11 Months

Dear Riley,
You are gradually coming up to the anniversary of a day that changed the lives of your Momma and Daddy, and everyone you have ever come into contact with. There have been days and moments in the last week or so that I have looked at you and all of a sudden you become a blur because of the water that has filled up my eyes. A whole year kiddo, and we're all still speaking to each other, and we're all still madly in love with you. Perhaps its your stunning personality, or you infectious smile, but whatever it is, you are oozing with it.
You are starting to discover pairs- things that are alike. Today you spent twenty minutes pillaging your toy basket looking for each of your rubber blocks, and when you found one, you pulled it from the jaws of the toy basket and toddled it over to the couch, where it was waiting to meet one of its other nine friends. You only managed to pull out seven of the ten blocks, but I think the other three may have escaped you by being in the duck, or hiding behind the gate.
You have also learned the wonders there are to behold in the fridge! Oh man, could you have a hayday in there. Yesterday, I had it open for awhile and in the three seconds that I had my back turned, you had rescued a can of pears from the bottom shelf. You proceeded to carry the pears back to the living room with you, where you sat on the couch and watched Elmo with them, and stacked them up with your blocks. Normalcy is not a prominent factor in your DNA, kiddo.
Your birthday invitations came today...let the month of party planning begin!!!
Love you, as big as the can of pears you are now attached to,
Momma