Grandsons of the Secret Son of Superman: August 2011

Just so you know, the first year of your life, has been the best year of mine. This past year has been perfect in every way. I cried after your first birthday party because I couldn't believe a year had already gone by. How quickly you went from our little squishy baby who always wanted to be held, to feeding yourself, and walking, and now- never wanting to be held!

I told your dad that I just want to go back and do this year all over again. Even though we are about to do just that with your baby brother, who will be here in 3 short months, I really want a do-over of your first year- not because I have any regrets, but because it REALLY was the best year of my life. Your dad and I spent as much time with you as possible and we treasured every moment. Until your first day of Mother's Day Out this week, 3 and 1/2 hours was the longest I had been away from you. Because we had waited so long for you, we really wanted to make every moment count!!

You make us smile everyday. Even when we've had a "rough" day and we put you in bed only to have enough energy to fall in bed ourselves, we lie there shaking our heads and laughing about the funny things you did that day. I know most parents think their baby is pretty great, but we really think we have the world's best baby!! We are amazed at your sweet spirit, outgoing personality, enthusiasm for life, your infectious smile, and those EYES!!!! We ask ourselves almost daily, "What did we do to deserve to be so blessed?" And the answer is, nothing. You are exactly what your dad and I needed to remind us of things that we had forgotten. What a pleasure it has been to be your momma this year. I am a better person because of you.

Right now...

You are walking everywhere and getting into everything. You no longer crawl!
Your books are still your favorite toys, and you LOVE going to the library.
Even though you love books, you are showing that you might be a little athlete. You are obsessed with any ball, and love to play your version of soccer, football, golf, basketball, and baseball (which means you walk around the house hitting everything with your bat...even poor Lola!)
You talk all day long and get really frustrated if I don't answer you back when you speak your own language. You can say "bite" "dog" "ball" "please" and many other words.
When we ask you a question, your put your arms out, shrug your shoulders and make the noise like "I don't know." It's adorable.
You know what you want and have become very demanding when you don't get it fast enough, which has also shown us your quick temper! You have mastered using your cheesy smile to get me to give you what you want.
You prefer us to clap and cheer every time you do something that you think is significant...which is everything. :)
You still sleep great at night, but still hate to take naps.
You have discovered a whole new world of foods, but would like to eat only piles of blueberries and strawberries at every meal. You hate meat.
You are happiest around people, especially other kids.
You have the most contagious laugh. And you laugh all the time. When you laugh, we can't help but laugh with you.
You went to your first day of mother's day out this week. There were no tears on your end. You couldn't get out of my arms fast enough to get down and play with the other kids. You had a blast and weren't ready to leave when I came to pick you up. You talked all the way home (telling me about your day at school, I guess).
You always want to be outside, but we haven't been able to go outside much because it has been so hot.