Happy Birthday, Jack!

Dear Jack,

You are one year old today! I really can't believe that a whole year has gone by since I first met you. It has been an incredible experience watching you grow into the boy you are today. I know I am the luckiest person alive that I get to be the one you call mama. It's not always easy, but it is always worth it.

You are such a fast learner. I'll show you how to do something once or twice and you know right away what to do and how to do it. It's amazing watching you figure something out. You're also starting to learn what words mean, you just can't repeat them yet! You certainly try though and you babble all the time. We have many conversations and I could seriously talk to you all day long. It's one of my favorite things!

You are definitely a mama's boy. You are also very gentle. You have never scratched, bit me, pulled my hair, or hit me. At least not deliberately! You'll gently run your fingers in my hair and you play with jewelry but don't tug at it. I really hope you stay this sweet and gentle. You have recently started slapping me (sort of), but not hard and you think it's a fun game. Today you gave me kisses! Every morning I kiss you goodbye at daycare. Recently you've started turning your face towards me in anticipation. Today you actually did something with your lips and leaned in towards me. And this was at home. It was adorable! I laughed and spent a good part of the day asking for (and receiving) kisses!

You try to help when I'm getting you dressed and it's great! You hold your arm out so I can put your shirt, jacket, etc. on and if you're holding something in the hand I need, you move it to the other hand. You also put your foot out for me to put your socks on. You also love to take your socks off! You're figuring out how to take your shoes off too and have done it a few times. But wearing the shoes don't upset you and you don't have a problem walking around in them. You just take them off because you can.

One of your favorite things to do is to throw everything out of the playpen or crib. You don't get upset when you no longer have anything to play with; you just stand there looking around. I give you toys in your car seat and sometimes you'll even throw those to the side. But in the last couple of days I've noticed you also starting to put stuff back. Today you picked up my cell phone and dropped it into an empty (thankfully!) cup. So cute! You occupied yourself for quite some time with your dump truck too. You put some random things into it, wheeled it around, then took everything out and started all over. I love this!

When I say your name you respond with, "huh?" It's adorable! Sometimes I'll say something to you and you'll go, "hmmm?" and I repeat myself. We'll go back and forth like that and I'll have said the same thing 4 or 5 times! You keep me entertained!

You hardly ever cry! This is one thing I have been surprised with and overjoyed by. I assumed that babies cried when they had a dirty diaper or were hungry. Not you. As a newborn, you never cried. Now you definitely get cranky and sometimes a little whiny if you're tired. Or if I take something away from you! But the only time you ever actually cry is when I'm trying to put you down for a nap. We're working on it, but you're not too good of a napper anyways. You get tired, but you won't go to sleep. You have never fallen asleep in a weird place or while doing something else. I see pictures of kids who fell asleep while playing or in their highchair. Not you. You woke up today at 4:30am and were looking tired by 8. At 9:30 you went down for a nap and only slept for a half hour. You didn't take another nap the whole day!

You love, love, love to read! If I need to put you in your crib or playpen and you don't particularly want to be there, I give you one of your favorite books and you're happy! You sit and read and talk to yourself. You love turning the pages too. I hope you always have this love for books.

You also love the water and love to splash. You have no problems with me pouring water over your head or with water covering your face at all. Maybe you'll be a swimmer? I'll definitely encourage this as you get older. I'm going to expose you to as many things as I can (music, sports, theatre, etc.) and you can do as many or as little activities as you want, within reason of course! I really hope you pick music though. ;) I know you just turned one, but I'm really looking forward to cheering you on in whatever it is you end up doing. I hope I don't embarrass you too much!

I have a lot of nicknames for you, all very random. A few that I can think of are: baby cakes, sugar plum, honey bunches, baby doll, and love bug. Nothing that has anything to do with your name and I have no idea where I came up with these! I call you baby a lot too.

I feel like I could write pages and pages about you. I hope I've remembered all the fun and important stuff that I never want to forget! You make me laugh so much more than I ever thought possible. I always wanted to be a mom and was ready for the responsibility, but I had no idea it was going to be this much fun and entertaining. It isn't all fun and games, but this is what I'm going to remember. The fun stuff makes you forget about the hard stuff.

One year ago (12-23-09), getting ready to leave for the hospital:

Our first meeting (I immediately felt bonded to you):

October 23, 2010:

December 19, 2010:

Jack, you are amazing and I love you so much. I'm looking forward to many happy days ahead! Happy first birthday, baby!