For Shepherd's first birthday, I did a count down. While in Ardmore, I worked on a series of post so that I could do the same thing for Lydia. If I set them up correctly, a new post should appear every morning at 7:00 leading up to Lydia's birthday. For the first post, here are some thoughts on what we've learned during our first year with Lydia.
1. In the words of BJ, "She's no smile slut." As I've mentioned before, Lydia is an introvert. It takes months of quality time with Lydia before she starts handing out smiles. The plus side to this is that when she does smile at someone, they feel like they've accomplished something significant.
2. I'm even girlier than I new. For the past year, I've giggled at every bow, every pair of tights, every ruffle, and every tutu. BJ just rolls his eyes, but I'm not fooled. He's giggling inside. Deep, deep, deep inside.
3. Having a girl has changed BJ. The other day, BJ told me that he had ordered a bigger car seat for Lydia. At first, I was disappointed he had ordered it without consulting me because I naturally assumed it would be gray and stoic. Well, it came in the mail. It is pink. And floral.
4. Just because she's light wieght doesn't mean you should never put her down. According to the nursery attendants at the YMCA, Lydia constantly demands to be held, and the only explanation for such behavior in a baby is that they are held too much at home. After being repeatedly chastised for this, I have changed my holding habits exactly none at all. Oh well.
5. She is the tiniest baby in the world. At Lydia's last doctor's appointment, we were told that she is in the 0% in weight and the 1% in height for a girl her age. When first seeing these number, I had a panic attack (What do you mean? Is she merely a figment of our imagination?!?) Thank you, anxiety disorder. But after repeated reassurances from the doctor, I came to see that Lydia is a perfectly healthy miniature baby. It is actually sort of cool.
6. There are several perks to having the tiniest baby in the world. For one, people think she is a prodigy at everything she does (we'll just keep it our little secret that she isn't a three month old who has magically learned how to crawl.) Perhaps the biggest advantage is what I like to call the teacup affect. You see, people always want the teacup poodles, yorkies, etc., because pretty much everything is cuter in miniature. Well, Lydia is a teacup baby, which means she is extra adorable. Do you see the logic there?
7. There are also drawbacks. Primarily, when Lydia is in the nursery at the YMCA, all the other children think she is their own personal doll. She isn't the youngest baby there, but she is the tiniest.
8. There are also some drawbacks to being the mother of the tiniest baby in the world. People are openly incredulous when I tell them Lydia's age. No, I'm not an idiot who doesn't remember when she birthed a child. My daughter really is a year old.
9. Girls are sugar and spice and everything nice. But that doesn't mean they don't get a good laugh out of passing gas. Lydia tooted during dinner the other night, and she and BJ got a big kick out of it.
10. A two year old is capable of a great amount of love for a baby. Shepherd and Lydia play and jabber all of the time. As someone who values my own sibling relationship more than I can put into words, this is a beautiful thing to watch.
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