So much has happened since I last wrote to you, but you continue to change and grow every day. You took your first steps at 11 months when we were in Merida, but you really started taking off around your first birthday. You love to wander and do so fearlessly. You just start going and don't really care to look back. You are an explorer. I can tell. We spent your first birthday in a big, beautiful celebration with all four grandparents at the Isla Bonita, Hisperia on Margarita Island. It was such an emotional day for me. Memories of your birth and the year prior flooded my memory all day, and I just felt overwhelmed with love for you and the ways you have brought joy to our lives.
For your birthday, I made you special sugar free muffins. Easier said than done in Venezuela. There is a shortage and flour and baby powder were not available, so Mimi imported these items along with the applesauce. There is a shortage of milk, so Papu waited in line for two hours to procure milk. Finally, once I made the muffin batter, we went to turn on the oven and it wouldn't heat up. We searched for another oven and eventually found a neighbor with a working oven. I was so nervous. I tried so hard on these muffins and it felt like everything was set up to fail, but baby girl, you loved them! Thank you for being open to my food.
On your birthday you received my little ponies, a doll, a tricycle, a dinosaur, a transformer, books, a fake cell phone, and much more. You loved all of it!
You really love the beach, Scarlett. In this way, you are also fearless. You walk straight for the water and don't even appear bothered when the waves crash in and force you to the ground. You get up and go straight back out. I feel like you are most free when you are at the beach. You love the sand, the other people, and most of all, the water.
You have started to speak a little bit more lately. You say the following: Daddy, bubbles, dog, ball, and sometimes mom. It's funny, it's like you see the world through dogs and balls, which are your favorite, and right now, all relatives seem to be daddy.
You are eating so well. We still have you on a vegan diet, and you love to eat by yourself. You are just now starting to eat with a spoon, which is kind of amazing considering you are just 13 months and there are many Venezuelan five year olds who are still being spoon fed by their partents. You are incredibly independent.
You have taken reading to all new levels. You love it are a voracious reader. We read to you all day long, sporadically, whenever you want us to read to you, you bring the book to us and we read. Before, while we read, you liked to browse a different book simultaneously, but now you just sit attentively through sometimes five books in row. Again, I am impressed by your attention span, little one.
We will leave for yet another big adventure in just about a week. We will head to Peru and Brazil and I am so excited to watch you experience the Rio beaches. You will take them all by storm, as always, Little One.
Thank you for being the best little person I could every imagine. I love you so much.
Your Mommy
