Happy Birthday Baby

Dear Ari,

Oh, my dear sweet little love. It is incredible that a whole year has passed, that you have grown from that tiny little bundle asleep in the crook of my arm to a little boy who can toddle about on your own and wave good-bye and feed yourself dinner. I have been thinking back to this time one year ago, the looong labour, the feeling of elation that you had come into our lives, that I had brought you healthy and whole into this world. I stayed awake all night just to watch your incredible tiny face asleep.

Today when I laid you down for your nap I watched you sleep again, feeling so blessed to have you here, feeling so filled up with love for you. I feel so lucky to be your mama.You have been learning so much lately, it is a wonder to watch. You decided the day before your birthday that you would choose to walk, after spending the last month taking a few steps between your papa and I and crawling the rest of the time. You just took off and walked around the lawn and fire pit on those ridiculous squeaky shoes with such determination. How we cheered and celebrated!

You are also just observing so much and understanding more and more what is going on. You like to make us laugh and have an array of goofy tactics like raspberries or lip smacking or wild head shaking to accomplish this. You can also throw a ball, do a freestanding wiggle-dance to music, scribble with a pencil crayon, and point at whatever catches your attention. You have a mouth full of teeth (you are working on your 3rd and 4th molars) and enjoy brushing your own teeth. You don't like it much when mama helps your though. As your Nana would say, you clearly have a mind of your own- our little taurus.

We had a lovely party for you, and had a wonderful time. It was the first campfire of the season and you thought it was pretty great to eat outside and watch the dogs and people and the fire. I made you a yummy organic, fruit sweetened cake, but you mostly wanted to smear it about, not actually eat it. After dinner you showed off your new walking abilities by visiting everyone at the party one by one, and giving them each snuggles. You are the best darn snuggler around and melt hearts everywhere you go.
My baby. My heart. How I love you, how blessed I am to have you in my life. Thank you for being you, for being here with us, for being my sweet baby boy.