Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

I can't believe you're a year old already. As cliche as it is, the last year has just flown by and all of a sudden my little baby has become a walking, talking toddler. I tell you all the time that you're not allowed to get any bigger, but you don't listen and frankly I don't really want you to. Watching you explore the world and learn how to relate to it has been the highlight of my life.



You love books, your sippy cup, and all animals. Everything is a doggy to you right now, except your beloved rubber ducks who you invariably refer to as "ducky!" You're the most amazingly tactile kid I've ever met--you won't put much in your mouth (even food some days) but you need to touch EVERYTHING you see. Textures fascinate you, and I can't wait until you're a bit older and I can introduce you to modeling clay, finger paints, and paper mache.



This summer has been chock full of disruptions, from Daddy and I leaving you with Grandma and Grandpa for the first time ever while we went to Greece, to you and me going to visit them for three weeks last month. I worried, as I am wont to do, that you wouldn't deal well with all the changes in our routine and surroundings, but you handled them all beautifully. I continue to be amazed at how flexible you are when it comes to where you sleep and how you spend your days. I am the furthest thing from flexible about certain things, and I hope I don't pass that trait along to you.



Last week we had your birthday party and you had only one wish for the entire day--to be allowed to play with the balloons from dawn until dusk.



I think you enjoyed the balloons even more than your first bite of cake with frosting, though you decided cake was pretty good after the first few tentative tastes. By the time you decided you were finished, you were so covered with blue frosting that we had to take a break from the party to rinse you off in the wading pool. You didn't mind much.



Next week school starts up for me again, and the transition is going to be rough on both of us, I fear. We've had a wonderful little summer at home, and now you'll be starting at a real daycare for at least the next few months. It's going to be different, but hopefully in a good way.

I love you, sweet precious boy, and I can't wait to see what the next year holds for us. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I'm so thankful every day that I get to call myself your Mama.