one year

Dear Matthew,

Happy birthday! How I have enjoyed this year with you! You have grown and changed almost beyond recognition over the last twelve months, and yet you are also very much the same little boy that came into my life one year ago. Yesterday at church, while you wiggled in my lap, I watched your face and realized that, while it has indeed matured, it is still very much the same face I fell in love with when you were only a few days old. And oh, how I love it still!

Your twelfth month was witness to more of the milestones that have been leading you out of infancy and into boyhood. You upgraded your army-style scoot to your hands and knees and now move freely through the house, and, though you can't untangle your feet in order to stand, you've mastered pulling yourself up to your knees. You happily clap your hands, and laugh in anticipation as well as when provoked. You love nibbling Ritz crackers with your four front teeth, and the fun you now find in putting objects inside containers also translates to a secret thrill in dropping pieces of food, one by one, from your perch in the highchair down onto the kitchen floor. You get very upset -- to the point of bursting into tears -- when those around you are also upset, while the comfort you find in your thumb and white cloth diaper can be substituted in a pinch to one of your white socks or a white kitchen dish cloth. You also have a curious but charming affinity for putting things on your head.

This afternoon your brothers were asking about the things you'd learn how to do once you turned one. I mentioned that you'd learn to walk and say a few words and learn to feed yourself with a spoon. Then Garrett chimed in with, "And he'll learn to spit?" "And brush his teeth by hisself?" added Caleb. Our hopes for you in the coming year are very high, Matthew, and I hope that you'll be up to task of living up to them (though perhaps not the spitting....).

I love you dearly, Matthew, and as you move into your second year, I hope, too, that you will continue to be as happy as you were in your first. Your smile is contagious, and your laugh can turn a sour day into a sweet one. Please always remember that you are a bright addition to our family; our days would be dark indeed without you.

Love,
Mama