fifty-two weeks new

Fifty-two weeks. Three-hundred-and-sixty-five days. A year.

One whole year old.

Your first year in the world had simply flown by.

It still seemed like only last week

we had been meeting you for the first time,

and now you were about to turn one.

It seemed like we were saying it all the time lately,

but your personality really was growing with each day that passed.

You definitely anticipated things now,

like when we were going to take you out of the highchair and into the bath

you would begin to wriggle with excitement as soon as we picked you up.

And when you were about to touch something you knew you weren't supposed to,

you would look at us with the cheekiest grin

and dare us to say "no".

And when we put your mobile and seashorse on at night or nap time

your head would nuzzle into Mummy's shoulder

and you would begin to suck your thumb.

Your confidence standing up was growing all the time

and most people who saw you

seemed convinced that you were going to walk pretty soon.

You were certainly really interested in cruising

and had suddenly discovered the baby walkers

and liked to push them up and down

with a big proud smile on your face.

We had transferred you to a forward facing car seat

and we were intrigued to see what you would make of it.

On your first few trips

you looked so tense

as your craned forward excited to finally have a view.

But we decided that you must like it,

given that you still loved a good car sleep while in it.

We joked that you had suddenly gone into destructive mode,

but it really did seem like you could cause devastation in a room

in practically no time at all.

You would pull saucepans and jars off their shelves,

you could empty the book or DVD baskets in seconds,

and your particular speciality was pulling everything off the sofas;

remotes, cushions, papers, toys.

Anything you could reach,

you would pick up

and then throw and great speed.

You seemed to be getting more and more fun

and it made us so excited for the fun we would have in your second year.

It was sad that it felt like we were really leaving the baby days behind

but it was hard to be too sad

when you were blooming before our eyes

into the most amazing little girl.