Dear Keaton,
How is it possible that a whole year of cuddles have gone by already?! How... Wow... I just cannot get over that you were the tiniest peanut with the calm deep eyes and soft cheeks just a year ago and now you are the little shy giggle puss with expressive eyebrows and sparkle blue eyes. Your spontaneous little arm stretches are replaced with random downward dog yoga poses. Your cute baby gurgles are now splurts that sound like a chugging choo choo.
Aiden loves to sing and you sometimes try to join in with your yelps. It's fun to sing the mickey mouse song but replace m-i-c-k-e-y with k-e-a-t-o-n! Whenever you b-line for the shoes by the front door your brother starts singing I love dirty shoes to the toon of I love rock 'n roll. It's a good distraction from trying to nab those favorite dirty shoes.
You are a bit of a daredevil kid. You will stand up against a door and rock it back and forth with a yell. You got really excited to try to climb and rock the baby gate with a big giggle. This monkey man move actually led me to just take down the gate you were pulling around. Your handy hippo walker turns into a ride-on which you like me to push back and forth faster and faster.
Whatever hair coif you wake up with will stick around all day even if I wet it. One morning, after a particularly rough night, your hair was curled on both sides on the top of your head like two little devil horns. Our little sleep devil. I still think you will have those cute loose baby curls once your hair grows thicker. Having less hair makes you seem younger somehow, so I'll take the baby coif. You made your Gran laugh when you nabbed one of her cold curlers and tried to twirl it in your hair.
You love to giggle when I fly you up high. You land on my head as a big baby hat and squeal with giggles. I love finding zurberts on the palm of your tiny little hand. Your grabby little hands are perfect for zurberts and nabbing any hair you see. You are particularly excited to pull your brothers hair when he tries to wrestle you. You tried to reach out of the ergo on my back while visiting your brother's class to help them with a sewing project. You nabbed one of the naughty little guys by the hair after he tried to feed you some cotton batting.
Your favorite toy is a partially filled water bottle and you reach for mini bottles at the grocery. It's a version of something you aren't really supposed to have, so of course it's a favorite. You started calmly taking your bib off when you are all done eating and will sorta do an all done sign. You prefer to eat big boy food now, and you go after whatever is on our plates. You love eating chicken bits, but you will leave behind some chicken bits on the ground your Gran dubbed chicken freckles. You love yogurt mixed with some oats and pear. Your newest favorite is pickle bites which give you a pickle pucker face when you first start eating them. I can't wait to see your reaction to the birthday cakes we plan to plop in front of you.
You started getting in on Aiden's action more and more. His reply cracks me up, when he squawks, "Hey mom, get your baby outta here!" He's getting better about trading you if you have something he'd like or if you get grabby. You love to get his attention and you will listen to books he wants to read to you longer than most. You love to "share" things now by handing over whatever you are holding. You then expect a big "thank you" and you smile and put out your hand to pass it back and forth.
You were charmed by the silent gesturing easter bunny and I thought for a second that your first true independent steps may be right towards him. You are still getting your balance down, but you sure can cruise. I did witness a few steps between the chairs... So you can walk about two steps without holding on and then you intentionally plop. Your walker is cruising faster and faster, and you can even sorta turn it now. You prefer to have us hold both hands but you can toddle holding just one finger.
You babble with such inflection in your voice. It sometimes sounds just like your brother's voice. You were making helicopter sounds bouncing around facing forward in your carrier while we were hiking for a geocache the other day. You really warmed up to these baby goats we saw at the egg hunt and it sounded like you grumbled g-oat at them.
Your reaction when you woke up at the circus was classic go-with-the-flow guy. You were so happy to observe and enjoy the clapping moments the most. You just love chilling in the swings, but you are happy to get down to explore too. We had a very easy time in the car this month because you love watching the blossoms and new leaves breezing by.
I love looking back in the mirrors to see you basking in the sun with your face turned towards the window in your car seat. You point your little chin up and look like such a big boy. I miss the days of the little heapy baby all bundled up in the snuggle suit, but I look forward to bigger baby memories.
Happy, happy birthday sweet uno boy! Love you! Mom
