Lily’s First Year, Little by Little
Nobody warned us how fast the first year would go. The days were long, and some of the nights were longer. But the year itself went by like a page turning.
Lily didn’t do anything all at once. She did it little by little. A smile one week. A giggle a few weeks later. Then rolling, sitting, crawling, and at last, walking. Every new thing felt like the biggest news in the world, and we called the grandparents every single time.
Somewhere in those first weeks, Michael started calling her Lily Bug, and it stuck. Scout watched it all. He slept outside her nursery door every night that year, and when she learned to crawl, he learned to keep his tail out of reach. Mostly.
I kept a little list on the refrigerator of each “first” and the day it happened. This page is that list, plus the stories behind it, so you’ll know, Lily, how closely we were watching. We didn’t want to miss a thing.
Every night we stood over the crib your daddy built and prayed the same simple prayer: thank You, Lord, for one more day with her.
“For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him.”
1 Samuel 1:27
Month by Month
About 6 weeks: Her first real smile, at 6 a.m., in the middle of a diaper change. It was aimed at Michael. He says that makes it count double.
About 3 months: Her first laugh. Scout sneezed, and she laughed until she got the hiccups.
About 4 months: She rolled over on Grandma Ruth’s quilt and looked shocked at herself. That same week she slept through the night. We woke up at 5 a.m. in a panic and ran to check on her. She was fine. We were not.
About 6 months: Sweet potatoes! One horrified face, then her mouth popped open for more. She sat up on her own soon after.
About 7 months: First tooth, bottom front. We found it when she bit Michael’s finger.
About 8 months: Crawling, backward at first, then straight to Scout’s water bowl.
December: Her first Christmas. She loved the wrapping paper best.
About 10 months: First word: “Da-da.” I’m still waiting on “Ma-ma.”
Almost 1 year: First steps, three of them, straight to Scout.
From Dad's Notebook
Jan. 17. She said it. “Da-da.” Clear as a bell, looking right at me while I fixed a sticky kitchen drawer. Sarah says it was just a sound. Sarah is wrong. I’m writing it down so there’s a record.
Feb. She pulls herself up on everything now. The little bookshelf I built for her nursery is getting a workout. Glad I anchored it to the wall the day I built it. Moved the books off the bottom two shelves. She found them anyway.
March 8, Sunday night. First steps. Three of them, from the coffee table to Scout. Not to me. Not to her mother. To the dog. Scout held perfectly still, like he knew. Then she sat down hard and clapped for herself. We all clapped. Scout’s tail swept the floor.
A year ago she fit in my two hands. Now she walks. Lord, slow it down a little. And thank You. Mostly, thank You.
