Happy Birthday E!
I realized a little belatedly that a birthday at the tail end of Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season might not be the best after all. Sorry, dude. We have been dithering about a first birthday party for you and finally decided to have a appetizer/cocktail/birthday cake hour next Sunday. I promise to make you a good cake though! Gray has suggested a "peacock cake"- not really sure how to pull that one off- and also asked if we could get you a kitchen for your birthday present. In reality we did celebrate your actual birthday last night with a carrot cake and a garage/ramp toy. Gray is a big fan of your garage and makes you laugh by sending the cars down the ramps. Watching you with your first real taste of cake was priceless. You tried a fingerful of frosting and then leaned over and kissed the cake over and over. I fed you (YOU, the pickiest baby of all time) an entire piece of cake, which you liked very much and then very clearly experienced a total sugar high.
Eli, you still remain my eating nightmare. When they ask me at your one-year appointment if I have any concerns I will say that you are the worst eater I have ever met. You don't like to feed yourself and you won't taste most of the things I offer to you. It stinks. I know this will change, and it certainly isn't like you are starving, but it is so annoying! Otherwise you are right on track developmentally- you are SO close to walking (I can't believe you didn't walk by your birthday, you stinkerpot!) and you have a handful of words that you add to every couple of days. You will say these words spontaneously: Gray, Mama, Aaah-ee (which is your word for Archie and Charlie), nigh-nigh, Hiiii! I love to hear you say Gray and aside from "Mama" it is the cutest thing I have ever heard. You will sign "banana" and "more." You love to grab my fingers and say "Rah!" which means you want me to sing "Row Row Row Your Boat." When I get to the "merrily, merrily" part you will say "MMM!" You know what a cow says (Mmm!) and also what a dinosaur/lion/monster says (Rawr!) and will imitate a variety of other sounds. When it is time for bed I always say "Say night night to Dada and Gray!" and you will wave and say "Nigh nigh!" Lately you have been doing this without me even asking, and thus put yourself to bed even sooner than we would have. You have become a fairly decent sleeper, although I will hear you talking to yourself at 3 AM sometimes. I love that about you: you don't really wake up crying, and instead you usually are happy to chatter away to yourself for a long time.
You are so loveable and give me delicious hugs and kisses every day. I love the feeling of a little boy clinging to my legs in the kitchen and you seem to do that more than Gray ever did. When I look back at 1-year-old-Gray I realize that his personality was pretty well set. This is so amazing to me, to realize that I know who you are already. Eli, you are a happy, fun, silly and reckless soul. You are going to stress me out a million times during your life because you approach things with such reckless abandon. I admire and fear that in you.
Right now I am in a hotel room hundreds of miles from you, imagining your fresh-from-the-bath curly hair (which looks like a wig sometimes), your chubby thighs that I want to squeeze and a big open mouthed baby kiss. I miss you.
Happy Birthday, baby.
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