My beautiful girl

You should be proud, I did not have to fake it today.  Not for one second.  Can I get a whoop whoop? 

Today my little girl turned one.  This time last year I was lying in our bed, in our home, so beyond thrilled that a) I was able to have another successful home birth, b) my baby was 100% perfect and healthy and c) I made it through labor and delivery despite all the worry I had beforehand of something going wrong.  This time last year, I was curled up in our bed with a teeny tiny baby girl.  This year has blown by as years do.  Someone has got to invent a slow motion button or a pause button for life.

My little girl is in many ways the exact opposite of her brother.  She’s giggly, where as he was and still is very serious most of the time.  You could jump off the house into a tub of pudding wearing nothing but a bright red bow and squealing like pig, he’d look at you as if to say “So what? If this is supposed to be funny, you have so much to learn”.  But this little girl of mine would begin giggling as soon as you started climbing that ladder.  It’s so easy to make her laugh and smile, and then you see that teensy weensy dimple of hers near her nose.  The second she saw her birthday cake she began diving for it.  Her brother? He just looked at it, wondering how it was made.  He had to be coaxed to eat his cake.  Not Jocelyn, she dove into it.  She picked up handfuls of icing, which globed off into her lap and at one point was dangling from her chin.  The color?? Bright pink, although the cake was pink, green and purple, somehow blended together it turned bubble gum pink.  And those chunky monkey cheeks are stained pink in places where she rubbed it in, because her mouth was so packed there was no other way to ingest it.  She’s adventurous, going where she knows she’s not supposed to and getting things she knows she can’t have.  He wouldn’t do it until you showed him its ok.  She’s determined, she will not stop when you say no or stop or don’t you dare, nope she puts on an extra bit of speed and that little turkey crawls as fast as she can to whatever it is she’s after.  Then she smiles, showing that dimple when you get her.  He would stop after the second time he was removed from the area and not return.  And eating?! OMG anything ANYTHING she finds it goes in her mouth.  He would hold things up and say Mama.  This year has been interesting to say the least getting to know this little girl of ours.

Jocelyn, oh Jocelbean, you are one hell of a girl.  That smile, with that dimple and that laugh would melt the coldest of hearts.  You are spunky, you have your mind made up and you do not care what others think.  I admire it, and I love you for it.  I know in the future this will be difficult to deal with, but I love knowing that that part of me is a part of you. You are very caring toward others, especially animals and your brother.  I see you hug him and lay your head on his shoulder every chance you can.  And I see the way he looks at you and hugs you back.  He see’s it too, that you have a kind heart.  You light up when your Daddy comes home, holding your arms out to him and saying Da-yee with a ginormous smile.  You want to pet and love on every animal, whether real or not.  You kiss and hug your babies so tenderly as if they are real.  You love wearing my necklaces and trying to put your clothes on.  Can’t forget to mention all those times you’ve managed to grab a pair of your brothers underwear out of the basket, put it on your head, giggle and say “hat”.  You have a sense of humor that most children don’t learn until much later in life, and most adults never do.  You remember what we find funny and you repeat it at the perfect times.  It never gets old and you just keep getting funnier.  You love watching me cook and clean, and I see you grin and take everything in like your trying to memorize what I do so you can help.  Your all about helping, and giving, and that is so precious to see in someone so small.  We love you more than you know, and we are so very thankful that you are our daughter.