She is one.

Oh my. Hard to believe that a little over a year ago we were all wondering who was going to make his or her debut into our family. She certainly has made her personality known over the past year -- this one is adamant about communicating. She points with such Authority at a water bottle, or a snack, or the chair where I nurse her and makes a strong little "Ma" sound that means I want THAT right NOW. If her demand is not immediately met, she repeats it: "Ma MA", which some people think is really cute because it sounds like she is saying "mama". She is not -- she is saying "Get me that thing right NOW."

She loves to stand and cruise around the furniture, closing the occasional gap between chair and wall with what looks very much like an independent step. But create a little distance and she quickly drops down to the Quasimodo crawl -- much faster at this point and this girl does not like to wait.

She will occasionally stand and dance, especially when she climbs into her little rocking chair and rides the thing like a bucking bronco, standing on the seat and holding onto the chair back. Daredevil, this one.

She had TWO birthday parties to celebrate her first year -- the first one with dear friends Amy, Lindy and Piper, who brought fairy wings and bracelets and a crown and a cupcake, oh MY! Amy orchestrated a Korean tradition of offering the one-year-old a tray of various objects. The first object the child chooses from the tray predicts some talent or proclivity that she will have. Karolina chose scissors (!!!), which means she will be good with her hands. Or she loves danger (my own personal interpretation). Time will tell.

Our neighbors (the Barons), Karolina's babysitter (Ariana), and Ariana's mother (Patty) attended the second birthday party, which was on her Actual Birthday. She had her first chocolate cupcake with salted caramel frosting (MA! MA!) and then her second and third (they were minis). The grown-ups had Kir Royal. She wore her new (French) dress (thanks, Mamie and Papi!). It was all very festive.

So far, her favorite birthday present appears to be the pink CELL PHONE that came in her First Purse (thanks Uncle Dave and Grandma Beth!).

I'd like to say that I've got things down, mom-wise, now that I have TWO children, but I still learn valuable lessons almost every day, usually the hard way. This week's theme was letting go (again). As in, does it REALLY matter if Peter smears cookie dough all over the baking tray instead of making his cookie balls in neat, clean little rows? Answer: No! No, it doesn't at all! The cookies turned out beautifully and mom managed to bite her tongue long enough to find this out! Peter was so proud.

And, here is another one that parents hear ALL the time but mostly don't really get until it's probably too late. That unfolded laundry? Let it go. The fact that dinner won't be on the table at 6:30, but will probably happen by 6:50 or so? Let it go. The teetering mountain of paperwork on your desk? Forget about it for 30 minutes and just sit on the floor with your kids. Let them crawl all over you. Be silly. Pay attention. Let them direct the play. Because, what are you really going to remember in 5 years or 10 years or 20 years? The fact that all of your laundry was folded and put away the same day that you washed it? Or the delighted expression on Peter's face when you pretended your fingers were ants crawling up his leg and the adorable new "word" Karolina made up when she pulled herself up and put her little face inches from your face just before she gave you a sloppy kiss on the chin? Priorities, people. Get them straight. Unfortunately I need to be reminded about this 70 or 80 times a day. But I have my moments. And really, that is what life is about for me. Those Moments.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have piles of dishes, laundry, and paperwork to attend to now that those little ones are finally sleeping peacefully...