Aveda Violet's 7 1/2 month birthday!

20 things I love about you, Aveda Violet Maligro (this was supposed to be in honor of your 6 month birthday which was jan.25… and at the time you weighed in at 17 pounds 14 ounces; measuring 27! But now it’s march so let’s call it your 7 and 1/2 month birthdays because really – how many people do you know get honored for that?! So, 1-12 are when you were 6 months and the rest I wrote today)
1. The way you crawl around like a caterpillar except for some reason you go everywhere backwards. You’ve also figured out how to spin in circles so I place toys in a circle all around you and you’ll spin from toy to toy.
2. The way you’ve mastered this fake cough/cry thing if you want attention or to be picked up.
3. Your baby chub – I love to touch it, sqeeze it, hug it and kiss it and I love your earlobes too – weird? – ok yes but they are like velvet!
4. How happy you are after you wake up. Huge grins and happy squirms from head to toe – it’s like your whole body smiles when you do this. Now THAT is how we should greet everyone.
5. How much you love bath time.
6. The head nuzzles. Nothing beats these. Both Tagen and Aveda – when they’re tired or sad or just need some cuddle will nuzzle their head under my chin and into my neck/shoulder and although few and far between these are treasures of gold.
7. The way you smell. I wish I could save this in a bottle forever. Even your poop right now is still sweet to me (perhaps one reason I’m holding off giving you solids for a little while longer) – daddy thinks it smells like popcorn but still it’s a lot better than what Tagen’s smelled like tonight! Beyond just the poop – you smell so wonderful to me. And I love that your blankie smells like you because you cuddle with it every time you sleep.
8. When I am lying next to you as you take a nap I can tell when you are awake or asleep from listening to the rhythm of your breathing.
9. Your lengthy stares. You have chocolate brown eyes with which you love to make eye contact. You search deeply into the things or people you are looking at. I think you may have it all figured out by age two the way you focus and study things.
10. You have the sweetest spirit. You are so full of energy but such a sweetie at the same time. I can’t wait to see how this plays out in your personality as you grow.
11. You are incredibly strong. I could’ve guessed this from the womb how crazy you would kick at times. It still amazes me now – I think there are times I could probably let go and it wouldn’t matter because you cling to me like glue.
12. You make noises just like Tagen did at your age. Did he teach you this? How? Maybe it’s genetic or something. Regardless, it’s super cute!
Ok so between 12 & 13 I took a break for a month or so and now you’ve totally changed. It’s incredible how rapidly you babies grow and develop. Just when I’m getting the hang of you, you change!
13. You’re sitting up now. No support – just all by yourself! You’ve fallen back and bonked your head a few times but you get over it super fast because you’re a tough cookie (sidenote: whenever I say “tough cookie” your brother T looks at me and says “cookie? Cookie?” and doesn’t stop until I convince him we don’t have any cookies in the house)
14. Not only are you sitting up, you’ve totally got the scoot crawl thing mastered and you can get yourself pretty much anywhere you want to go. It’s really funny when you see something you’ve obviously gotta have because you crawl with such focused determination and NoThInG will get in your way.
15. Today you even crawled over and pulled yourself up to standing. Incredible. See how much you’ve changed just this month?! We’ve got a whole new baby in the house.
16. I love how much more you and Tagen are interacting too. You laugh. He laughs. You copy each other and just love to act silly. So sweet to watch. He’s nicknamed you “beyda” by the way and whenever you are crying he says… no he SHOUTS: “OTAY!!!!! Beyda OTAY!” with his eyebrows raised to the ceiling. He does thisbecause I asked him once to go over to you and say “It’s ok baby!” all sweet and gentle like. Oh well. His own rendition is pretty funny – somehow it even sometimes calms you down! That’s how much you love your brother.
17. You are such a little water baby. You’re probably the one who is going to be all into surfing like your daddy! You LOVE to sit in the shallow waters of the ocean. We also just got a kiddie pool that you now play in every day. You long outlast your brother in it and would probably stay in there playing all day if I let you. You splash, sit up, lie down on your belly, try to stand holding onto the edge (meanwhile mama’s heart skips a beat as you almost fall) but it’s so cute how happy you are in there.
18. You’ve learned from the professional (your brother) how to scream at a pitch that should not be legal. How did we birth babies with such loud lungs?! It’s crazy. I think you must be teething right now too because you’ll shriek many times a day for no apparent reason. Or maybe you just enjoy hearing yourself. Note to you: you could still hear yourself if you toned it down like 10 notches.
19. You’re chubbier than ever and I’m loving every piece of you!
20. That you, also, are mine.