtle ways, you're not going to be our monkey. Except when bananas are involved. When that yellow peel comes off, you cast your dignity to the winds.

That's a good thing, though. You had a bad fever last week, and while you were sick you stopped eating solid foods. You even turned down yoghurt. You even turned down a banana. It was kind of scary. And now that you're eating again, you've apparently come to the decision that you're far too old to be spoon-fed. You are Mr. Independent, and you will do it yourself (dammit!). There are still a few foods we can sneak by your impenetrable hauteur (bananas, applesauce, yoghurt, cheesy chicken) but you're not budging on the veggies. We're trying to make more finger foods for you, but do you know how hard it is to make appropriate finger foods for someone with 6 teeth? Even with that 7th tooth poking a tiny edge into your mouth, you're not good with the chewing.

blake shudders after his first impetuous taste of a chicken ball

On the bright side, our times in restaurants just got a little easier. We went through some very distinct phases in your restaurant career. First you just wanted to be rocked all the time; then I was allowed to eat if you could sit in my lap. Then you started reaching for my food, so I had to start carrying around separate little jars to satisfy your appetite. Now that you want to do everything yourself, I just order something you can eat and we share. Yesterday we were in a greasy diner with some other moms & babies. I got the breakfast and you were happy as could be eating toast crust after toast crust. I wasn't allowed to feed you bits of egg or potato, but as long as I could supply the crust, you were happy. You even fell asleep on my lap, which hasn't happened in a really long time. I wonder if you were full for the first time in days.

Your fever caused you to lose a little weight, so you're still under 20 pounds. I'm getting impatient for you, because I know you'll really dig the forward-facing car seat. You're already so big that I can lift you onto the car seat and let you scramble into your seat on your own. Of course, you always face front and dance until I strap you in, but I find that even more amusing than I would immediate sitting in the seat.

Which reminds me: part of your standing skill is your love of dancing. You charm the pants off our Wednesday morning exercise class when you crawl to the front of the room, pull up on the stereo and dance to the techno. You also like to dance to the wild rumpus in Where the Wild Things Are. Your dad always starts off that section with the drum intro to "The Queen is Dead," then segues into "Rumpus Rumpus RUMPUS!" to a conga beat. You will dance as long as we keep singing. (Your Aunt Pixie was particularly taken by this dance when we visited her & Joe in Chicago this month.) You also love to hippity hop whenever we read or sing about bunnies and frogs. It is the cutest sight I have ever seen. You'd give a hardened criminal a goofy smile with the dancing and the hopping.

let the wild rumpus start!

You're a bit too go-go-go to sleep for very long at night, but that's okay. We all have roles and expectations now. My role is to put you to bed and nurse you back to sleep whenever you wake up. Your role is to sleep in the crib and sometimes in the big bed with us. Once a night you have a nightmare or something and get ants in you pants, after which your father walks you to sleep again (that's his role). I usually sleep through your breakfast upstairs, and when life is good you come back into bed, snuggle down, and fall asleep in my arms before I can really wake up.

I love waking up with you after your morning nap and knowing that we have another whole day to read stories, sing songs, visit other babies, babble, touch things, eat, and grow. We are something I never envisioned: we are an unstoppable duo. It's been an honour to be your sidekick for one whole year.

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- Rocketbride's adventure of 12/10/2004 10:28:00 p.m.