Birthday girl

This time in 2010 E was just over a week old and we had been home from hospital about 24 hours. In a year she has learnt to suck, smile, reach, hold, laugh, roll, sit, chew, crawl, babble, stand and walk. Her weight has increased by nearly 250 percent and her height by nearly one third. Her chubby little fingers are wrapped firmly around our hearts.

We had a lovely brunch for her at home last Sunday with her four grandparents, her two great-grandmas, her aunty, her uncle and her best little friend and his parents. It was a gorgeous day and we were all very happy. D barbequed up eggs, bacon and other goodies, we had mountains of fruit, yummy crepes, animal gingerbread and the much planned bird-topped cupcakes. Especially compared to Christmas with a similar crowd, when E was a bit uncertain about it all for most of the day and then threw a complete fit at about 4pm, she had a fantastic time. She liked opening presents, happily ate almost a whole stewed apple crepe and mushed a cupcake after inhaling the sugar bird which is the sweetest, most artificial thing she has ever been allowed near, and had a ball with her friend H (aged two and a half) pushing her around on her popcorn car. 

I had a busy hour or two getting ready before everyone arrived, but once that was done I had such a happy morning (and not just due to several glasses of champagne!)  E's big day made me really reflect on the year we have had. That, plus just the way things have worked out have made her seem suddenly significantly older. We've been dressing her more in tshirts/shorts/pants rather than one piece suits and her hair is longer and she has six teeth that are visible when she laughs, so she looks much more like a little girl rather than a baby. Her understanding of what is said to her has increased exponentially. When asked "what noise does the doggy make" she will grin delightedly and make panting noises in response. Yesterday when D said "bring the book here and Daddy will read it to you" she actually brought it to him. From her first three steps five weeks ago, to a couple of hesitant steps a few times a day when there was something enticing nearby that it was worth exerting the effort to get to, she can now stagger drunkenly from one side of the room to the other. She still sits down suddenly every now and then, and still crawls if she wants to get somewhere particularly fast, but "toddler" is about right.


It was a lovely day to end a wonderful, exhausting, life changing, life beginning year.

**PS more photos on the other blog for anyone interested.**