I am home for the time being...

Little girl has changed so much in the month I've been gone...she didn't reject me at all, but seemed happy to see me again..she's so smart, and it shows.  She's walking now, if one holds her hands, and she will stand for a few minutes by herself if she's distracted by something, until she realizes that she's standing and gets excited...then she loses her balance and falls over.  Every time she stands or takes a few steps without any help, she gets so excited she wiggles and bounces...and then falls over.  She seems to dance when she's excited, and it is the cutest thing to witness.

So far, no matter how many tumbles she takes, she's back up with a giggle, and Mommy and Daddy are her favoritest-ever climbing toys...along with everything else...she has perfected crawling over the top of the couch from our kitchen (the family room is sunken, so the couch tops are in line with the kitchen floor) and tumbling down onto the couch itself...she thinks this game is much fun, and despite Daddy's attempts to stop her, she seems quite happy to do it for hours and hasn't managed to fall off yet.

She's a little tumbler, she is...she doesn't mind in the slightest hanging upside down off the couch, giggling like crazy.  She's determined to crawl forwards down the stairs...I can't imagine the balance that takes, but she does it now as fast as it takes her to get up, she gets down.  She seems to have excellent balance, even so little, climbing and crawling on everything.

She's especially fond of crawling into laps.  It's heart-melting...she'll crawl her way over, stand and turn around, then sit in your lap.  I was sitting on the floor with her and she spent most of the time in my lap or trying to dance, holding onto me with the biggest grin.

Someone taught her to do raspberries, so now she'll do it in response to something...if Daddy asks her what a raspberry is and makes the noise, she'll move her tongue around a little and out will come a dainty little raspberry...it's adorable.  She thinks it's hilarious because of the reaction she gets from adults, so she spends a lot of time giggling.

Her appetite hasn't slowed down at all...her daycare continually tells us the sheer volume of food she eats.  At home she'll eat an entire grilled cheese sandwich, a handful of baby puff snacks, a cup of dilute juice, a cup of mandarin oranges...she definitely does NOT have a dainty appetite...and never has.  But to look at her...I saw her after a month of not seeing her everyday and she's ... muscular.  And tall.  But REALLY muscular...most adults would kill to have a back that looks like hers, and she's 1!  Her little thighs are still a-chub though, which is great.

I could go on for hours, but really...she's the cutest, smartest little girl ever.  I'm totally biased, of course...but being home again in our big, quiet old house...there is no better panacea for my lately tired, hurting soul.  It's peaceful here...and that peace is the main reason I suffer so much when I am away.  Life is chaotic...but...it's so utterly RIGHT, I cannot describe it any other way.

A pic of the happiest little girl there ever was. Seriously.  I will have many more videos and photos to post from the first birthday party!