You absolutely LOVE being outside and I can just set you up on a blanket outside or put you directly on the grass and give you a few rocks to bang together and you are in HEAVEN. Especially if your brothers are around to watch. You LOVE playing in the dirt though and have no problem with getting filthy dirty. That makes you a great camper though which we are happy about! I don’t think you’ll be even close to a sissy girl when you grow up and I see you holding frogs and snakes and catching grasshoppers and pill bugs with your brothers without a thought. I guess thats what happens when you have 3 older brothers.
You don’t seem to care too much for girl stuff yet, and the only thing that you REALLY love is a little white teddy bear that Daddy and I picked up for you in Alaska back in July. You love to hold that when you go to sleep or when you are hurt or feeling sad.
Right now you are hit or miss on keeping a bow on you – but if we can distract you while we put it on you will usually keep it there for an hour or two. But the second you realize a bow is on your head you tend to rip them off or rip them down around your neck. So unless we are going to church or dressing you up for a special occasion we usually just leave the bows off.
You have started talking a bit and your most recent milestone that I LOVE is that you are saying Mama on a regular basis now and seem to know what it means. You’ve been saying da da and ba ba for months now but refused to say Mama. It melts my heart every time I hear you say it.
You absolutely adore your brothers and they seem to light up your life as much as you light up theres. You seem to really love Branson and feel comfortable with him in almost every situation. You allow him to pick you up all day long and carry you places and love when he comes into your room in the morning to play peek a boo with you.
Harrison you love as well but he is a bit intense for you at the moment. He gets super excited and likes to hug you HARD and is always smothering you with kisses or trying to pick you up or wrestle you, which you don’t appreciate. He sure loves you though and can get you to laugh pretty easily.
Dawon and you are just now starting to have a good relationship. Dawson was pretty hands off with you until just recently but now he really seems to want you in his life. He loves to bring you toys, and smile at you, and lately has wanted to hold and kiss you too. Its really sweet and you seem to really like the attention he pays you.
Your relationship with your Daddy is also really sweet and we love it when he gets home and you say “Hi da!” Like you know thats exactly what he wants to hear. You absolutely melt Daddy when you lay your head on his shoulder and snuggle him and one time I even caught him with tears in his eyes as he held you while you were sleeping. Man oh man does he have a tender heart when it comes to you. You are his baby girl, that is for sure.
You and I also have a special relationship and little traditions that we do for our routines. For instance when I put you down to bed you don’t like to be held sideways anymore in a laying down position so I usually grab your purple blanket and put it over my shoulder so that you have a soft place to lay you head. Then I give you your binky and soft cuddly bear and you instantly nuzzle right into me. I absolutely love it. I will then either sway with you standing up while singing you a lullaby or we will rock gently for a few minutes. You are amazing at going to bed though and after our few minutes of snuggles I will just lay you down in your crib, put the blanket over you, turn out the light, and walk out of the room. That is it. You put yourself down to sleep and wake up cooing!
Some of your favorite songs that I sing are “Tender Shepherd,” “I am a child of God,” “Kumbaya,” and “I see my Mother Kneeling.” You love when I sing and enjoy snuggling before naps.
For bedtime though I usually read you books and we have 5 or 6 that we read regularly. You love to point at the pictures with me and I tell you about what we are looking at. I love spending that time with you each evening.
Right now you are also signing and do pretty well with signing all done, more, ba ba, and sleepy. You haven’t really caught onto the others but I’m sure will get there soon.
One of my favorite things that you are doing right is chair dancing. Usually while I’m making lunch or cleaning up after dinner I’ll have the CD player on and I LOVE how happy you get the second you hear music start playing and how your rock back and forth to the music. Your brothers were more bouncers going up and down but you seem to prefer going back and forth. Daddy and I think its adorable. You sure do make us smile a million and one times a day!
In short Adalynn you are a JOY to our family and we sure feel blessed to have you in our lives. Happy first birthday baby girl. We sure do love you!
Love,
Mommy Pants and Daddio