"More than gems in my comb box shaped by the God of the Sea,
I prize you, my daughter
To my three precious gems....you are my gift, my joy, my life. I love you all so dearly."
Otomo no Sakanoue Iratsume
Today it was your very first birthday, Abigail. We hope you had fun. May God bless you forever.
We adore and love you so, so much. Happy Birthday, honey.
Your Mom & Dad
I can hardly believe that Abigail will turn one tomorrow. It has been a year of love, passion, laughs and, at times, tears. Dickens said it better than I ever could: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
A ago year tomorrow, I entered the doors of the hospital not knowing really what to expect, nor how I was feeling. Nine months of reading, talking, pondering was coming down to my crossing those doors... - and no, I didn't know how I truly felt. I remember getting into the hospital gown, lying on the bed, being hooked up to monitors and drips. I remember how nice everyone was. Laughing and joking a lot. I remember my mom, writing down details of the day, and my husband, always by my side, holding my hand and saying "can you believe we are going to have a baby, today?" Could I? 
I remember, with a smile now, my mom commenting that the Pitocin was dripping very slowly. According to her "we'll be here for ten hours" Well, she obviously is not a doctor. The drip was started at 8 am, and by 12 pm I was in full-fledged pushing mode. For a little over 2 and a half hours... I remember thinking "My God, how long will this go on for??" I was tired. So very tired... I remember the doctor and the nurse commenting "the way she is pushing, this baby should have come out long time ago." I remember asking: "what's wrong?" and feeling a tinge of panic. Abbie was stuck on my tail bone, she had it rough. And she was facing the wrong way. The doctor was preparing to perform an episiotomy and get the vaccum ready to help speed things along. I was told to stop pushing - my immediate response was a breathless "Thank you...!" But it was a minute later that Abbie came out like a freight train. She did it, all by her little self. It makes me smile to think of it - of Abbie saying: "Alright, people, enough of this! You want me to show you how it is done?"
I have mentioned before how much Abigail likes books.
Lately, she has added a new feature to her usual book-playing rituals (pointing, tapping and tracing pictures with her finger, flipping pages...) Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that she has added a soundtrack to it: she talks and mumbles to herself while she "reads" her favorite books. Sometimes she also laughs. I think it's the cutest thing.
Now that she's started to talk more than usual, she seems to be entertained by the sounds that come out of her. And I, of course, am totally charmed and captivated by her audible musings.
Abigail has heard of the phantomatic "Autie Annabella" before. She has seen pictures of me and Annabella when we were younger (much younger!). But today she had a special treat: she actually got to meet her Zia Annabella!
Annabella and her husband Camille are here in Virginia for a few days, and they came by to visit and meet our little birdie. At first, Abbie was a little taken aback. She is not used to "strangers" coming by the house often. But soon enough she warmed up to the idea of two completely unknown people sitting in her living room. She played and rejoiced in the new, soft giraffe that they brought her.
Annabella and I had a nice time chatting and catching up. It had been two years since she left the US, a long, long time. Abbie did not get to play much with Annabella, for which I do feel bad. But we had so much to catch up on, so many things to tell each other, that time flew by in a heartbeat while we monopolized one another's attention. Abbie made a little fuss occasionally, but was really good at entertaining herself, too. She pointed at Annabella and Camille, and I tried to explain to her who they were. She smiled and chatted, and checked them out. I noticed that she was really curious about them, and I wonder if it had anything to do with my own excitement: maybe she sensed that these people were special, out of the ordinary. She is very connected with me, and I am sure that she can discern when things are more or less important. She is such a good baby :)
I hope that we will get another chance to meet before they leave for France... It's always hard to say goodbye. But regardless, today was a special day, because my friend of over 20 years met my daughter for the very first time, and vice versa.
Indeed - a very special day, unlike any others.
Today was my birthday, almost exactly a week before Abbie's. Nothing special about it, and I would not even create a post on the subject, if it wasn't for the fact that today I got my very first "Happy Birthday Mom" card from my daughter. What a wonderful, unexpected feeling!
And, even more important than that, Abbie's scribbled for the very first time :) On my very first card for my very first birthday as a mom :)
Here is my card, and Abbie's scribble (below her "signature")!! For posterity purposes only :)
Abbie loves my toes. Every time that I move them, or touch her with them, she starts giggling. Sometimes she acts as though she wants to bite them.
Today, we were sitting on the living room floor and she moved to grab my left foot. I told her: "Oh no no! You'll grab my toes and go bitey-bitey-bitey!," while I briefly petted her with my foot. That made her laugh so! She started to pull on my foot and put it on her, as if inviting me to do it again. She kept it up for a little bit, and here is a video I took of us playing the bitey-bitey-bitey game! You never know what might turn into a fun activity with her!
