Turning ONE

Tennyson, you turned one yesterday! I cannot believe you have already lived with us for a whole year. We had a big party to celebrate your birthday and Father's Day. You were loving all the attention you got. You were surrounded by loving family which included, Grandma and Grandpa Great Daly, Mom, Dad, Karaia and Beckham, Nana and Pappa, Grandpa Guy and Grandma Emma, Meghan and Alex, Megan and Coltin, and Nate, Breanna, Marlee and Jordyn. I made you a soccer ball cake that you weren't sure about at first. You quickly overcame your shyness as you realized we were offering you unrestricted, nearly pure sugar. At one point you abandoned your hands, eliminating the time lost when you had to lift your hands to your mouth, and just leaned down and dug in!

Yesterday, when it was just me and you in the morning, I was telling you the story of your birth as we came to the exact year mark of time that you were born 8:19 am. I know you don't remember much, but I can vividly remember nearly every detail about that day.

I bonded with you instantly and we've been buddies ever since. You have been the happiest kid. The first 3 month, the months I normally dread and count down the seconds until they are over, I loved with you. You were a fantastic eater, rarely cried, very snugly, and you always went right back to sleep after you ate at night.

There have not been many times that Dad and I have looked at each other and thought, " What is going on with this kid?" The only thing we've really had to work on with you is the screaming. Oh the screaming! Most of the time it was happy, but happy, sad, frustrated, delighted, or mad it was still the same frequency that caused most human ear drums within a 1 mile distance to you to burst with un-matched pain!

At your young age you can:

walk (a bit but still mostly crawl),
almost go down the stairs backwards,
clap,
play peek-a-boo,
color with chalk (and eat chalk),
dig in the sand,
feed your self with a fork or spoon (if we put the food on there first)
roll the ball back and forth with someone,
brush your teeth,
and brush your hair (sometimes WITH your toothbrush!!)

Say: ball, dad (da da) woof (buff), vroom (brrrrr), banana (nanana), dog (da), night night (ni ni),

Sign: more, milk, all done, dog, airplane, ball, cheese, helicopter, eat, book, shoe, and please with pretty regular consistency.

You know how to get your grove thing on whenever you hear any kind of music and you LOVE phones and balls. You have fallen down the stairs once, giving me a heart attack, but luckily we have Nurse Meghan in the family and she made sure you were OK.

You are quick to smile and are ticklish in nearly every spot on your body. You do not like to get your head wet but love to play in the water. You are a bottomless pit when it comes to eating and out eat your siblings at nearly every meal. You love to laugh when everyone else does even though you have no idea what the joke is.

You adore your older sister and brother and love all the attention they give you. You'll put yourself right in the middle, to their frustration, of whatever they are doing just to be with them. They love you so much.

There are two things that everyone always tells me about you, strangers and all, you are so happy and you have sparkly eyes.

You have filled our home with so much love. I am filled with love for you and honored to have you, someday, call me mom.


Happy Birthday, Tennyson!

Love always, Mom