A letter to E

Dear Elizabeth-
You are 13 months this week! I can't believe that you have been in our lives for so long, but couldn't imagine life without you. I wanted to take some time to write a few things about you:
-You LOVE animals. Pictures of them, toy animals, and yes even real ones. Your love used to only extend to dogs, but has recently grown to everything in the animal kingdom. We took you to a petting zoo today and you could not get enough. Grandma Heiner gave you a book all about different animals and you squeal in delight every time you see it.
-You are becoming very independent which for me is both great and hard. A month ago you would have let us feed you and often we did because we didn't like the mess, but some switch went off in your brain recently telling you that you can do it all by yourself. This is everything from feeding to figuring out your toys. I love to watch your brain learn and grow, but it is also hard for me to let go of the 'baby' phase of your life.
-You cannot get enough music. Whether it is on the radio, played by mom or dad, or created by you on the piano, you dance your little heart out and jive with the beat. You also conduct the music at church which always makes the ladies smile.
-You are trying to ditch your naps and just in case you are wondering this is not cool with me. You will go a few days on 1/2 hour naps and then all of a sudden sleep for 14 hours in one night. This wouldn't be problematic if I didn't spend the last two hours of you sleeping checking up on you.
-You love books. You will go to your little corner of the front room and read books and talk to your self and giggle at the sight of every animal, and then scream to make sure that I am still around.
-You are crawling like crazy and have learned to cruise along the furniture and go up and down stairs. Your dad keeps trying to teach you to walk and I keep telling him that it's ok if you don't for a little while.
-You are really helpful. You love to help clean up your toys, but most especially your blocks, Grandpa Heiner made you 100 blocks and I think you would put them all back in their bin one by one. You also love to help cook, and your dad is much better at letting you cook than I am, I promise to work on that in the next few months.
-You are starting to talk/sign more. You now sign drink, more and eat (not all the time, but I'll take what I can get). You will say Mom and Dad and every once in a while woof (sounds more like uf uf uf) because that's what a dog says. You are also getting very good at pointing out facial parts, mostly nose and mouth since Dad and I both wear glasses right now so it's hard for you to point out our eyes.
-Did I mention you have learned how to throw a tantrum? Yeah, that's all I'm gonna say.
-You are also a joy to us and everyone you are around. I can't count how many times people come up to me and say, "Your baby is SOOOOO happy."

Thanks for being a member of our family and for bringing so much joy to our lives. You are challenging, hard, make us crazy and make us cry (ok, most make me cry), but you also bring us indescribable joy, love, lots of happy tears and laughter much more often that the rest. We love you.
Love
Mom