Happy Birthday, Little Lady!

My pudding pop is now a year old. I can hardly believe it. It seems that she turned into a little girl almost overnight. She was this little bundle of kicking arms and legs that took in the world with great wonder, and now she's a jabbering, headstrong toddler who can't seem to stop exploring. I could go on and on about what the first anniversary of the birth of my daughter means to me, but I'll spare you the overly sentimental diatribe.

I will share pictures of her birthday party shortly, but for now, just a few recent images of my one-year-old ball of fire.

Rainbows

David dubbed the events of this evening as "one very magical hour". Ildri decided to take a long nap this afternoon, and woke up happy and focused. Due to the rain, we skipped her usual post-nap walk and stayed inside. She sat on the floor, playing with a set of soft blocks. Most of the time we set up the blocks and she knocks them down and then chews on them, but this time she starting stacking her blocks! She had never done this before, and it was no fluke, she kept it up for quite a while. The applause from her Dad and I probably helped spur her along :)

Then one of those precious session of baby laughter. This time, it was spurred by my sneezing. She found it hilarious, so I just kept on doing it until it didn't cause crazy laughter any longer.

After a while, we realized that the sun was out, and David decided to take Ildri outside so she could toddle around. Outside, he spied Ildri's first rainbow - a full arch with all the colors visible, including a second, lighter rainbow above it.

No longer stir-crazy

I can't help but be thrilled everyday that it is warm enough to venture out daily with Ildri. Since we're at one car right now, I don't know how we'd be surviving without our explorations of Coralville. Soon we're getting a lightweight umbrella stroller so we can get on the bus and add to our possibilities, but for now we're enjoying where we can get to on foot.

We tried out the carousel at the mall (they have free rides on Friday), and she hated it. She didn't like sitting on the horse and seemed a little overwhelmed by all the yelling kids, lights and movement. I guess we'll try that one again after a few more months. Or a year.

Next week, Ildri and I are going to try something completely new: we are going swimming! We both have suits, I got swim diapers and a floaty for Ildri, and we're going to give it a shot. There's an indoor pool that's about a ten-minute walk away from our place. I will definitely let you know how she likes it. She loves the tub, so hopefully that will translate to the pool. Wish us luck!