Happy Birthday, Sarah!

A year ago today, young Sarah made her debut. Since then she's tricked us daily into loving her more and more. Her brand of comedy is not as slapstick and physical as Kate's and certainly not as uproarious - she is somewhat harder to amuse and slightly more serious. But she does display a sense of humor that I think belies the workings of a busy and slightly evil mind. Still, she loves to be tickled and held upside down (but not thrown, that's all Kate). She initiates peek-a-boo with anyone she deems worthy of her attention. But what I really love is that she will look at you, duck down slightly and let out a throaty "hazaah!" while throwing her head back so much to her own amusement and often completely unprompted. To that end, we're trying to teach her to throw her arm and the air and yell "Sarah!" like South Park's Timmy.




Now she's not only walking but running. Signing all about the world around her and cheerily shouting "hi!" and sometimes "hey!" (she is a southerner, after all). She gives big hugs and, if you're really lucky, will "kiss" you on the nose. This was cuter when she didn't have those two teeth up front.







Sarah adores Kate. She follows her everywhere and does what Kate does. Sometimes we find them holding hands across their car seats. Lately, Kate has started to try to pick Sarah up. It's pretty funny, but of course they only do that when there's no camera around. All this makes parenting easier for us; we can just focus on making sure Kate turns out alright and we know Sarah will do the same. Settle down, I'm kidding.


She also adores the dog. All dogs, in fact. She's already figured out not only how to ride Kate's little scooter but how to maneuver it out of tight corners and around people and animals. We're reasonably certain she's a genius. Dog lover? Adept scooter driver at one year of age? Fond of Kate? Those are all marks of a smart individual, on several levels.

So today we will let her open all her gifts from the grandparents. And this weekend we will celebrate her birthday with a small cookout among friends (ours). Low-key is the thrust of this one. I'll get a special cake, pictures will be taken. But the main thing is we're glad she survived this deadly first year, glad she's so beautiful and endearing and really, really glad she was born. Party on, my birthday girl!