One More Month and I'll be ONE!

Dear Emma,

You are eleven months old now and I am beginning to wonder where the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday when you came into this crazy world and changed our lives forever. You will be a year old in less than a month. One of the things I am most thankful for on this upcoming birthday is that your Daddy will be here to celebrate it with us. We have had a tough but wonderful year and despite the hardships I would not change a thing. Just as in previous months this past month has been filled with change. Your vocal skills have really taken off and you have a vocabulary that far surpasses the norm for your age. As of right now you are continually saying a handful of words... "Mama, Dada, Daddy, bye-bye, thank you, bad boy (at the dog, go figure), whoa, yay, yea, baby, Charger, num-nums (when you like your food), and your personal favorite... "No, no, no, no, no!" You say this anytime you are upset, scared, angry, or displeased with something. You are such an intelligent little girl and you continue to amaze me each and every day. I have begun teaching you shapes and despite being only 11 months old, you are able to identify circles anywhere you see them. We practice by showing you pictures with circles mixed into them. I ask you, "Where is the circle?" You then scan the page and point out each circle that you see one at a time. It is truly incredible. I hope to teach you a new shape and maybe a color within the next month. Throughout the course of this point month your physical skills have also greatly improved. You are able to stand up by yourself (though it scares you) and have been walking all over the place while holding onto the furniture. You are totally able to walk on your own but for some reason can not seem to muster up the guts to do so. You are a very cautious little girl and I can see that you always think things out before you do something. It is almost as if you have to come up with a plan of action before you do anything. Just like your Daddy you also seem to have a profound love of art and music. You love listening to Daddy as he plays guitar and sings to us and are absolutely captivated anytime he lets you strum on his guitar. If you are lucky, you may be getting your own "Baby" size grand piano for your room. Right now one of your favorite toys is the piano Grandaddy bought you for Christmas. We play with it just about every day and I work with you on patterns and repetition by teaching you to hit 2-3 keys in a specific order. You are very good at this and seem to really enjoy it. You have a love of learning just like me and I hope that through the years this is something that you and I can always bond over. This is technically your last month as a "Baby" and though I am sad for this juncture of your life to be over, I am incredibly excited to see what the future holds for you. We will soon be starting "Mom and Tot" swimming lessons and will be going together twice a week for the next few months. I am hoping that you get as much out of these classes as your Aunt Amy and Hayley did when they were babies. Well my little Emma... Not to much more to report this month besides the fact that you are beautiful, intelligent, and absolutely perfect. You make my world go round and you bring color to my world. Happy eleven months beautiful!

Love,

Mommy