We have been avidly watching "Emeril Green" to see if Abbie's brush with fame at Whole Foods paid off. Well, tonight, it did. The show is not over yet, and our excitements is placating, but we just saw Abigail for a few seconds! How cute! Emeril was chatting with the guest on his show, and in the background, perfectly recognizable and rather close, was Abbie looking on! I don't think she made the cut: most likely we won't get to see her giving Emeril a high five. The show doesn't show long clips of Emeril's encounters with WF's customers. It's a pity, but we were not expecting anything at all, so we are rather excited! To us, it's a treat!!!
Now, the only thing left to do is to watch the rest of the episodes in hopes for another glimpse, and to order this particular episode as soon as possible :) She will get a kick out of it in a few years!!
Here is a video I took with the camera :)
Abbie took her first "serious" steps today. She has been standing up and trying to walk for over a month now. Unassisted, she can turn on her axis, and with help, she can walk long distances, but she has never really walked all by herself without holding on to someone or something.
Except for today, at about 4:45 pm.
I did not get to witness the event (!), and this is how her daddy tells it:
"She pulled herself up, turned 90 degrees to face me, and took three wobbly steps toward me before plopping back down with a big smile on her face!"
I doubt that she is ready to walk unassisted on a regular basis yet. Three small steps for Abigail, three exciting, giant leaps for her parents!
There is a funky side to little Abigail. She is full of initiatives, which in and of itself is nothing rare. However, Abbie has a way to make every little discovery her own. She will apply her playful personality to all endeavors.
For example: she has created a new motion style. She crawls - on her knees. No hands. Just knees. She scoots along on her knees as if perpetually on a mobile praying spree. Sometimes, her hands are clasped together, which is what gave me the "praying" imagery to begin with. Sometimes she will clap. Occasionally, she will have an index finger in her mouth. But, regardless, she rolls like freight train on those two knees.
Another thing we have noticed is her dancing. The fact that Abigail *does not* need music to dance is endearing to us: we figure she is literally marching to her own drum. But seriously, she loves to dance! And she does it well, too. Generally, she doesn't like to put on a show for strangers, but for mom and dad, she'll groove. She could be totally absorbed by her dolls or her stuffed animals or her cubes, and if there is music, she'll absentmindedly bust a move. We laugh quietly as her little butt moves to an fro, rhythmically, to the beat. If crawling the "normal" way, her butt will shake from side to side, like that of cat's getting ready to jump. I have been following her with a camera trying to immortalize the moment, unsuccessfully. When nothing else is distracting her, she'll dance with all of herself: her arms, hands, legs, head, butt - everything bobbing together as she laughs away. Here are a few clips that we were able to film, but she was aware that there was a camera... so she acted rather demure.
Another oddity: push buttons! Those are Abigail's favorite thing as of late. In the previous post you see Abbie pushing the mirror's button over and over and over again... well, she has an uncanny ability to recognize a button in just about any gadget. Let's not even mention phones, remotes and laptops: those are obsolete by now, although still holding some degree of appeal. I am talking fans, microwaves, clocks, car beepers, what have you. She will zoom in on that button, and press it! Fans turn on, microwaves beep, clock alarms go off in the middle of the night, cars unlock lock unlock lock unlock lock... She also loves to redial the last number on our home phone. And then she puts the call on speaker. All by herself. Luckily, when she has done that, it has been mostly her dad. But if you get a weird call from us, nothing but muffled giggles and squeals, don't hang up: it's Abbie.
Abigail, mind you, has a wild streak. She doesn't like her "baby." This poor doll I got her some time ago is taking so much abuse I am thinking about hiding it away. Abbie has a little stroller that we got for her "baby." We put the "baby" in the stroller, and Abigail will push it around for a walk, or at least, that's the idea. Seven times out of ten, Abigail yanks the "baby" off the stroller, throws it on the floor, and runs it over with the stroller. She'll attempt to run it over several times. Or, a variation, after dumping it on the floor she'll jump on it and bite it on the forehead. If the "baby" is on her swing, she'll do the same thing: yank it off, floor, bite. During the course of the day, after the "baby" has already suffered abuse and is lying abandoned on the floor, she might go back to it and bite it again for good measure. She grabs its head with both hands, looks at it square in the face, opens her mouth wide and slowly, deliberately, chomps down on the forehead.
Ahhh... Abbie, Abbie!
There will more oddities to come, the list is long, and the time is short. I smile as I think of all the weird things that make my Abbie so very mine.
