Katie Rose - a year

Our precious wee girl turned one last Friday.  I don't remember ever feeling so much about a child's birthday.  Perhaps, probably, it is sentimentality and old age (me, that is).  I think a lot of it is related to how our wee family rotates around her.

Katie Rose arrived a year ago and was immediately embraced by everyone.  No one seemed to feel left out or anxious about their place in the family changing.  She just belonged with us from the start.

She has the sweetest nature.  She couldn't be happier and sunnier.  She takes almost everything in her stride - and at times that is a lot for someone so small.  Her bigger siblings, and their friends, love her........from Finn's noisy football-mad almost-10-year-old friends, to Angus's quieter, imaginative animal-loving friends and Islay's fun-filled 5 year old friends.  She becomes a little satellite in the playground as they all congregate around her at the end of the day.  And yet despite spending so much of her life with people playing with her and alongside her, showing her what to do and correcting her - despite all that - she is very happy with her own company, exploring things at her own pace.  Which at times is laid back and quite serious and at others is fast and furious as she charges around egging herself on with lots of noise.  Underneath all that she is quite a determined little person and will keep going, with rarely a fuss, to try and get things, and people, to do what she wants them to do.

We are so lucky to have her - she perfectly fits with the rest of us and makes us all so happy.  And I think that we make her happy too!

She is rather fond of crawling around while carrying something in her mouth.  And Ele is her very best friend.  He gets the most enormous cuddles, and, when she spots him, her wrists and ankles twirl around fast and furiously..........a sure sign of excitement and anticipation.