My Lovely Poppy,
YOU ARE ONE!
What a wonderful year you have given us! We have been blessed with 370 days of loving you as of today. It's been a crazy year adapting to being a family of 5, with moving to Buffalo and all the work on the house and yard that has come with it, and with Wilder starting preschool and Lulu starting Kindergarten. You have taken all the stress and changes with stride, and have grown and flourished into the sweet, smiley baby with strikingly beautiful blue eyes that you are. Everyone comments on your beautiful deep blue eyes!
You have been walking since about 10 months old, and now you can walk really fast, almost like a light job. You shake your head and "dance" and can touch the top of your head when we ask you where your hair is. You still babble "dadadadadada" often and I'm not 100% certain if you equate that with daddy yet or not. I've heard you make the "mama" sound twice, and both times nearly brought me to tears with excitment and joy but you won't offer it on command quite yet:)
You are sleeping in your own crib now, as of about a month ago and are starting even just in the last week or so to get really good about going to sleep by yourself. Once in awhile it's still a battle to get you to sleep, but much of the time you just lay down and whine a few times and then fall asleep. You are not napping on a specific schedule (you never really have wanted to conform to a set schedule, you do things your way and that's awesome) so that might play a role in how easily you've been going to sleep at night. Much of the time you sleep through the night too, you wake between 6:30-7:00am to nurse and then we get up at 7:20 to get the kids ready for school.
You are such a lovely girl. I mean it. You seem to always have a smile on your face, and you are so sweet with Lulu and Wilder (they simply adore you too!). Lulu is like a little mommy to you, when she gets home from school she runs into the house and falls to her knees in front of you to hug you. You bring out the best in all of us. You and daddy love to play a game when you climb on him and then put your head down and tush in the air and he flips you upside down, which you LOVE. You even put your head down on the floor almost as though you are trying to roll.
Your birthday party was rainbow themed, and I spent months leading up to your party thinking up ideas. Daddy and I stayed up late and covered the ceiling with colorful balloons and wrapping paper and everyone who came said it was lovely. Jodi even emailed me that it was the best children's party she had ever been to! You deserve it! You are so sweet and colorful and the theme was a perfect fit for your dazzling personality.
Poppy, I adore you. I cherish being able to pick you up and cuddle you. I love smelling your sweet skin and feeling your sweet "kisses" on my cheek when you bang your head into whatever you are kissing:) You have started to learn some words such as "cup" and "baby" and you have a smal baby doll that you love to cover with kisses and carry around. You have even started to feed the baby a bottle. I'm so proud to see you grow and learn! I'm so thankful for you. You are a HUGE blessing and I have loved every minute of your life, even the challenging ones when you want to nurse non-stop or don't want to sleep:) You have 6 teeth now, 3 top/3 bottom and unfortunately have caught your first cold this week. Thankfully you were healthy for your party but you've come down with a runny nose since and are still your usual smiliy self:)
One thing I think is so funny is that you love to nurse, and sort of require that I have my chest out and uncovered at home so you can come by for a quick snack whenever you want. If I put my shirt back on you get upset, even if you were across the room playing with toys. I guess you want a refill whenever you see fit~ ha!
I love you so much. You are such a blessing in my life and I'm sad to lose your sweet baby self, though I'm excited to see you grow into such an adorable toddler. I'll miss having you so small and cuddly and hope that you will continue to take comfort in mommy's arms as you grow up into a precious little girl. Everything about you gives me comfort, I adore you Miss Poppy.
