Happy Birthday, Zoey!

[Note: I wrote this yesterday, but our cable has been out until this morning, so I couldn't post it on Zoey's actual birthday. Bummer.]

Dear Zoey,

Today is your first birthday! It doesn’t seem like it was so long ago, but a whole year ago today, your Mommy was in labor with you. Having a baby is called "labor" because it’s really hard. It’s so hard that only mommies are tough enough to do it. You and Mommy did great, and you were born here at home in our big bed. After you were born they had me take off my shirt and hold you next to my skin under a blanket, to make sure you were all snuggly and warm. That was one of the greatest moments of my life.

The day after you were born you rolled from your back onto your side, and you’re still very strong. We took a swim class together, and that helped you learn how to crawl. You love to crawl all over the place. Sometimes you grab something you’re not supposed to have, and then when we say your name and walk toward you to get whatever it is, you crawl really fast away from us. You also like to stand next to chairs, the couch, Mommy’s or my legs, the T.V., or your Leap Frog activity table. You love music, and sometimes you like to dance when you’re excited.

You love watching your Baby Einstein DVDs, especially when they show puppets or other kids. In your short time on this planet, you have watched Lance Armstrong win the Tour de France, you have watched the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and you have seen every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although you weren’t always paying much attention to the T.V., so your grandparents needn’t worry about you.

You love to play with your books, which means you take them one-by-one off of the bookshelf that Auntie Bonnie painted for you, until you’re sitting in a big pile of books. You like to turn the pages and open and close them, and you love to see how each book tastes and just how chewy it is. At bedtime I usually read you The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, which is your favorite book. You like to chew on that book while I’m reading it to you, so it’s a good thing that I have it memorized.

You have pretty red hair, that is growing in slowly but surely. You have six teeth—four on the top and two on the bottom, right in the front, but you are working on a whole bunch more teeth all at once. You weigh 20 pounds and 7 ounces, and you are 29 inches long (tall, when you’re standing). That means we can turn your carseat around so you can face forward and see where we’re going, but I haven’t had a chance to do that yet.

You like to eat food. You like yogurt, rice, rice noodles, rice puffs, rice crackers, rice milk, kamut puffs, nori (that’s the yummy seaweed they use in sushi), beans, green peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cheese from goat and sheep’s milk, turkey, and a lot of other stuff. You like to drink water from a sippy cup, from a shot glass or pint glass, or from a clear plastic water bottle. If we let you, you would probably like to drink water from a bowl like our doggie Murphee.

You and Murphee are beginning to become friends. Murphee likes you very much because you throw food to her from your highchair. You also like to throw her the ball by letting go of it sort of near her, and you like the way Murphee’s fur feels.

You used to like to grab Murphee’s fur or tail or ears really hard, so she taught you how to growl, which is your favorite noise to make. You also like to say "Da-da!!!" and sometimes "Ma-ma!!!". Also big on your list of things to say are "Ya-ya!!!", "Ay-ay-ay!!!", and "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!". You like to talk with exclamation marks, because everything you have to say is so important and everyone should listen.

You don’t like to sleep very much, because no one is paying attention to you when you are asleep. You are very strong-willed, and can stand in your crib and yell at the top of your lungs for two hours without even breaking a sweat. For a long time you slept in the bed with us every night, but none of us got much sleep, so we moved you into your crib at the foot of our bed. No one still got very much sleep, so yesterday we moved you into your own room, that used to be my office. No one got very much sleep last night, but we have hopes that will improve. In fact, we insist!

You have a lot of grandparents, and aunties and uncles of all ages, who all love you very much.

Your Mommy and I loved you so much before we even met you, but that doesn’t compare to how much we love you now. Happy First Birthday, Zoey!

Love,
Daddy and Mommy