One!

My little Abigail at age one is a complete delight. Every day we enjoy her even more, and rocking her in the evenings at bedtime is often the highlight of the day. While she's not a big fan of going to bed, and there's often a flurry of protest just before she goes down, all her engaging smiles and cuddles and babblings melt my heart on a daily basis. At age one she's...

... Walking. Really well! She and her brother were running around this evening, and I was amazed that it wasn't but a few week (or has it already been two months?) ago she was just taking her first wobbly steps. Now the two are hiding and squealing and crawling between the furniture playing some loose rendition of hide-and-seek that involves much shrieking and giggling. It's so much fun to watch.

... Talking. After "mama" and "dada," her first word was "uh oh." Since then she's added "baaah" (ball), "Pehpah dawg!" (Pepper Dog), "beybey" (baby), "muh" (milk), "buh" (book), "byebye," "NahNah" (seems to mean alternately Jonathan or No, which for a younger sister I guess seem to be interchangable), and "up." She repeats "bow" for her hair bow and "pretty."

... Girly. The little girl just loves shoes and hair bows. I bought her a new pair of purple shoes last week because she pulled them off the shelf and wouldn't let them go. They were cute, and she only has one good pair of tennis shoes, so I justified it by buying a size up so she'd get lots of wear out of them. The clerk even kindly reached down into the stroller to scan them, as I was having trouble getting them out of her little grip to put them up on the check-out counter. Abby will also hold her hair bow up on her head when it falls out, suggesting you help her get it back on. She loves the new baby doll she got for her birthday, but I quickly tired of helping her replace the hat every few seconds. Here's a shot of her attempting to return baby's hat to its rightful place.

Yes, Mommy, I'm just looking at my shoes while still in my jammies at 6am.

There's no real reason one shouldn't drive a car in just a diaper and a bow.

Daddy caught her texting.

When trying on dresses for her birthday party, Abby seemed to be doing a funny dance with her head. Then I realized I was between her and the mirror, and she was trying to see around me. Once I moved, she went over to the mirror to see herself in the new dress.

... Playful. She's such a happy little toddler, and she clearly knows when you find her adorable, too. She loves to dance, bopping side to side, and to clap. In fact, she's begun clapping for most of her little accomplishments (stacking blocks) even if you don't clap with her!

She just adores her brother, and while her antics of tearing through his train tracks try his patience, they frequently find silly games they can both enjoy, which usually involve lots of goofy loud noises and popping out of hiding places. Today, with some assistance, the two built towers out of play-dough cups, which are especially nice for building as they have a stabilizing rim around the lid. I was happy to see them taking turns and really enjoying each other. Though Jonathan long ago graduated to complex lego towers, he was happy to join Abby in her building, and the two clapped enthusiastically for each other which each "block" that was added. It was one of those especially heart-happy Mommy moments to watch them.

When asked if he'd like our family to have another baby, Jonathan consistently answers, "Yes, another baby girl. And I'm going to name her Baby Abby Two." A few months ago, he told me he wanted another Baby Abby. When I responded, "Maybe when Baby Abby is bigger and not a baby any more," he became upset and insisted, "No, Mommy! I want another Baby Abby now. Two Baby Abby's together!" I figure that's about the highest complement a three year old can give his baby sister!

First attempts at finger painting. She enjoyed painting herself more than she did the paper.

... Enjoying books. While Jonathan was captivated books from about 3 months of age, we weren't sure what to do while trying to ready to Baby Abby, who flipped the books closed and then back and forth, viewing first the front then the back cover, over and over, completing confounding any attempts to read anything between the covers. But in the past month or so she's really taken to books and eagerly brings them to us, turning around to plop into our laps to enjoy the story, and helpfully turning the pages and pointing to all the animals declaring, "Pepper Dog!" Her favorite stories right now are any stories that actually do have dogs, including a little series of books on the puppy Biscuit and one of Jonathan's early readers, Hot Dog.

