To Harrison on your 15 month birthday...

Dearest Harrison,

Oh sweet boy, today we celebrate 15 months of life for you!! Almost 4 months with you at home, but it really does feel like it's been this way forever. You have been the perfect next piece to our Smith Family puzzle. You are the joy of our hearts and the light of our lives!! Your Daddy and I are constantly telling each other how we think you are just THE best baby boy!! We ask each other how in the world any sweet baby could have been more perfect to be our first child. We love you immensely and count you as one of the biggest blessings in our life!!

You spend your days smiling, laughing, babbling, cruising around via crawling and toddling around things while standing up and holding on!! You love to clap, give eskimo kisses and high fives, to be scared, tickled, thrown in the air, and bathed. You are SUCH the cuddler and your mommy could not be more happy about that. You can say Mama, Dada, and Papa. We do not know that you associate those words with the exact thing or person yet, but you are on your way. You babble the sounds GooGoo, NaNa, BaBa, constantly. You love to make sounds and say words and for mommy to repeat them back to you. We can go back and forth for several minutes before you break right into a giggling fit!!

You aren't quite walking. You stand up for long periods of time and you transfer from place to place while standing, but you aren't too interested in the upward and forward motion that walking can provide yet. You have these secret weapons every place you go that keep you from having the initiative to walk. They are the MANY PEOPLE THAT LOVE YOU and want to hold you, carry you, and play with you. Mommy is kind of hoping you can walk in time to go on an Easter egg hunt. I will not be too terribly sad if you can't though because you are my first baby and I'll cherish all of the baby that I can get considering the time that I missed with you while you were waiting on us in Taiwan. There will be plenty of time for you to walk on your own by the time you go to college!! Mommy is of that mindset for sure. I do not feel the need to push you out of being a baby sooner rather than later.

You certainly know who mommy and daddy are. Anytime we leave you, we can expect to be greeted with a big toothy smile and a fast and furious crawl right into our arms. You now wake up each morning and lay your head on mommies shoulder just waiting for me to respond with "awww." You then lean up and look me right in the eyes smiling with great satisfaction only to lean back down and do it over and over again...10-15 times sometimes!! You have also started "checking in" when you play. You will play for a few minutes and then look up at us, crawl over into our laps, and snuggle in. You go back to playing and do it again every few minutes. These are definitely on the list of mommy and daddies favorite things that you do.

Your Daddy and I have spent many hours with you in the rocking chair that we got off of Cr@igslist when preparing your nursery. In fact, I plan to email the nice lady I bought it from today and just let her know exactly how much the deal she gave us in that chair has blessed our time together so far.

You enjoyed swinging on an swingset for the first time this week. We have a small park right down the road from our house. We walked to it and you swung with delight. We thought we had seen you happy, but you were beyond delirious with excitement over the little ride you took in the swing. Your whole body was pumping with joy and you were giggling until you were out of breath. It is definetly the little things that we find the most joy in from day to day!!

You are so very easy going, but you do have your moments of "walking on the wild side." You have started arching your back when mommy puts you in the car seat. Your head rests on the very top of the car seat while your body is curved into a perfect arch, stiff as a board, with your feet on the bottom of your car seat! I have explained to you many times while forcing you into the seat that riding in the car seat is not an option. Car seats have prevented many babies from going to heaven too soon. You also LOVE to get into the doggy water and food bowls. Most times I do catch you as you are on your way to do so and I have noticed that you turn to see if I am looking while you are on your way to do the deed. I will admit, you have also been found with dog food in your mouth and crawling around in a big puddle of water. I think this is about the only thing I have ever "scolded" you for. Daddy was listening in too and shouted from the office..."I don't think it is as effective if you are giggling while getting him in trouble." You were just smiling so big while I was explaining that dog food and dog water are for the puppies and that that is what your sippy cup and highchair are for! I have not figured out the solution to keeping you out of the dog food and water other than to pick it up, but I am thinking on it!! You can probably tell that we are in a season where your wild side is quite manageable.

You see, the joy and the love that you have brought to your mommy and daddy just can not be put into words. We are so excited about what the Lord has in store for you little man. We pray each day that we make choices that will help you grow up to be a God honoring, wisdom seeking, servant hearted gentlemen!

With all the love that I can muster,
The Proudest Mommy Around