happy birthday, boy

In the last year, you've gone from hereto here, and I have no idea how it happened so quickly.


You've managed to learn to roll over, sit up, and walk, but not to crawl. You can hold a conversation only you fully understand one minute, and the next let me know exactly what it is that you are interested in doing the next. You're a world traveler with a first class attitude.

You have seven teeth, one missing toenail, a velcro-puppy sidekick who lets you maul her pretty much whenever you wish. you can sleep anywhere, and are cheerful just about all the time.


You are great at taking things out of containers or cleaning off a shelf, and halfway decent at putting things back, if you feel like it. Your mouth is an open receptacle for anything from blocks to soap to pizza, but pasta might be your favorite finger food yet. The walker hasn't replaced mom's finger as your favorite enabler, but it HAS morphed into the battering ram of choice, especially when the pooch is within reach.

Your favorite books include faces of real babies and ones that have mommy making strange animal noises right next to your ear. You love the song "Snuggle Puppy" and all the classic kids rhymes and songs, complete with dance. rhythmic motions and gestures of the arms and legs in time to the music. Your daddy is the one who makes you laugh the hardest, but mommy is the one who can stop the tears. Pretty soon we won't be able to call you "little" boy anymore, but "toddler-boy" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Would you please stop growing quite so quickly??

EPW, you've got us wrapped around your pudgy little finger, and we love you. We thank God every day for letting us have you for a bit, and pray that you never forget that God loves you and wants you as His own. Happy first birthday, and remember: it was your dad who wanted you to fall asleep face first in the frosting, not me.