Dear Bode,

Oh my little porky chop. One year old. How did we get here so fast? It has got to slow down or I am going to get an ulcer. It took me too long to get my bearings, my feet underneath me and figure out how to manage two. I feel like by the time I was catching my stride you were six months old, then I blinked and you were one.  Some days I think we should have a do over. But then I remember you were a titch on the stubborn side and didn’t entirely sleep through the night until about 5 months ago. So we’ll continue forward, but seriously, slow it down.
Your dad and I were talking the other day about how insane it is that when we found out you were growing inside me, we both really wanted another girl. Girl was all we had known and it had been pretty great, so we were keen on just repeating it. When we saw your special equipment around 13 weeks (which by the way you already think is like the most awesome thing ever…gives me stress), we knew you were boy. I wondered for a bit what I was going to do with your head seeing as how I couldn’t put a bow on it, but then I started brainstorming a bicycle nursery and never looked back. And now, well now, I think a baby boy is perhaps the most wonderful thing on planet earth. You are loud and busy and climb into cabinets. You unroll an entire roll of paper towels, empty the pantry’s bottom shelf of all its napkins and paper plates on the daily and tip over bags of flour. You pull all the books off the bottom two shelves of the book shelf everyday, to the point your dad has requested that we just take everything off and leave them empty. I refuse because you are so happy every time you empty those two shelves off. You drive your cars around the family room, you even fly little airplanes above your head with your chubby little arms. You are dirty, requiring a bath at the end of all day’s ends because you have followed me outside, or into the garage and pulled yourself up on car tires or eaten dirt. You go head first off the bed and couch and until just last week, the stairs. I fear for the day you can climb out of your crib. You are not cautious and you want to be were the action is. And I adore it. I adore it all. I love that you throw caution to the wind in pursuit of adventure. I love that you will dirty your hands just to see what that little garden patch is all about. I love that you are brave and want to give it all a try. All those dirty, dangerous, messy boy things make me smile over and over.
You were a bit discontent as a baby. It wasn’t really until you could move that you seemed satisfied in your own skin. You didn’t like to be left alone in a room and you still don’t. You are a social being and like to be where the people are. Particularly me. Your father calls you a mama’s boy and my little darling, you kind of are. And if you want to know the truth, well, I adore this too. You are my little buddy and will choose me over all. I am not naïve to the fact that this will not last forever, so I will relish in it now. You aren’t clingy though and you love your dad and your sister too. The past month or so, you have really been about to play and interact with your sister. That fact thrills me as there were many a times 6-9 months ago when I wondered if such a miracle would ever come to pass. You love to play in her bedroom with her, take her kitchen apart, or empty her fairy and princess bins. She makes you laugh a lot, you think she’s funny and your indulgence in her antics pleases her a great deal. More often than I’d like to admit, I see her wrestling you, or kissing and squeezing you, I come barreling in from the other room to rescue you and scold her only to see you laughing your can off. You are sturdy and will soon be able to wrestle her back. This of course will infuriate her and should be hilarious to watch. But it’s not to far off, you recently weighed in and 21 lbs 7 oz. Tessa weighs 25 lbs. You’ll be passing her up before she knows what caught her. You may pound her once or twice as we all know she did to you, but then be nice ok? I want you to be a nice boy. A boy that’s nice and gentle with the girls.
You made the transition to milk a few weeks ago and think it’s brilliant. You are a chugger. You won’t however drink it out of a sippy cup…so we have that little adventure ahead of us. Aside from how you eat you food, you are not too particular, well, actually that’s not entirely true. If dad or I have a spoon feeding you, you want one too. Mostly just to hold and sometimes to try and eat with. You love yogurt, pretzels, bananas and pancakes. You had your first sugar intake last weekend at your birthday party and I think you thought you’d died and gone to heaven. You don’t particularly like applesauce or deli turkey and you think it’s funny to throw your food over your tray and watch us say, “uh-oh”. You out eat your sister 9 times out of 10. Your chubby little fingers picking up bites and shoving them into your mouth remains one of the cutest things I have seen.
You only have one down fall and it doesn’t really even count because it’s not your fault. You get sick a lot. Like a lot, a lot. I’m hoping it’s because T Money is in preschool and is bringing all sorts of garbage home and that your immune system will be stronger for it later. But I do hate it. We take care of one disgusting nose, only to segway into an ear infection, to segway into a cough. You remain a great sport through it all. Although you do despise have your nose wiped, but who doesn’t?
You sleep through the night and will usually take one good nap a day and one shorter. You for some reason don’t seem to need or perhaps want the same amount of sleep your sister did. This of course baffles me, as I would sometimes give my left arm to take a two hour nap everyday, but you at times seem you could take it or leave it. But you are happy and pleasant and move merrily throughout the day. You wake in the morning babbling and if we don’t come right away it turns to grunts and then to a furious cry until the second we walk into your room and say, “Hey Bubs”. The fury turns frighteningly fast into your million dollar smile. You have learned early how to turn it off and on and how to fake cry. I sometimes have to put forth a fairly good effort to not give you everything you want, because, well I just can’t stand how much I love you and how cute I think you are.
Bodes you have brought immeasurably joy this past year. Massive, massive amounts. I tell you all the time, “You are my favorite boyfriend I’ve ever known”. You are nice to me and love me ALL the time and therefore are often times my most favorite person. I kiss you hundreds of times a day and plan on doing so for many years to come. My secret plan is to kiss you so many times, that no other girl will ever be able to catch up. You are a measly one, but your enthusiasm for life is contagious. Watching you discover brand new things, things your baby eyes have never seen, watching you awestruck is the greatest gift. You jump in with both feet and you want others to always come with you. You recently have figured out while sitting in my lap, how to grab my fingers just so, slide off my lap and start walking, with me tow. I hope to be along for all your great adventures, from walking, to dive bombing off the bed, to skiing down a hill to checking out a college campus. You are such a bright spot in this big, ole world. Your smile has light behind it, as do your eyes. I have no doubt, that light will be a blessing in many lives for many, many years. I love you more than words can say. Shine on baby boy.
Love, Mama

*Post edit:
12 mos. stats: 29 1/2 inches (50%), 21 lbs 4 oz. (50%) head 41 cm (70%)