1 Year Old!

Happy 1st Birthday Piper!

Where has the past year gone already?  I really don't even want to get started on how fast this is all going, Riley will be 5 in a few months (how is that even possible?) and I feel like we are picking up in speed now that we have 2 kids.   Oh well, despite the fact that I would like to slow down time, I have loved watching our tiny baby grow into a little girl over the past year.  With each month, we know more about our sweet little sis as she settles into the place in our family that is especially her own.

I adore being a mama of 2 girls and I love seeing the relationship that exists between these two sisters who were pretty much made for each other.   I don't think there is anyone who can make Piper laugh as loud as her big sister and her entire face lights up when she sees Riley.  Whatever Roo is doing, Piper wants to do it too and we could not be more grateful for the patient and helpful sister that Riley is to her. 

At 1 year old, Piper is a total chatterbox and has really started to try out new sounds.  She wants so badly to talk to us and while she's still figuring it out, her helpful big sis has no problem translating for her when needed.   She says "dada" most often, but she can also say "mama", "bell bell" (the kitty),  "baba" (bottle), "nigh nigh" (night, night) and there is also a word she uses for Riley, but I can't think of a good way to describe it.Despite her limited vocabulary, Piper is pretty good at making her needs clear...she is no longer the quiet little person that I had her pegged for.  My favorite thing that she does right now is to raise her hand up very high and yell "dat dat" at whatever sparks her interest and will continue like this until we take her to whatever it is.  

Our little one year old is has been busy showing off some new skills this past month.  Piper is determined to be everywhere!  She has not had much interest in climbing or even cruising around on the furniture until just recently and now she has mastered the stairs and can climb up and slide down with no problems and she's also been working hard at getting up on 2 legs as much as possible.  We've seen her using whatever she can grab onto to walk around and stay standing and she can even balance on her own for a few seconds before dropping back down.  It looks like she might be walking sooner than I had thought.

 

While I am sad that Piper is saying goodbye to babyness and moving on to toddlerhood, I am excited for all of the things that age brings with it.  I particularly love, the playfulness,  her tight squeezes and sloppy kisses, our "conversations", more restful nights, lots of snuggles and a little less separation anxiety.  We pretty much love everything about our sweet, silly, stubborn little one year old and we can't wait to see what her 2nd year brings.  We adore you Piper Ryan and we are so thankful that you're ours!   

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!