I’m 1! I have another tooth! I have another ear infection! Let’s get back to being 1. My birthday (July 10) was last Thursday. I am new to this whole “annual” birthday thing. I thought every month I had a special day. I am not sure I prefer a special day one time per year, but the celebration was much bigger (and longer) and I had my own cake, so maybe it’s worth the wait.

On Thursday (my real birthday), my celebration began with Mommy taking cupcakes to school so I could share with Miss Nancy, Miss Tiesha, Miss Chris and my friends (Jack, Jenna, Natalie and Paisley). I know what cupcakes are because Mommy and I used to bake all of the time when we were home together. Daddy’s work friends actually said they hoped that Mommy would have another baby and stay home for awhile because they were the recipients (big word for a 1-year old, huh) of many delicious treats! Anyway, they all sang happy birthday to me at school. I know this song because I have clapped while we sang this song for Daddy, Mommy and other people. I love to clap so this song is fun. I got to put my hands in paint and then put them on a piece of paper for my birthday sign! I did not take a nap in the morning because it was too exciting to sleep. To my surprise, Mommy came at lunch to pick me up! I was not sure I wanted to leave my friends (especially Jack, something Daddy is not very happy about), but we met Nana and my cousin James (who also has my same birthday) for lunch. Daddy was there too! We went to a place called “Red Robin” and they had ice cream, balloons, water in a fun cup and singing and clapping. I love to clap! After that, Nana and James got into our SUV (sport utility van) and went to a fun place with animals and birds all around. I giggled and clapped and pointed and loved every minute of it. And I did not sleep! And we were there until after 6 pm! We were gone so long Daddy worried about us! But Daddy worries, so I was not surprised by that. I loved the flamingos. They were pink and walked funny and came over near me. Nana loves flamingos too and she has them in her front yard. Hers don’t move like these do, I will have to check them out the next time we visit. When we got home it was almost bed time. Mommy, Daddy and I had a quiet dinner (with peas for me, one of my favorite foods). They put a burning stick in front of me and sang “Happy Birthday” to me (again, because they did that when I woke up that morning too). I don’t think I could tire of that song, especially when everyone singing is looking and smiling at me. What a great song! And Mommy clapped. I love clapping! Anyway, I tried to grab the burning stick and put it in my mouth like I do everything else. Mommy quickly made the fire go away (I think this is called “blowing out the candle” that Miss Nancy was trying to teach me, but I think that is something I will need to practice for another time). I was a tired girl and went to bed after that!

The next day I had another wonderful surprise! Grandma and Grandpa picked me up from school! I was so excited when I saw them that I went right over. I think Daddy was a little sad because I did not go to him, but he must understand how much I love Grandma and Grandpa! They took me home and I went right to bed, for 3 hours! When I woke up, Mommy and Daddy came home and we all had fun playing with my toys.

The next day was Saturday and I love Saturdays because I get up and play and don’t rush around. I also usually go back to sleep an hour after I get up and get a good nap. On this Saturday, Mommy told me the coolest story after I got up from my nap. She said that she was out running in our neighborhood (yes, I was a little bummed out that I did not get to go because we used to walk together every day when we were home together) and heard a “whoosh” noise coming over the trees right by her. She said she looked up and saw a hot air balloon (not sure what these are, but I got a balloon at Red Robin. I guess they must be like this, especially when Mommy and James accidentally let both of our balloons go within seconds of getting outside and they went high in the sky until we could not see them anymore). She said this “hot air” balloon was close enough to hear the people in it talking so she gave a “full body wave,” (you know that kind where you are so excited and really want to get someone’s attention?) and yelled up “good morning!” They gave a partially body wave (she said that a full body wave might have rocked the basket too much) and yelled “good morning!” back. She said the balloon was beautiful, it looked almost like the sun rising. And she said the sky was perfectly blue without a cloud, the temperature was cool with a slight breeze. It was a wonderful morning for both a good run and a hot air balloon ride. If you asked Daddy, he would say there are no perfect mornings, days or nights for a hot air balloon because heights are scary, but that is another story. While I was sleeping, Daddy and Mommy went out shopping to get lots of food. Now, they told me I was having a party, but I don’t think I fully understood what they meant! I thought it was a party just to have Grandma and Grandpa visiting! They made me lay down for a little while after lunch (more peas, please!) and when I woke up, there were more people at the house! My aunt Cin-Day and her family, my uncle John and his family, Nana and Papaw and some of my close friends were all there. I love people and it seemed like they were all there to see me! Now that I am crawling all over the place and even standing on my own, it was like I had my own parade. All of my cousins would swam around me and clap and cheer at my every move (I love clapping!). I showed them my toys and we played and played. After a little while of these festivities (a.k.a. “Abigail following”), Mommy took me outside and let me pull paper apart and out of bags. Inside these bags there were toys and clothes. I love toys and these looked like fun. I really liked the paper pulling too. On top of that, everyone was standing around watching me and cheering and clapping (do I need to say it again that I love clapping?). Mommy put me in my high chair outside, in the middle of everyone; put a plate with a cake (and icing) on it with another burning stick. This burning stick was in the shape of a 1. I thought she would have figured it out from the other night that I just wanted to put the burning light in my mouth, but she didn’t, so again she quickly pulled it away before I could get my hand on it. This time, though, she sat the cake on my tray. I immediately put my hand in this cake, got a fist full of cake and shoved it into my mouth. I like it so much I put my other hand in it and was eating this delicious sweet treat as fast as I could. Mommy did take it away but I had smeared so much cake and frosting on my face, hair and body that I knew I would have some for later. And everyone cheered…..and clapped! What a great celebration! My friends left that afternoon when I went down for my nap, but when I woke up my family was still there! I loved playing with my cousins and aunts and uncles (and of course Grandma, Nana, Grandpa and Papaw). We ate more cake, Daddy made burgers and we all played games until my bedtime. I was not really interested in going to bed (who could sleep with a party going on?) but eventually we all went to sleep.

