Tu Has Cumplido un Ano Mas!

And Risa is One!!! The Big One! We actually had quite the shindig, which is odd for us non-partyers, but it was rather a lot of fun. We ended up inviting a bunch of people for the simple fact that her cake was large, and I don't even love cake; so there was no way we were going to finish it alone. Chad's fam was over (minus Toddums), and my Uncle Dan and Aunt Natalie and the kiddos, and our neighbors/buddies the Astins. It was a swinging little party. And we were loud and happy. And she's one. Can you believe that? I feel like we did her first year in half-time compared to Coren's first year. Madness!

And she's oh-so-cute!!! She has really started to come out of her baby-ness in the last month. She feels like a toddler to me--with all her opinions and dramatic tendencies (good and bad) and jabber and such. She is a treat! I think I never wanted a girl only because I could never imagine Risa. She is most certainly a girl. But she is magnificent!

Some things about Risa at one year:

-The only words she says so far (which, technically, are not words, but sounds) are "oh" and "uh-oh." But the "oh" is my personal favorite, because she very deliberately puckers her lips into a perfect round O every time she says it. Love it!
-Although she doesn't say words yet, she is a random mimicker. And we have heard her copy us a few different times, aping such phrases as "I did it" and words like "hola."
-She will "clap it" or "dance it" upon command. And she breaks into a huge smile each time. She will also wave upon command, but this is almost always done with a stoic face (for some reason, both my children are masters at the stoic face. Is this normal? It can be a little unnerving sometimes, it's so impassive).
-She can open her mouth wider than I've ever seen a baby do. Huge. Gaping. You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it yourself... I swear she must unhinge her jaw like a snake. It's big. Really big.
-She has a serious water fetish--which doesn't really surprise me. Coren loved water from birth as well, it seemed. But she takes it to new levels. We had a thunderstorm the other day, and she crawled off the porch, out into the middle of the pouring rain, and just grinned while she got soaked. And yes, I know that's fabulous parenting on my part, but it was pretty warm outside. She never got pneumonia.

-She is also super picky about the temperature of her body. This is one area where the girliness makes itself manifest. She will not sleep in a warm room. She will throw a fit if she starts to perspire. She will keep herself up at night until we've 1) turned up the air conditioner and turned on the fan full blast, or 2) relocated her to the downstairs, where it's 10 degrees cooler. She will pull at her clothes if she's getting too warm--that's the sign for me to take them off (even if it's just a onesie; sometimes even that is too much). She will climb out of her sleeping bag in the middle of the night, in a tent, in the mountains, and sleep on top of her blankets in blissful stupor, even though by morning her legs are freezing! She's hot-blooded, apparently.... What does this say about her as a teenager? I shudder to think!
-She does some very thespian things. She can turn a tantrum on and off immediately. She pants when she's excited about something. She has perfected the melt-your-heart coy moves, like snuggling into a shoulder or turning away with a demure smile. And she does all of things in a very affected way. Like she's practiced them, and it's a show. Is this normal?
-She loves fruit (like her brother)--she will stick an entire cluster of grapes in her mouth, chew for a second, then pull out the empty stem; pretty awesome, actually! She loves ice cream (shocker), pasta of any kind, eggs, more fruit, beans, crackers, and fruit.

We love the girl. She is a force to be reckoned with, as Coren is learning and beginning to respect. She is chunky and happy and sassy and a little more high-maintenance, and she's really good at winning people over in about ten seconds flat. She makes life even brighter, and she is constantly cracking us up. I'm humbled to be her mother. I'm grateful she is here. Happy 1st, Missus!