Rhiannon is 1!

Rhiannon turned 1 on Saturday and we had a weekend devoted to celebrating and documenting around this milestone.  We took pictures Friday at the beach and through the town of Seal Beach.  It was freezing and poor little one was shivering and a bit miserable in the backless little beach get up I put her in.  Who would have thought that Southern California at the end of July would be so cold?

On Saturday, Rhiannon decided to sleep in until 9:30.  We had scheduled the party to start at 1 as she normally wakes up at 7 and then goes down for a nap at 11, so of course today is the day she decides to snooze.  Luckily, through divide and conquer strategies and just beginning the party during nap time, we ended up alright and Rhiannon made her appearance at about 2 just in time for birthday ice cream.  We did sandwiches from BJ's (again-I guess our caterer of choice!) and ice cream with all different cones for dessert in lieu of cake.  Rhiannon doesn't like cake, but she loves ice cream and it seemed to go over well with all the guests too.  The gift of choice was definitely clothes...partly a commentary, I'm sure, on having a girl and partly a commentary on my tendency to dress her in her brother's old clothes?  The stack was incredible-probably a foot high.

At one year old, Rhiannon is spirited and has clear opinions on what she wants to spend her time doing and who she wants to do it with.  She is a mover-walking well at 10 months and now dancing regularly.  She is fearless and knows when she is pushing her limits-she runs out in the streets and at these times and other times when she knows she is doing something wrong, she just gives you a total deadpan look like, 'what are you going to do about it?'  6.5 teeth...4 on top and 2.5 on the bottom.  Loves Elmo and the songs on any other TV show.  Is a bit of a picky eater already preferring meat and cheese above all other foods.  Says mama, daddy, and that regularly with her favorite game being carried around while she points and says, 'that' and you tell her what that is.  She loves the outside, loves to dance, and loves to play with her big brother.  When she wants to be loved she wants your complete and utter devotion and when she doesn't, she generally wants to go off and play on her own. 

I had went back and read what I wrote about Joaquin's first birthday and I immediately had pangs of guilt that I wasn't waxing poetic about her first birthday like I did his.  The truth is this year and having a 2nd has been much more of a balancing act.  Whereas the experience with a first child may have been a learning experience making me kinder and gentler, the intense love I have for 2 children sometimes come in conflict with each other and inevitably create a learning experience more about balance and knowing when just enough is actually enough. 

The waxing poetic part is there, but it comes from more rare snatches of one on one time you create and-what cannot be duplicated without more than 1 child-the beautiful relationship you see them sharing with each other.  Every morning when I wake up and the kids are still asleep, they move to snuggle with each other in my absence. This is the blessing I've had for the year:

Rhiannon at 11 month; Joaquin at 4 years

Rhiannon took about 2 weeks of hesitant steps and, at 10.5 months, began walking all over the place.  Now that she can move herself, she has no patience for being indoors.  If I open the door, she is making her way outside while Joaquin is in begging to watch another show of some kind.  His favorite right now is Pinky  Dinky Doo and even when he's not watching the show, we are playing Pinky Dinky Doo on our own.  In these instances, he insists we call him Tyler, I get to be Pinky, and Rhiannon is Mr. Guinea Pig. This show emphasizes language and story structure, so our already verbose 4 year old has added great words like decay, tenacity, unique, gracious, and cacaphony correctly to his repertoire. 

Joaquin has also been very interested in death and what killing means lately and has lots of questions and ideas about it.  A convergence of factors, starting with a Lola on Gideon's side dying and us going to the wake and really reaching a height with my own Grandmother dying and me being sad about it.  He sits behind me, pulls me back so I am 'leaning' on him and says, "I am holding you so you aren't sad about Great Grandma Anathlee."  It is very sweet, which is great because the moods change in such an extreme way.  He has a memory like an elephant, so doesn't release things and he is extremely particular.  With just about every new toy, we can expect a total melt down as the toy does not act in some way that he imagined it. 

What we are not seeing from Joaquin is jealousy towards his sister...which is great, because his sister is totally jealous.  If there is something going on, she wants to be a part of it.  If I am holding Joaquin, she will literally try push herself between us.  If that doesn't work, she'll want to eat to get in as close as possible.  She's also gotten a bit clingy and now needs some warm up time in strange places or with strange people.  Still an easy going, laid back baby, but not as much as Joaquin.  She definitely has an opinion as to what she is doing and will share it. 

Summer is in full blast here and we are in the middle of birthdays and about to start evening concerts.  It's delicious and things really seem to be in place.