13 Months

Dear Embrie,

A couple of days ago you reached the 13 month mark. I know this is my second letter and I am late again - don't worry when you get to this side of parenthood you will understand. Or maybe I should just say if you would hold still for one single second, I could have found the time a little bit sooner to sit down and write this.

I will simply call the past month - The Month of Go! Last month I was tapping my fingers waiting for you to crawl or walk, to simply become mobile so you would no longer sqwuak at us pointing at what you wanted. But know I realize how insane that was. You have had the ability to crawl and walk for quite sometime, but this month you have finally decided to put those abilities to work for your benefit. I can no longer put you down and find you in the general vicinty of where I left you. Rather, I find you with the end of the toilet paper in your hand and you are half way across the house, or you will be happily splashing away in the toilet, or half way up the stairs. One might think that I should know better, that a mobile child is more work. But your brother was not this way. He would happily toddle around at our feet only occassionally wandering off. I did not appreciate his mellow ways at the time, I was foolish enough to think that was just how it was. You have proven that theory wrong... Completely wrong. Now, if I stop for just a moment, perhaps to use the bathroom, you will disappear. I come out guessing which direction you have gone, but always check the stairs first because that is the most likely place for you to actually hurt yourself. From there we just try to find you as fast as possible becuase you are certainly into something and it is best to catch you before you stuff the contents of the bathroom trashcan into your mouth.

In addition to your desire to go, go, go. You also like to climb, climb, climb. This also is new. I think it is largely attributed to your desire to be where Hyat is and do what Hyat does. It was shortly after your first birthday and you had escaped my line of sight so Hyat and I went looking for you to find you halfway up the stairs. At that point, I didn't know you could climb the stairs. So I grabbed the camera to document the moment and Hyat and I encouraged you to climb all the way to the top. And you did, just like you had been doing it for weeks. I think your favorite thing to do is to climb into Hyat's bed. You will get up on his stool and throw your puggy little leg up into his bed and kick and squirm to get up there. About half of the time there is some screaming and sqwuaking if it doesn't go quite as smoothly as you would like. We have also discovered that you can climb up the step stool. We have a 2 step stool in the kitchen that Hyat often uses to reach the counter. One evening we turned around to find you on the second step, also trying to reach the counter. Just like that... in about 3 seconds while both your dad and I were in the kitchen. You loved being up there, until you realized you didn't know how to get down.

You have inherited a couple of traits from me. And yes, it is something besides your nose. You have the ability to throw some really good looks. Often they are cute and endearing, but you also have incredible pout face which includes a trembling bottom lip and tear filled eyes. The pout face is most often see when you don't get your way; however, you do have some sass so we also see some pretty dirty looks.

We recently decided to start you at the Early Learning Center with Hyat. These decisions, that impact your care and well-being, are gut-wrenching for us as parents. We have certainly weighed our options and as a family and I know you starting the program is the best decision for our family. I think you will throughly enjoy the other kids, the activities, and your teacher (who thankfully I think is fantastic). But it is still difficult for me - maybe it is because it is recognizing you are growing up, or maybe it is just the change. More than anything we simply want what is best for you and there is no way to gaurantee that it will be what is best. So please know, that we are trying, we are thoughtful and prayerful, and we are doing what we believe is best. I hope we are right.

Embrie, you keep us on our toes. We never know what you will be up to next. It is as though you study the world and then the switch goes off in your brain and you are ready to do something new. You don't have to practice or experiment, suddenly a new ability is just there. Last week you were sitting there and then you just stood up and started walking. It used to be that you would either need help standing up or would crawl over to an object to pull yourself up. Your dad and I just looked at each other asking the other if they had ever seen you do that before. It makes me feel like I am missing something, I just know this time around, how fast each stage goes, so I am trying to hold on to each step.

There are so many days that as we get you and Hyat ready for bed we feel like we are sliding into home - barely surviving another day. But then I get to cuddle with you before bed and you are calm and beautiful. You don't know any of the worries or stresses of the world, but instead you let the light shine in your eyes as we smile and giggle together, then as I kiss you goodnight I know that all is right.

Love,

Mama