52 Weeks Old

My little girl is going to be 1 tomorrow. So many people have asked me if I can believe it, and frankly, oh yeah, I certainly can. This little girl has made a HUGE impact on our lives that has been felt everyday for the last year. She is so wonderful, so beautiful, so...just as she should be, just as she was always meant to be. Her personality fills up my heart, pushes me on, challenges me. She is the ultimate little sweet and sour morsel. She can be so sweet - smiling at strangers, flirting, giggling, sharing. And so so sour - throwing full blown tantrums, wining, yelling, crying, clinging and PINCHING. She feels so tiny still, it is hard to imagine how that little body holds so much energy. We have gone for weeks with her being so intense, us just trying to get through it sane. And then, the clouds part, it stops raining and the skies are filled with unicorns and rainbows and glittery hearts. Just a week ago I felt like I was at my wits end with her and then *poof* this amazing little fairy appears with so much good cheer it totally blows me away. Bruce and I look at each other, wondering who is this gorgeous little tulip gurgling sweet songs to us. She has completed our family, our hearts. She is the perfect foil to her brother, the final puzzle piece. I look forward to a lifetime of loving her.
Lucy said her first word on Tuesday morning. For about a month now she has been repeating back words we have said to her. Example: "Lucy, WATER. Wwwwwaaattteeerrrrrrrr, WWWater, Waaaaatteeeeeeer." and she responds back, "water?" And we cheer and applaud and she smiles. She does this with many words: Mama, Papa, Sunshine, doggy, water, snack, banana, all done, drink, baby, plug, tree, ball, bread. We were never sure what word to call her "first" word. She also has her own set of made up words (although we are trying to always correct this - not a good habit for kids to get into) like she says, "mamamamama" (a symptom of a nursing baby, Mama and food get mixed up) when she is hungry. We decided that she would have to say something all on her own without prompting to get the esteemed honor of being considered the "first word". Tuesday morning I was putting her back into her car seat after dropping Griff off at pre-school. She looked right at me and said "Mamamammamama, banana?" I looked like a crazy woman, jumping around the parking lot, cheering for her. So that is it, the first word - Banana.