My Birth Day

Today I am one year old. My mama has been nostalgic since month one, watching me grow and change and learn so quickly. These are some things you may remember were exciting to her:
1. opening my eyes more
2. picking my head up
3. rolling over
4. sitting up
5. crawling
6. standing up
7. drumming
8. climbing
9. walking
10. talking!

There were other experiences that were exciting in their own way:
1. much awaited poop coming out
2. my first mama-inflicted injury
3. baby acne and other random redness
4. gas pains
5. teeth bobbing up and down in the gums
6. the weighting game (I'm still petite!)
7. falling out of bed
8. sleep marathons
9. poop in the potty, poop on the floor at 11 months
10. 3 day stretch with a clean diaper at 3 months!

Those were all physical things. Some she was ready to see and some she had not imagined. She has loved watching me discover my body and learn how to use it. I am presently fearless with a dose of caution, thankfully. My body is a machine, as my mama says, and I am quite capable, though I sometimes doubt myself.

At one, now communicating with my emerging voice and my signing hands, my mama can recognize my emotional and social developments. I am a loving child, she says, and she knows this because I like to give kisses. I don't even mind getting kisses sometimes. My mama was remembering some of her (well-themed) favorites in these categories:
1. when I first smiled
2. when she could tell that I smiled because of her
3. my laugh, the big belly one where I, alternately, can barely breathe and scream in a ridiculously high pitch
4. when she realized I knew the word kiss
5. the first kiss I gave her
6. the kisses I have given each of my friends, and some people I just met!
7. the wake up kisses I began giving a month or two ago
8. the comfort I have gone over and given my daddy and mama starting in the last week when I see they are hurt or sad (usually a kiss or a comforting pat) and the concern I have had when my mama and daddy tell me I hurt them or someone (a pitiful cry and an apologetic kiss)
9. climbing into my mama's lap the other day for the first time.
10. the smiles I give my mama when I see her after she's been away.

My mama loves me something fierce. My daddy, too. You know what? I love them back, and I am showing them just how much. I have had a blessed year. It began with a blessed birth in my mama's bedroom in the waters of the birth tub with the full moon shining in the sky and the full red of the sunrise on the horizon. Into the loving arms and presence of:
1. my daddy, Radha Gopinath das Marinelli
2. my mama's midwife and friend, Meredith
3. her second midwife, homebirth class teacher and now friend and mother of my friend Ami, Janelle Lucido-Conte
4. another midwife, Randy, who assisted and made my mama the best breakfast right after my birth so my mama could recover quickly
5. my mama

I was also welcomed by my grandparents and uncles and aunts.
Mamama and Poppa
Grandpa and Abuelita
E-ma and Zofta
Ajitmam and Janine Auntie
Ram Uncle and Tia Anjuli

And my friends:
Malcolm, Jenn and Dan
Olivia, Darla and Justin
Anjali, Madhavi and Jeremy

Thank you, these family and friends and all the rest, for bringing us your love, showing us generosity, giving us understanding, and exercising patience with us. A blessed year, indeed.