At 2:01 this morning, Abigail turned one year old. Today I've been thinking back on the last year, on how much she's changed in that relatively short, but extremely long, period of time.
Abigail came in to the world a pink, squalling little thing, with parents who soon realized they'd gotten in way over their heads. For the first two weeks, we were in a state of exhausted terror. We were terrified of the bath, and the thought of the nail clippers made us tremble. We jumped at her every cry, worrying ourselves sick over whether she was hungry, poopy, or dying.
At about one month old, we realized we had a colicky baby. She wasn't as bad as some babies, but to us it was bad. At four months old, though, we realized that all Abigail needed was for her body to grow a bit, and a regular schedule.
At almost five months, Abigail went into daycare. I didn't think I'd survive - being away from her for so long, in the care of a stranger, was the most awful thing imaginable. So was the cost! But after a week or so, I saw a change in our Abigail. She was thriving in the schedule-driven daycare environment, and having been the first baby our daycare provider took on, I saw that they had a special attachment to eachother. We also learned that we could get by pretty well money-wise if we were careful.
Over the next few months, we watched our little baby change. She became much more aware of her surroundings, and became a very happy little baby. She learned to almost-crawl, then crawl, then pull herself up to standing. We discovered babies are curious little things, that will put anything and everything into their mouths. We learned that a mobile baby is one that is through with the swing. We discovered that Once Upon A Child is not only for buying baby stuff, it's for selling it, too!
When she was 9 months old, we moved into the new place. We set up a "corral" in the living room, where she happily played for about a month. Soon we discovered that if we do just a bit of putting-away and put up a baby gate, we could let her play in her room. That is now where she prefers to be.
Saturday was Abigail's birthday party. She made her walking debut that day, much to the delight of everyone there. She's not a full walker yet, but she can walk from here to there, as long as it's not too far. She also played in the grass, ate a couple of leaves, and had a bit of cake. Then she went home and took a nap.
Today she seemed to know that she's no longer an infant, and I believe she thinks her newfound toddlerhood requires an attitude. She was impatient and squawky, driving me nuts while getting ready. But she was quiet in the car, which is a nice change. Maybe it's because I've embraced the inevitable and bought a 2 CD set of toddler-friendly songs. Little Bunny Foo Foo, Peter Rabbit, and cows that "go moo moo, moo moo" are now a integral part of our car trips. I don't mind so much, though. It's better than the crap I'm sure she'll be listening to in a few years!
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