That was BY FAR the fastest year of my life.
At ONE YEAR OLD, Paloma:
*Has 4 teeth on top, 3 on bottom, and a smile that lights up any room she's in
*Has no interest in crawling traditionally, walking or fully committing to pulling herself up, but she can scootch across the room in mere seconds, and likes to roll her way around things
*Loves R&B and pop music, and will groove back and forth when a good song comes on
*LOVES her Daddy so much that she gets mad when he enters a room and doesn't come to her first thing; they have a language that is unique to the two of them
*LOVES her big brother Quincy, and squeals with delight when she sees him at the top of the stairs after naptime (She loves Forrest and me too, but not in the same way as the other 2 boys)
*Eats everything you put in front of her; Mexican food, Greek food, Italian food, Japanese food, American food, Chinese food - she loves it all. THANK GOD.
*Has extremely high metabolism; she eats all of the above and is only in the 25% for weight (meanwhile, Quincy who eats hardly anything is in the 80% for weight? Go figure)
*Gives kisses freely to all her animals and dolls on a regular basis, and even scooted across the room at a recent playdate to wrap her arms around our friend Mason (who's one month younger) and plant a big one on his mouth. She says, "Mmmm" when she does it, too - so cute
Here is a video so you can see first hand her little personality
We love this girl. So much. She is "little and funky", and crazy, and fun - and she truly lights up our life. She and Quincy get closer by the day, and I look forward to seeing their bond evolve over the next few years.
We celebrated her birthday with family, as my dad's birthday was 4 days before hers, and Solon's grandpa's birthday was 3 days after. Palomita had a blast celebrating with them. She was loving it!
She loved her red velvet cupcake!
And she loved her "girly" outfit from "Aunt" Sandy. This was her first dress with sparkles, and you can tell she felt cute in it.
Did I mention that we love this girl?
Okay, now let's backtrack a little. Because I skipped Christmas.
We paid a visit to Santa the week before Christmas, and Quincy was super excited.
Paloma? Well, not so much.
Quincy told Santa 3 different times about the ambulance he wanted with sirens and flashing lights. He (I) wrote a letter, complete with a drawing of a car wash on the back, and told him about the ambulance before he was on his lap, while he was on his lap, and after he got off his lap. This Santa was not the happiest I had ever encountered, but Quincy didn't seem to notice. Finally Santa said, "Okay kid, I think I've got it." Hilarious.
We hosted Christmas Eve festivities at our house, and it was a wonderful time. Our house looked so festive and pretty, and I could kick myself that I didn't take a SINGLE picture of how pretty it looked before it got destroyed. Next year...
The boys (in their matching jackets) truly enjoyed this Christmas together.
The 3 cousins on Paloma's first Christmas
Santa came through on the ambulance that Quincy wanted so badly
Can you tell how excited I am about my West Side Story 50th Anniversary Blue Ray edition DVD? Pretty excited.
Christmas morning, the kids woke up and got to see Grandma Sasa & Tony! We had fun opening more presents together.
Quincy went to work right away drawing "car washes" on his new easel! (He spent half the day doing so)
I LOVE SANTA!!!
We spent Christmas night with Solon's family out in Surprise, and had a great time. I am so happy my parents came with us so I got a double dose of them at Christmas. Thank you Tony for these pictures taken with your awesome new camera.
It was a truly magical way to end the year.
P.S. Upon publishing this, I realized that I also didn't take a single picture of the week after Christmas while Alynsia (Aunt Nut-Nut) was in town for the Insight Bowl and New Year's. We had an awesome time spending a little QT with her over the weekend, and can't wait to see her again soon.
