To My Abigail

100 Things I love about you on your birthday—the list goes on and on

1. Your cheeks get round when you grin at me.
2. Your voice is so sweet when you say “Ma (pause) Ma”.
3. You talk to me all day long in grunts and giggles.
4. You dance intensely while reaching toward an ipod dock as a signal that you want me to turn on the music so you can dance some more.
5. The subsequent knee bending, chest bumping dance, with the occasional head banging session is amazing.
6. The noise you make when hugging one of your favorite dolls is heart-melting.
7. You clap for yourself after I’ve been clapping for you, since you don’t want it to stop.
8. This clapping usually occurs when you have a huge mouth full of broccoli which you almost always show to me before swallowing.
9. Your little hand reaches around the side of the car seat, knowing that I will give you something to play with.
10. You take interest in everything and everyone.
11. You reach for your Pappy’s house while eating, because you know he’s in there.
12. Your tongue sticks out at me in jest anytime we see a mirror.
13. You endlessly desire to be thrown onto the bed and climb off yourself only to be thrown on again.
14. You crawl into the closet and wait there until I call your name over and over again, so you can stick your head out and laugh.
15. You love vacuums.
16. You carry your baby doll around by the neck.
17. You reach your hand out to find me as you’re about the fall asleep, just to make sure I’m still there.
18. Your face is peaceful and perfect when you’re finally asleep in my arms.
19. You emit a delighted squeal when you see any dog, anywhere.
20. You crawl quickly down the hallway with your daddy in fast pursuit.
21. You giggle loudly when I kiss your belly, pealing laughter.
22. You have an opinion about which hat I put on you when we go out to play.
23. You ask to stop swinging at the park so that you can switch from one swing to the other.
24. You go down the slide only to get off the bottom and pile sand on the end of it.
25. You always throw your toy over the edge before you climb off of something, making sure that it landed before you descend.
26. You love blueberries so much that if you see them in the grocery cart you will reach for them until I feed some to you.
27. When you find something on the ground that shouldn’t be there, like trash or lint, you pick it up and hand it to me.
28. You reach for the ocean not just because you love it, but because you want to get wet.
29. When I hit on the right song to amuse you in the car you break out into a huge grin.
30. You push on the bar of the stroller with your feet the entire time you ride.
31. When you find a toy that you really love you always hold it out for me to kiss, sometimes over and over again.
32. You love your rubber ducky.
33. You eat more hummos than most adults.
34. You love Paul Simon’s Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard and Raffi’s Oats and Beans and Barley Grow.
35. When something is going on that you really enjoy you look around to make sure whoever is with you is listening or seeing what you love—you have the greatest “are you seeing this, Mom?” look.
36. You love the lawn mower and happily sit on the other side of the grass watching as I push it around.
37. You love the tree in the front yard and want to touch it every day.
38. Your wave is adorable and is often used successfully on truck drivers and fire trucks.
39. You have really impressive hearing and are very observant.
40. You love clocks.
41. You love the Neff family photo that is hanging in the dining room.
42. When you wake up from a really good nap you want to hang out in your crib and hug your dolls and coo at me before I pick you up, then we cuddle in the rocking chair.
43. You have a sealed bottle of vitamins that is your best rattle “shake-a shake-a shake-a”.
44. You love rubber spatulas and toothbrushes.
45. You kick your feet against the back seat of the car because your legs are already too long to be rear facing.
46. You’ll walk in arms almost anywhere, but you are rarely happy about strolling.
47. You like the garage (maybe because that’s where the lawn mower lives).
48. You love to knock over domino towers.
49. You also love to put dominoes into buckets, baskets, toys, drawers…anywhere.
50. When you want to give something to me you will often wait patiently for me to finish whatever I’m doing with your hand and the item extended in the air.
51. You love watermelon and strawberries.
52. You never want to be in our room unless the ceiling fan is moving.
53. You touch my wedding rings daily, just because you like them.
54. You like to bounce in the doorway hanging bouncer that we own, but when you want to get out you get so excited that you bounce up and down even more fervently.
55. You and your father go back and forth saying “aaaaa” with wide open mouths.
