The Year of Living Dangerously

Baby girl is one year old! We celebrated at a park in Sunny Isles on Miami Beach with some of Ally's little friends: Samuel, Nixon, Jane, Bailey, Trae and Telsey, to name a few. We swung on the swings, slid on the slide and smashed some cake. Ally got her first baby doll and two fun bouncy balls.

I have said this before, but I really mean it this time: this is my favorite age yet. Allyn has always been "alert," to quote every stranger who ever stopped to admire her, but she is increasingly interactive and gets better at communicating every day.

Ally was happy to be left with her cake until she started rubbing it in her eyes. That made her sad, but not enough to stop eating.

Some special party guests:

Santa Jane

Bailey

Some of my favorite things that Ally does at age 1:

• Says "mmm" as she gives her "babies" kisses and love pats
  
• Holds her fists tighly to her chest while she walks
  
• Shakes her head, "No" when she means Yes
  
• Follows grandpa Tom around the apartment
  
• Takes food out of her mouth with her finger to make room for another bite
  
• Chimes in with a fake laugh after someone else laughs
  
• Reads books to herself and chatters constantly
  

Some of Ally's words at age 1:

Dut (duck)
Baby
Uh oh
Mama/Dada
Boppa (Grandpa)
Up
Socks
Ayee (Ally)
EYE! (shouted, while poking said appendage)
"A-pane" (while pointing to the sky)
Yay! (while clapping)
Oh Wow! (as one word)
Whee! (while turning circles on her bottom)
Pap (diaper)
Ba (bath)
Hi!
Bye-bye

A few other milestones from this first year: Ally rolled over on Easter, at four months old; got her first teeth at 5 months; crawled at 6 months; and walked on her first birthday, with lots of encouragement from Bim.

I never thought my baby would be one and now that she is, I still can't completely believe it. In some ways I feel like I have always known and loved her. A strange contradiction of feelings, I guess, but parenthood seems to be full of those. One thing I know for sure:
Ally = Fun. Let's have another year like this one.