Dear Ian, Last week you turned ONE YEAR OLD and I'm just getting around to talking about it. Really, it's a lot to digest, this whole counting in years versus months thing. If you protest a diaper change, your father has already started quipping "Don't be such a baby. You're a year old now. Knock that shit off." You don't quite understand him yet which is why he can get away with being such a potty-mouthed sarcastic poopy face. Soon we'll just start talking about how everything is "silly". I've learned that from other parents that silly is an acceptable substitute for "dumb-ass", "stupid", "obnoxious", "rude", and many other colorful versions of those terms.

You don't understand everything we're saying but you are picking up things fast so our days of listening to Raw Dog Comedy in the car are numbered. Your first word was "meow" (we're totally counting that as a word) and you use it more than we expected. You meow at our cats, at the money kitty in the sushi restaurant and at our friends' chihuahua. You also have mastered "uh oh" and use that with abandon. You've been known to throw things on the floor just so you can lament their fall with gusto.

We didn't do much for your birthday proper. We bought a cake but when your Nana and Uncle Lee were under the weather and we postponed the party, we just quietly had some cake before bed. You didn't seem to mind. You did seem to get into the spirit of Halloween, though, and I'm pleased that your birthday is so close to such a fun holiday. You were a little monster and smashed blocks on the back deck before heading out to trick-or-treat around the block. You were pretty suspicious of all these people handing out candy, but we think you'll rally to the cause by next year.

You've moved over to the Toddler Room now as of the Monday after your birthday. You were visiting there for quite a bit but now you're officially in Toddlerland. After your first day, when I picked you up Ms. Barb asked "does he get his feelings hurt easily?" I told her I didn't think so.

"Well, this afternoon he was playing and accidentally hit another kid with a block. That baby started crying and we told Ian 'you need to be careful and not hit people with blocks' and he immediately started crying and ran over to the full length window to the Infant Room like 'let me back in! They're mean to me in the Toddler Room!'"

Thankfully things got easier after that first day.

Every day you bring home another art project and it's getting a little out of hand. You've painted and worked on letters and had themed activities. For the Friday before Halloween they asked us to send your costume so you could trick-or-treat in the building. They also asked us to send you in your pajamas as part of the costume fun. I didn't have the heart to explain to the teachers that you don't actually own any pajamas since you just sleep in a diaper and we weren't sending you to school in just that. Ah, well, maybe we'll buy you a set of pajamas for "dress up".

On the days leading up to your birthday I was thinking about how far we've come in just a year, you and your father and I. I was thinking how "this time last year I was just starting to feel contractions" and "this time last year I'd given in and gotten an epidural". I always kind of knew but now I really understand how moms don't ever forget birthdays. Because as much as October 22 is a special day for you, it's a very special day for me too. It's the day I became a Mommy and the day we became a family. It's the day all our lives changed for the better. And no matter how old you are, I'll always remember you on that day.

Love, Mama