happy birthday! It was just a year ago that we were preparing the house for you and awaiting your delayed arrival. You were not in a hurry to leave your comfortable home- but you arrived a mere 2 hours before your visiting grandparents had to leave to catch their return flight. You were such a teeny tiny thing then! You were born at Pensacola Naval hospital at 3:48 in the afternoon.

And since then you have grown.

And grown…

And now, you are a little man. You are expressing yourself more than ever. Besides saying “mama” and “dada”, we have also heard you say your own versions of dance, shoes, and toes. You also use the baby sign for “more” whenever you want anything- especially jelly beans. You are curious about what everything is called and we wander around the house or the neighborhood telling you the names of things as you point to them.

Your Father has spent the last two months modeling the chicken dance for you while humming the accompanying song. The rewards of his diligence can be seen a dozen times per day. You do the dance on cue when either of us hums the song. You do the dance when anyone says the word “dance”. You also use your sign for “more” and then do the dance- which is your way of requesting that we hum the song. The chicken dance has brought more joy to this household than any other polka tune I can think of.

You like to be chased and often wander off around the house just so that a concerned parent will follow. You love to open and close doors, and get so excited when your hands are held and you can walk- although if you really want to get somewhere, you’d rather crawl. You’re not too adventurous with food still- if something has a texture other than crunchy or pureed, you generally just push it right out of your mouth- cheese and bananas included. The mess you’ve been making when left to your own devices with a tray full of food and a spoon are exquisite. My next task is to teach you which end of the spoon we use for eating.

Sleepy time is still not your favorite thing, although most nights you’re ready for it when it comes. A few nights a week you still like to wake us several times a night to check to see if we’re still around- and it’s not uncommon for you to think that 3am is the perfect time to be awake. You get rather upset when we remind you in our sleep-walking state that it’s still night time. You just can’t believe that the whole world isn’t ready to play.

You are such a social little man. When we are out in public you often insist of waving to every person that walks by- starting from the point when you first see them, which could be dozens of yards away. You will try to get their attention by saying things too if they don’t notice your hand waving in the air. The majority of people out there can’t resist your little smile and will stop and say hello, which just makes your day. You love talking with and seeing people face to face.

You’ve been fascinated recently with light fixtures and fans. You want to touch them and watch the fans spin. You’ve also been fascinated with your toes, and continue to be curious about all manner of dangerous things. If there is anything within a 10 foot radius of you that can cut, smash, choke, or bite you- it’s the one thing that you want to play with. Your continued fixation with eating paper, and chewing on the bottoms of our flip flops, has me sighing on a regular basis.

And, you also could spend hours in the bathroom opening and closing the sliding shower doors. Last week I watched you crawl down the hall and by the time that I made my way down to find you, you had opened the shower door while your Dad was taking a shower, and you’d been soaked from the falling water.

We are so blessed to be your parents and get to be the ones to witness your sweet life. We can’t wait for all of the wonderful and challenging things to come.
xoxo
mama

Also- you share a birthday with your cousin Samantha Jane- happy 4th birthday girlie! We love and miss you!

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