The next morning, my family was still there! What another wonderful surprise! We enjoyed another morning of playing the “follow Abigail” game. They were there even after my nap. It was like every time I woke up I had another surprise! I got to say goodbye (I have just started waving too) and then took another nap. This time it was just Mommy and Daddy. Even though my family was gone, it was still fun. I played with Daddy because Mommy was visiting her friend Melissa’s new baby who was also born on my birthday! Her name is Sophia and I hope I get to be friends with her someday.

Well, that is my story about my birthday celebration. I think it was very fun and hope the next birthday is as much fun!

Now the story does not get better from here. After my very fun weekend, Monday morning I woke up in good spirits, wondering what surprises I had in store for me. Well, I had the kind of surprise I would prefer not to have. Everything seemed to be going well. Mommy got me up and we spent some fun time together. But then when we were going to school we passed my building and went in a suspicious direction. We parked in a spot and Daddy was there to greet us. Things were not looking good, as I knew we were at the doctor’s office. I kept good spirits because I thought maybe we were just going to visit the waiting room. No luck. As I have told you before, I do not like the doctor. I cry and cry when she first walks into the room. When she comes near me I really let the lungs go. I cried when they put me on the scale to weigh me (18 ½ pounds, still in the 10th percentile), when they measured my length (29 inches, in the 75th percentile) and even when they measured my head (I don’t know this because I was crying so loud no one could hear). Then the doctor started sticking things in my ears. You know what she found? I have an ear infection in my right ear. Mommy and Daddy felt really bad because they had no idea. Mommy felt really, really bad because she and I were both sick and she was sick for so long that she went to the doctor for medicine (I don’t know if she cried like I did when her doctor stuck something in her ear but I will ask her). She thought that I was better when she was sick! Now she is wondering if I have been sick the whole time. I can’t tell her and I probably would not because she would have taken me to the doctor. Back to my doctor story. When I thought the worst was over, you know what they did? They gave me three shots! Boy was I mad. What happened to my celebration? I was pretty tired the rest of the day and my legs were sore from the shots.

The next day I had another “incident report” at school. Here is the story as I can best explain it. I was trying to stand because I am a very active and growing girl. I lost my balance and fell and hit my head on the chair. I cried and got an ice pack and went back to playing. I do not like ice packs so sometimes that makes me cry harder than the pain of the “incident.” Mommy and Daddy kid around that I get these quite often these days and they wonder if it has anything to do with my friend Jack. I think it’s just because Daddy does not like the idea that there is another “man” in my life besides him.

The next day I had to get up early because Mommy was going out of town. She promised that she would be home soon and that Trekker would write a story, but I would really prefer Mommy and no story.

I had a really good time with Daddy when Mommy was out of town and we had a fun night when Mommy got back too. The next day, though, I had to go to therapy! I am a trooper about therapy but it is certainly not my favorite place. My new therapist said that I have “gone backwards” a little bit and said that Mommy and Daddy need to continue the stretches and exercises. I don’t have to wear my pink suit anymore because we found out that it really was not working that well. But I do still have my necklace and I don’t like the stretches or the exercises.

Tonight as soon as Daddy and I got home, I pulled something down on myself and bonked my eye! It’s all red and has a bump now. I was a very tired girl and went to bed early after this “up and down” week. Mommy and Daddy told me, though, that we are going on vacation next week so things are looking up again. Daddy did mention something today that I am going to pretend that I did not hear. He said that my friend Jack is moving to the next room in a couple of weeks. I think this means that I will not seem him, like when Corina and Campbell moved awhile ago. Hmm. I might need to ignore this information for now.

I hope you are all doing well and do not need shots or a physical therapist or have bumps on your head.