My little big girl turned 11 months old last week. Which means in less than a month we will have a one year old running (RUNNING) around the house. So here is the deal. I wrote the following list for our bean in honor of her hitting the eleven month point. All of these things are but a mere fraction of what we love about our little girl. I mean, they tell you that you don't know love until you have a child of your own (which here is the thing, you know love it's just like a whole different love, not that people who don't have kids don't know love, that is just dumb. That being said, we didn't know this kind of love, this kind of love is a whole different ball game). Our love for this person, our Lyla, only gets stronger every day. And like, the pride you feel for the things she does, that is an amazing feeling. The pride. We just die everytime she learns something new, or figures something out on her own. To get to watch her, to be a part of her growing up, we just feel so lucky.
Ah, but with all this growing, all this pride also come a whole new bag of emotions. This little girl started walking fairly early (all us Flores kids do I guess). The pride we felt was astonishing, a little misplaced, as every kid is different, this isn't really something to, like, boast over. But we were proud none the less. And now, you guys, she is trying to run. And she is running away from us. And with this new power has come the power of want. And want is pretty powerful, especially when she can't have. Oh yes. Whining. Tantrums. They are just mild at this point, but you can hear it, you can see it churning behind her eyes. She wants, she can't have, and this really annoys her. Right now this is relegated to us taking away the dangerous things, or moving her to change a diaper or put on clothes. Little things, we'll get a whine or a few tears. With some distraction she is over it. But it is also happening when she wants so badly to be able to do something by herself that she hasn't figured out how to do yet. Like climbing up on the couch, into the tub, reaching something on a counter. She gets frustrated, with herself, and this is new. And this will be interesting. We are watching this person emerge from her baby cocoon. And she is figuring it out. And we are figuring it out. And it is pretty cool to see her personality become so much stronger. We are a little scared, not gonna lie, about how to nurture this. How to discipline this. It's a lot man. So truthfully, eleven months is both spectacular and terrifying. Do I have to even say that it's all worth it? I mean, duh, have you seen her smile? Erases a million tantrums, in a second. Which, come to think of it, could be a very dangerous tool should she learn how to use it....
For our Lyla Jane, eleven months old, here are eleven things that we adore about you:
1. Your laugh. You will laugh freely and often. You laugh at things that are funny. You laugh because other people are laughing, which when the grown ups are laughing at a very grown up thing and you chime in, great comedic timing baby girl. You laugh at mommy and daddy. You laugh at strangers. You wake up laughing some days. This kills us.
2.Your shyness. Baby girl, you aren't really shy. You can be kind of a ham actually. But, when you meet new people, or are in a new situation you slow down. You get quiet, you look for me or daddy just to make sure. It takes but 10 minutes before you are comfortable, but for those ten minutes your quietness, your caution, are amazing to watch. It's like we can see what you are thinking. It is a very thoughtful moment to catch you in and we love it.
3.Your appetite. You would eat and eat and eat all day long if you could. For such a little babe you sure can scarf down. It may be genetic, but it's probably just because you are growing like a maniac! Yesterday you had two dinners, one with daddy and one when we went out. You ate mashed potatoes, ham, and spinach with daddy. And at the restaurant you ate a corn tortilla, beans, rice, and chicken. And not just a little bit, like, a lot. I also nursed you in between. Which means you had three meals within two hours. And you were very happy about this. So far you love all food. I hear this may change when you start practicing your ability to make choices, but for now you will eat anything. Although you have your favorites, one of which is the all powerful banana. Which btws, you ask for by name, "uhnana", we also adore this.
4. Animal sounds. This just destroys us, you have us in giggling fits when we ask you what a horse says, "naynaynaynay..." you say always as you run away. But the real killer is your squirrel sound, you make this clicking noise with your tongue and your teeth when asked what a squirrel says. We die. Every. Single. Time.
5. Your face.
6. Your baby bum.
7. Bathtime. You love the water. Sometimes you will go into the bathroom and just look longingly into the bathtub. You like to put your toys in first as it's filling up with water. And then you lift your leg like you are just going to hoist yourself into the magical bath. You aren't quite there yet. whew. You also like to drink the water, you like to stick your face under water, and go 'swimming'. We call it swimming, you lie on your belly and move around the whole tub. Just recently you discovered the drain too! We keep you in the tub as the water drains and you frantically try to 'save' your toys from going down the drain, until you realize they aren't going anywhere and then you just wave bye bye to the water.
8. Playing chase. You trying to run is like, the cutest thing to us. Arms hanging by your side, hands flipped backwards slightly behind your back, waddle, waddle, waddle as fast as you can away from us. We adore this now. Pretty soon this is going to exhaust us.
9. Your love of books. Granted, half the time you love them just for chewing. But the other half of the time, the times when you go get a book all by yourself and bring it to us and then try to sit on/in our laps and are quiet and still from start to finish. This is what we adore. You are a mover. You are a physical little girl. And these moments, that you choose to sit with us perfectly still. These are some of my favorite times.
10. Hugging Panda. You HUG PANDA. Do I need to say more? ADORABLE.
11. Hugs and kisses. Your idea of a hug is resting your head on us and smiling. It's a very specific smile, only used when hugging. I mean. Holy heart melt. And your big fat open mouth tongue out kissing! Swoon! Although, hopefully these will be reserved just for us until your 30. Ahem.
This list, and this probably could go without saying, could be a million things long and it still wouldn't be long enough to fill with all the things we adore about you. Thank you bean, for letting us be your parents, we love you immeasurably.
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