Exaggerated for effect

For the next seven weeks until my big girl has her birthday, I'm telling anyone who asks that I have a one-year-old and a two-year-old.

Our Lady of the Candle

Today marks L’s first year on the planet; E’s first year as a big sister; our first year as a family of four; and, of course, the occasion upon which I was anointed a VBAC rock star. This not-Baby is a delicious human. She’s agreeable and expressive. She’s funny, especially to herself. There is nothing like a game of peekaboo with the hem of your own shirt, and we learned this fact from L. When she fusses, she does so demonstratively, but she usually only fusses with justification: sometimes we don’t agree that it’s time to be picked up out of the crib. Sometimes we insist that she put on a jacket. Sometimes we force her to let us remove tantalizing choking hazards from her mouth. Sometimes we declare that bathtime is over. We just don’t know how to have fun like L does, but she tries to remind us daily. And she loves her parents, but she really, really loves her sister.

We know we’re not first in your heart, but we don’t take it personally. You’re a rascal and a treasure and a blessing in our lives. We love you, Ladybug. Until a hundred and twenty.

12-11-07, 11:57am

This gorgeous creature is now a one-year-old.