things I don't want to forget

- She hates cinnamon. Anything with cinnamon. Spits it out, makes a face, then clamps her mouth shut unless something else is put on her plate. This is foreign to me, because I could eat it on just about anything.

- She loves her shoes. (This is not foreign to me). Sticking that perfectly chub little leg in the air waiting for me to put them on her feet.

- The high-pitched squeal of delight when I walk in the door from work. Nothing has ever made me feel better after a long day, absolutely nothing.

- How she loves pointing to or identifying anything to do with Dada... "Dada! Dada" Yes, there's a picture of Dada. Yes, there's Dada out in the yard. Yes, that's Dada on the phone. Yes, Dada is playing with Stormy. I think this is officially her first crush.

- How she grins and starts bouncing up and down when we start singing 'Imma Be'. What. She likes a good beat. You can't blame a girl for dancing.

- How she loves being outside but that we had to slowly teach her that grass is not the enemy. Going from meltdowns and hysterics when we sat her on it, while she tried to balace with her hands and feet up in the air trying not to touch it, to carefully putting her feet down, all the while with a very distorted and mean frown on her face, to 3 weeks later getting her to put her hands on it, to finally crawling on it last weekend (but only taking the shortest distance possible to the sidewalk or us to get off the stinkin' grass).

- How she squishes down her entire bumber pad in the crib because she both a) rolls around until she wedges herself into a corner to go to sleep, and b) wants to lay down but hates not being able to see everything possible.

- Her first reaction to sweet tea. Welcome to the South babydoll. It's good stuff.

- Her first reaction to orange sherbert at Toot's. Shock value. Priceless.

- How much she teaches me every day to be more of the person I want to be.

Tomorrow we cross over to the other side.
I will have a one-year old and I'm trying to decide how to best emotionally cope. I think lots of hugs and kisses and and more hugs and laughter will be in order =) 

C'ya on the flip side of birthday cake!