One year old

My baby is one. She's not a baby anymore. Officially, she's a toddler. But she doesn't toddle. She runs. She never really toddled. She started walking at 10 months and never looked back. She's recently become very interested in climbing. She climbs onto small little stools, toys, and pieces of furniture and sits on them. She climbs on the sofa and on chairs and hangs out a while, and then she backs down off of them. She even climbs on the sofa and does summersaults off the sofa onto E's floor chair and then onto the ground. She is fearless and adventurous. She loves books. She loves to look at them and have them to read to her, and she's all about the flaps. She's independent. She likes to feed herself, and she plays really well by herself. She's loving and social. She says "Hey," and "bye" and "night, night." She's started giving hugs and kisses, kind of.
She loves music. She delights in fun music and dances and spins around. She is starting to talk, and realizes that things have names. She can say "dog" and "ball" and "thank you" and her favorite, "Uh-oh." At her check-up she was 23 lbs, 75%, and some length that was almost off the charts!! She's such a part of our family that after only one year I can't imagine our family without her.

Big sister is really growing. I just can't believe how grown-up she is. Everything about her. The way she talks, and reasons, and jokes. She loves art. She loves to draw and paint and create things. She is so into imaginary play. She dresses up like princesses and ballerinas and lines up her animals and puts on little plays and tea parties. She loves her friends and believes in being honest and doing the right thing (most of the time). She is a delightful human being and I am unbelievably blessed to be her mother.