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To celebrate our sweet daughter we had quite a fun party. David's parents came down from Minnesota, and mine from Dallas, and both our sisters were able to join us as well. We did her Korean Tol, in which she picks from a tray of objects representing her "fortune" -- these days, a series of objects signifying a variety of professions, and my Dad put on a great magic show that the kids and adults alike really enjoyed.

Thursday before the party, Abby went with me and her grandparents to the Korean grocery store to place the order for the food. She had such a blast being carried all around the store by her Hariboge and playing with her Halmony while eating Korean food. This little girl just LOVES Korean food and ate to her heart's delight that whole weekend.

Jonathan was especially excited to have his aunt Heather in town for some pre-party play time.

Abby woke from her nap on Saturday to find her house filling with people. While she seemed to enjoy the party, she took a little while to warm up to the idea.

Abby enjoyed some time with her aunt Sarah, too.

Meanwhile, Jonathan was thrilled to have friends over, and he and Nathaniel got right to work in the sand box.

The Tol table was decorated just beautifully by David's mother.

And there was tons of wonderful Korean food at the party. Everyone enjoyed the food and got more to-go as well.

We were blessed to have much family and many friends celebrate with us, including friends from work and church as well as neighbors.

When presented with the table of objects for the Tol, Abby quickly reached for the calculator, said to represent a profession in mathematics or engineering.

Her Daddy's dramatic, "Oooooh!" intended to add to the excitement, sounded a lot like "Nooo!" to our little Abby, who quickly drew back her hand in tears. Despite our encouragement to go ahead and take something from the tray, each time she reached forward towards the calculator again, she'd look up at her Daddy again and start crying.

Jonathan tried to cheer up his sister by putting a paper flower on her head.

Her Daddy finally grabbed the calculator for her and reassured his little girl that she wasn't in trouble, and it was okay to touch the toys.

Jonathan looked just adorable dressed up for the Tol, too. But pulling him away from his construction work with Nathaniel turned out to be quite an ordeal. We actually got him to get dressed by insisting that these are the clothes worn by Korean construction workers. He was very serious about it, then, agreeing that he would quite like to wear a Korean construction worker uniform. We couldn't believe it actually worked.

After the Tol, my dad put on a magic show. The kids were just mesmerized, and the adults loved it, too. Mom was his lovely assistant, and the two did a wonderful job. People are still stopping me to tell me how much fun their kids had at the party!

Jonathan, and every preschooler in the house, thought the Pull-Up-over-the-head stunt was the funniest thing they'd ever seen.

The party, like her baby room, was butterfly themed. Lovely paper decorations made by Abigail's aunt Atty were strung around windows of the living room and around the hearth, and I made a butterfly birthday cake for the occasion, with instructions taken from a website shown to me by my very own cake consultant, my sister-in-law Kimie... expert in all things cute.

Abby enjoying some cake as the festivities wrap up. After our guests had left and Abby was full of cake, we let her down to play while we cleaned up for just a few minutes before bedtime, seeing as it was already just past her bedtime hour. Whether it was the cake or the release of energy from having her house back to just herself and family, I'm not sure, but this little girl was WIRED for the next hour and a half and ran around the house in her diaper laughing and squealing, bouncing from person to person and stopping by Pepper to babble at him every few minutes in between. Around 9pm she pooped out and the little party girl slept soundly.

Sweet Abigail, This year with you has been the most wonderful year. I am so excited to see the world through your eyes in the year ahead. Happy Birthday, my wonderful daughter.

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The fun week of celebrating Abigail's birthday followed a wonderful week David and I spent in Europe while the kids enjoyed their time with their Nonnie and Papa. We returned home to fun surprises... my parents and David had had our family piano shipped down from Dallas and moved into our living room, and upon our arrival home from Europe our home was filled with friends for a surprise birthday party for me. We had a great time, and there are many pictures from the trip and my birthday... but uploading those will have to wait for another day.