56. You always hug and kiss your baby or George doll when I suggest that you do so.
57. When you’re really, really asleep you let your arm hang limp down toward the ground, before doing so you often reach underneath your back and hold my hand.
58. You wave your arm around when you are dancing.
59. You love to run and chase with me or daddy carrying you and the other doing the chasing.
60. You look under things, like tables and beds, lying on your belly.
61. You used to play hide and seek just by looking away from me and then turning your head back quickly…you’ve graduated to closets and peeking around corners while standing.
62. You splash and play happily in the bath.
63. You use your brush to comb the entire bodies of your dolls.
64. When I try to use train noises to convince you to eat something I say “chugga chugga chugga chugga choo choo” and you stick your tongue out at me and laugh…but you don’t take a bite.
65. You always want to feed yourself unless you are on a mad rush to eat yogurt, at which time you might polish off an entire container in consecutive bites, or when you see a bowl of grated cheese—then you want handfuls shoved into your cute mouth, and you push the remaining strands in with your hands.
66. When I finally give you cheerios or puffs at the end of a meal (I wait because otherwise that’s all you would eat) you get excited and shove three or four into your mouth before throwing the rest on the ground and watching them fall.
67. You rarely give me kisses on the mouth, but you always smile and laugh when I kiss your neck and you never refuse a hug.
68. I’m pretty sure you like to wear hats when outside, unless they limit your visibility.
69. You swing HIGH like a big kid (in a baby swing).
70. You get very excited when you see me in the morning, after your daddy time and my nap.
71. You like to be held in front of pictures to check them out…and you especially like to look at pictures of YOU.
72. You pull all the cards and money out of my wallet—it’s one of the most reliable ways to keep you happy in the car.
73. You eat cheerios off the floor whenever you find them.
74. You never smile at strangers unless they earn it with a game of peek-a-boo or a silly smile.
75. You love to roll a whiffle ball around the house.
76. You love to go places, as long as the drive is not too far.
77. You like Tylenol bottles, lotion, body wash, sunscreen…anything I probably shouldn’t give you becomes your favorite toy.
78. You like to open and close the wipes container, but you rarely take the wipes out.
79. When you give me a book that you want me to read you make a little grunting noise under your breath as I open it and get started…then you give me a different book half way through and insist that I switch.
80. You love the sonicare toothbrush.
81. You have a toy tool set and you take the screws and put them straight into your mouth—that’s pretty much all you do with them.
82. You love grass, dirt and getting wet.
83. You are very excited to go wave at the trash truck with your daddy, almost as excited as daddy himself.
84. When we talk about not eating things like dirt and grass you listen and then raise the item to your mouth over and over again without inserting it, just to see what I’ll do.
85. You love to pull all the books off any shelf you can reach.
86. Your eyes are deep, curious, and perceptive.
87. You have a brown spot in your right eye and a birthmark on your right elbow that make me feel like I know you better than anyone else
88. When you were very, very young I had to go to the emergency room, so we were separated for most of one day.  Your dad brought you in periodically so you could eat, but it was absolutely miserable.  The first time you saw me you let out a little sigh and fell straight asleep on my lap, instead of eating like we desperately needed you to.  It was terribly sad and so sweet at the same time.  I am grateful and honored to be your comfort.
89. You don’t sleep a lot but you’re rarely cranky because of it.
90. You love to play with my phone, but when it rings and I ask for it back you always give it to me.
91. You look SO cute in your little gdiapers.
92. When sleeping in bed with us you roll back and forth from parent to parent in the night.
93. You love to turn pages in books and will sometimes sit alone and do this for long periods of time.
94. You drink from straws of all sorts and really love water.
95. You have a cup with a Minnie Mouse head that you feed choice morsels when it’s sitting on your tray during mealtime.
96. You look into my face several times a day, just getting my attention and checking me out.  The sweetness of that look is overwhelming.
97. You always surprise me with your adaptability.
98. You have an independent streak already.
99. You love to play with buttons, especially on my clothing.
100. You fill my life with sunshine. 

I love you more than anything, Miss Abigail Jane.  Happy 1^st Birthday!

Your Mom