Dear Miss Maddie,

Happy birthday my sweet!  You are 11 months old today and I am amazed at how fast you are growing and learning and growing and learning!

This past month we had Mama Hat up for a visit, we finished your room (finally!), we went to Kingston for a week-long visit, went to a family reunion and introduced you with many 'oohs and ahhs', tried daycare for the very first time (you hated it), endured a nasty case of thrush (and resulting yeast infection 'down there' - grossness!), and also the worst baby-cold-flu that made your previous colds look like a breeze.  

It's been another busy busy month with it's share of ups and downs - but the biggest milestone of all I think is your new (and elusive) ability to sleep through the night!  You've done it a handful of times and I'm hoping that we'll eventually string together a solid week of them.  It's my fault that we stopped the trend, as we went to Kingston for an overnight visit just as you were getting the hang of it - so that screwed it up.  Then you got sick - which also screwed with sleep and eating and Mommy's nerves as my happy-go-lucky baby was nowhere to be found for almost a week.

But through all that chaos, you still have managed to continue to learn how to walk - you are constantly walking around pushing your highchair, the kitchen stool, your baby-walker-thing, the piano or just cruising from chair-to-ottoman-to-tv-stand-to-couch.  You also love to walk while you have an adult holding your hands.  So we spend lots of time doing this every day as well.  You haven't quite got up the nerve to try out a step or two unassisted, but with all your practicing, I know we'll get there soon!

You got your first haircut the other day - just a bang trim - but it immediately made you look so different!  We were so used to seeing your scraggedly hair everywhere, and now it's just a straight cut of bangs across your forehead - it makes you look like a little girl!

And your eagerness to learn continues to blow our minds.  If I ask where Daddy is, you point to him.  If I ask where the kitty is, you find it and point to it (or give the lucky kitty the cutest full-body-hug anyone could ever ask for).  If we ask for a kiss, you (usually) oblige.  You're learning eyes, ears, nose and mouth - and enjoy grabbing our faces (sometimes quite hard!) during it all.

You also love to point out things you're interested in, especially when being carried.  You point to the CDs and I take you over to them and you would spend forever just touching them, looking at them, doing your little "ooh" and "ahh" noises that you make when your thinking about something.  You love visiting the bookcases, the pictures in the bookcases, the microwave, the radio in the kitchen, the pictures of the "baby" (you) on top of your bookshelf, Teddy, and the lightswitch (which you obsessively turn on-off-on-off as long as we'll let you).

You are also completely obsessed with removing the air duct grate in the kitchen, opening the drawer with the ziplock bags and pulling them all out, unloading the tupperware cupboard, 'helping' load the dishwasher (by climbing in it), unrolling the toilet paper at every chance, splashing your hands in the toilet (ewww), splashing your hands in the cat dish, and dumping and examining any trash can/recycle bin you can get your hands on.  Please.  Stop.  Doing.  That.

I can't begin to explain how much I've enjoyed spending every day with you this past year, monkey.  You've taught me patience and understanding.  You've taught me to slow down and just enjoy the moment.  That sometimes you just need to dance!  You've reminded me how important it is sometimes just to stop what you're doing and have a giggle.  How tears can turn into a smile pretty quickly if a person really tries to make it happen.  And that sometimes making spills or crashing items together are just a learning experience and aren't necessarily all that annoying.

I hope I'm keeping my end of the bargain up and teaching you lots of useful things and doing what a mom is supposed to do.  And at the end of the day, I hope when you go to sleep, you feel warm and cozy and cherished and loved. 

Because you are.  Immeasurably so.

Love,

Mommy