All of the sudden...

Dear Maya,

It seems like every time we turn around lately, all of the sudden you are doing something new, different, funny, adorable, grown-up.

All of the sudden you love picking up after yourself. You often pull out unused diapers and throw them everywhere, but when mommy starts to tidy up you hand them over one by one. The same goes for your toys--you love to put them back in your toy box when playtime is over. What a good girl you are!

All of the sudden you are getting too big for the sink. I guess that happens when you're 1 year old, 21 pounds and 29.5 inches long! We washed you in the big bath for the first time and you loved it. You splashed around for quite a while and didn't even mind having water poured over your head to rinse you off.

All of the sudden you can drink from your sippy cup without dribbling all over yourself. Sure, you sometimes whine for help when you pick it up the wrong way and need us to turn it around in order to be able to drink from it, but then you go to town. Partly as a result of this new skill, we introduced you to milk this week!

Speaking of new foods, even though mommy said she might not continue to keep track of further additions, here's a list of some things you've tried the last few weeks: cucumber sticks (which you love), Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, various crackers, chunks of chicken, and even some prepared sukiyaki with rice.

One other Japanese food you tried this past week was udon. We fed you these fat noodles for lunch one day, then gave you a bath afterwards. At the end of the bath when daddy handed you to mommy to towel off, you sneezed...and one came back out your nose! We were bent over laughing and then you tried to eat it!

Another thing you chewed on that day that you weren't supposed to was your crib. Mommy got so frustrated seeing the bite marks on your pretty new bed that we put off your nap until we could come up with a way to stop you from doing any more damage. Rail guards would take a couple days to be delivered and would cost a surprising amount to cover the front plus the sides, but luckily mommy got an idea. Since you are old enough not to hit your head against the sides of the bed, we used the bumper pads folded in half! Easy and free!

And finally, the last 'all of the sudden' this week isn't even yours--it's Clio's. The other morning Mommy walked past your room and noticed the door ajar even though we had closed it when we put you down to nap. It seems that all of the sudden Clio has decided you're not so bad after all. How cute is that?

Don't grow up too fast, little one.
Love you!