11/4

Dearest Duc,

It blows my mind that you are eleven months old today and that we have been together for four months. It seems like such a small number, doesn’t it? It seems too small of a number to express how dramatically our lives have changed.

People will laugh because I am naive, but it has not been as hard as I imagined it would be. Any where I am you want to be also. You don’t even mind if I don’t get you to bed on time as long as we are together. People often remark that we were perfectly matched—both easy going, easy with a smile and a giggle, and both of us have some wacky-do hair with lots of cowlicks. I have laughed more in the last four months than I think I have for the last thirty years.

You are definitely the center of attention and you demand that you remain the center of attention. At restaurants you like to walk around talking to people, but if they don’t stop to talk you get upset with them and get louder and louder and try even harder to get their attention. I don’t know how anyone can ignore you—not with that smile on your beautiful face.

You are bipedal 100% of the time now. I thought I would be sad about it, and a little bit I am, but you are so cute I can’t help but enjoy it. You have really good balance, but you walk like Godzilla. Fists up in the air while you stomp your feet about.

You are on table food also. It is rare that you ever get baby food. Mostly because it ticks you off and you spray it all over the place. I have always enjoyed cooking, but now it is much more enjoyable for me because you are so excited over mealtime! I wasn’t exposed to a lot of different fruits and vegetables when I was young, but that is something that you won’t need to worry about. Friday night I sauteed up some eggplant, onions and spices. You ate with so much gusto I wasn’t sure there was going to be any left for me to eat! You eat everything, except you aren’t the biggest fan of fruit. All the fruits I LOVE you spit out. Breaks your mama’s heart! I made strawberry shortcake for you today—you ate the shortcake and I ate the strawberries. You feed yourself and have since the time you began walking at around nine months.

You are a very determined child. I can’t see you ever sitting idly and waiting for life to start. You don’t miss anything. Ever. It is a challenge to re-direct you away from things (like playing with the stove) that are bad for you. I will take you into another room, get you started with some other toys and two seconds later you are back to trying to play with the stove.

You are already doing things I wouldn’t expect at your age. While in Dallas you actually offered me a piece of your food and placed it in my mouth. You also recognize choices now. I gave you a cheerio out of the party mix and as you were preparing to put it in your mouth you realized I had others in my hand. You reached over, put the cheerio back and chose a pretzel. You keep me on my toes.

On Friday I caught you attempting to climb a tree. I vacillate between being over the moon proud of you and all you can do and missing my little baby.

Godzilla in action.

Happy 11 months, babe.