Happy, happy birthday, Naomi. If it wasn't absolutely clear before, let it be completely clear now... YOU ARE LOVED! And not just by your parents, but by everyone who meets you.
Now that you are a year old, let's revisit some recent milestones:
You are toothy! Your tooth count is now 8. Four up top, and four on the bottom. And your teeth look big for your face, which allows you to deliver an especially toothy big smile. It is completely endearing!
You are an ALMOST walker! While you don't yet have the confidence to walk on your own, you have stood up on your own without support. And you love to practice your walking - whether you are using your lion walker that Grandma & Grandpa sent you for Christmas, or you are holding on to one or two of our fingers. We can tell you want to - you just need to believe that you can. That first step is just around the bend.
You are a talker! There are plenty of words you have down pat: duck, dog, dada, mama, pop-pop, baby, bobby (your name for your blanket), and best of all - BANANA. And words you can't yet say, you understand. When asked how old you are, you put one finger up... then it goes into your mouth. When I say "No, no, no," you look at me and smile... and keep doing whatever you are doing so you can hear me say "No, no, no," again. When I say, "No, yucky!" you take whatever you have in your mouth out and hand it to me.
You are an adventurous eater! You will try anything and everything, and there are only a few things you have not liked so far - parsnips being one of those. You have earned the nickname "the mooch" since you demand food off of everyone's plate at every meal. You are on mostly table foods now and REALLY enjoy seeing how much you can stuff in your mouth at one time. Your favorite so far, though, must be stewed carrots and your first cupcake - banana and pecan, with Caramel buttercream, made from scratch with love by your mama for your first birthday.
You are a JOY! We can not wait to see what you have in store for us in your second year!
