Just because today is your birthday do not think you get a break from the tormenting habits of your older sister. Your dad and I held her off as long as we could this morning, but she barged in with high pitch happy birthday squeals before you could even open your eyes. True to the traits we have seen in you this far, you responded with grace, storing this memory with the others, piling them up in a trough for future revenge.
Dominic, you spend all day every day testing your limits, and doing it with a smile. Being number two has unfortunately limited the amount of time your dad and I get to just sit and watch you grow. But you are still doing it and we are still trying. I feel like I might know you less than I knew your sister on her first birthday, but I think this is because you are still experimenting, and not willing to put yourself into a box before picking one that fits just right.
You learn things quickly and then take a few days to decide whether they are worth the energy to apply to memory. Your sign language comes and goes, and you usually resort to a high pitched squeal and no one can seem to convince you of its unnecessary use. This is the one habit you have held on to tightly since November 5, 2012. Your cries were and still are so different from your sister, so desperate and shrill. You are always happy, until the moment when you are not. There is never an in between. Just happy and frantic. But I love this about you because I can understand it. Where your sister weighs her options and uses her emotional outbursts to exert her power and will, you use your emotions for a need. You are independent, but when you need, you need deeply, a need that reverberates from your soul.
Baby boy, you are a light in our lives. You are mysterious and strong, curious and oh so handsome.
So happy one year to a boy who is joyful and clever, happy day, happy year, happy always and ever.
Love,
Mom (and Dad)
