Here is a long overdue post!

Mara Danae Hansen turned a year old on December 4, 2009. I would love to say that it was a peaceful, reminiscent time where we truly got to enjoy this beautiful little girl. In actuality, it was a hectic, crazy time. We are so thankful for our wonderful and family and friends though who did help us settle down and make it special for our wonderful baby girl. Instead of one party we had THREE parties for her! One with Gia and Pappou, followed by the day’s celebration with Uncle James and Aunt DiDi and one celebration with all of her friends at school.

Mara has brought so much joy to our family. She adores her big brother and he is wonderful with her. In our myriad of car rides, I can find him holding her hand, passing her toys, or passing her food. Some times he shares too much with her…I once pulled over in a panic to the sounds of a choking Mara. I found her with the top of a milk jug half way down her throat. Fun (and all was okay and a valuable lesson learned!).

Before Mara was born, we joked that she would be devil child. Crying all the time, needy, etc because her brother was such a mild mannered baby and lightning does not strike twice. Boy, were we wrong! Mara is the gentlest, easiest, happiest baby one could ask for. She slept through the night so early and is entertained by just being in your arms or near her family.

But all the genteel qualities does not mean she lacks personality! At school, they have a nickname for her….DRAMA QUEEN!!! I don’t know how many blank-month olds have perfected the sobbing technique but she has. After a long cry, she will sit and sob, as if you have deeply offended her. I am sure we will see much more of this in the years to come. At school one day, she apparently took a spill the teachers did not think was bad. She started bawling, but the teachers thought, oh that is just drama queen and thought nothing of it. She continued crying (which is weird) and noticed blood streaming down her poor little face! Yikes!

She can also strike a pose very well, future model that she is! Before she could even roll over, she would lie on her side, hand on her hip. FIERCE!

She is super speedy…a very fast crawler and I have had to run to catch up with her on more than one occasion.

She is fearless. Swimming is fun. Where Thane cried for 5 weeks straight during his first swim lessons, she smiles and laughs. Thane swims first now while I get her in her cute one piece. Each time after she is dressed she goes straight for the edge, plops herself down, and leisurely splashes her arm in the water. Kennette and I joked that she would one day go right in (and Kennette warned me that if she did, she would handle it). Well…one day Mara rolled right in! Kennette let her go in her rest and then picked her up after a few seconds. We looked at each other expecting a wail….not my Mara! She giggled and splashed and was so very proud of herself!

She is also a very smart little girl. She has several signs (milk, more, change) and lots of words (dada, mama, moo, dog) and repeats so many things that we say (including song tunes and “I did it!” one day). The doctor was very impressed.

Thank you Mara for joining our family and bringing us so much joy! We love you so much!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 10:20 am and is filed under Mara 12-18 months, Posts with Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.