Sadie Grace is 1!

...and that makes a whole lot more sense to Jack than counting months. He really wasn't convinced that she could be zero years old, so he's very satisfied that now he can officially hold up fingers to tell his sister how old she is. Or a finger, anyway.

Grammasue stayed until Sadie's birthday, which we celebrated the night before because she had a flight out early in the morning. I've always thought the first birthday was more for the parents than the kid, an anniversary of When Your Life Changed, or When Your Life Changed All Over Again, depending on which kid. So it seems to me like the parents should be getting presents as much as the baby. Clearly my mom agrees with me, and what she got for us for our anniversary of When Our Lives Changed All Over Again was: swept floors, clean dishes, folded laundry, groceries, dinner, and A RED VELVET BIRTHDAY (/WOLCAOA ANNIVERSARY) CAKE!

Sadie is apparently as big a fan of red velvet as her mommy is.



Big fan.

The next morning we celebrated again briefly over breakfast (mmmm breakfast cupcakes...) and had a quick photo shoot before walking Grammasue to BART.



But not before Sadie showed off her new 1-year-old skills.



My mom and I looked on in horror as she started to figure this out before our very eyes. Part of me wanted to intervene and another part wanted to cheer for her, but most of me just groaned oh dear she really is going to be trouble. So I did what any good mother would do. Took pictures.

Once we got Jack off to school, I decided to take the morning off to be with Sadie. I made this promise to myself on Jack's first birthday that I would take the day - or at least part of it - off for my kids' birthdays each year so that we could do something special, whatever they want to do. What Sadie wanted to do with her birthday morning that I had taken off and kept her home from the nanny share to spend with her was take a big fat three hour nap. You know what, Sadie? You can do that. It's your birthday. So when she finally woke up, we went out and bought treats for ourselves and sat in the bright sunshine and ate them, we went to the toystore and Sadie showed me what presents I should buy her (because I am a little ashamed to admit, I had no idea... but that was fine because it turns out she has very strong opinions of her own anyway), and then we went to the park and met up with her friend Rita and the nanny to have a picnic and play for a while. It was a very special morning.



And when Jack came home from school, he helped her open presents. And he pushed her around on her new little hippo car she picked out for herself. And he offered to take it away from her and drive it himself, and to play with her new toy boat for her, too -- what a nice big brother! But he did remarkably well considering mommy forgot the cardinal rule of birthdays with siblings is you're supposed to get the sibling something too. And Sadie was so excited she didn't really care who was playing with what when. Her Grandma and Grandad called on the videomaphone to sing her happy birthday, which she loved, until her parents tried to keep her from pounding on the keyboard just as hard as she might like. And her friend Ezra came over to help her celebrate, which she loved, too. I still don't know if he likes her very much, and it probably doesn't help that she's a little aggressive about how happy she is to see him, with the grabbing that might be a little too close to pinching and the patting that sometimes looks a little more like slapping. Poor Ezra. He hung in there, though, and Sadie our birthday queen giggled and clapped and danced the night away. I'm not exaggerating about the dancing, either. She actually boogies. Shaking her head back and forth, swinging her hips. The girl has got some style.

Happy birthday, Sadie Grace! You are a daredevil, a spitfire, you keep us on our toes, and keep us wanting more. I love your rich throaty laugh and the way you scrunch up your whole face when you're really happy. I know you can't wait to grow up so you can keep up with your big brother, but I hope you'll slow down a little so we can enjoy you as our almost-toddling toddler for as long as we can. I love you, my sweet wonderful Sadiekins!