Toddler: noun: Simple Definition of toddler. : a young child who is just learning to walk.
and for fun ...
Baby: noun : a very young child, especially one newly or recently born.
To answer the question, I do not, just yet, have a toddler. I do however have a one year old. A ONE YEAR OLD. Who can stand while clapping for herself for standing, cruise along furniture, use the push-walker, speak about 6 words, eat all the foods, fight naps like nobody's business and tantrum like a little diva. Our sweet Juniper feels all the feels. She cuddles hard, kisses lots, cries harder, and has more determination to have things her way than I ever knew possible in a one year old. I'm a teeny bit terrified. I'm thrilled for grown up Juniper though (but not yet!) I think she will be wild and free and brave and independent and beautiful and silly and so, so much more. We have only gotten a tiny glimpse into this stunning personality and I am left in awe of her every single night.
I was a nanny for 11 years, and until the last 2 of those I mostly nannied boys. Easy going, dirt loving, race car loving, mild - mannered boys. My latest and last nanny job I had toddler twin girls, and I remember telling Chris when we got pregnant "oh no. It may be a girl. These twins are a warning of what girls can be like. Emotional and crazy and silly and demanding and exhausting. Beautiful little sour patch kids!" (I mean that in the nicest way possible. "First they're sour, then they're sweet!") Juniper is all of those things.
I have to stop and remind myself what kind of woman I am. What kind of girl I once was and especially the type of teenager.. I am not and have never been an easy-going or mild mannered boy. I have always been a total girl. I've felt all the feels too. I have always worn my heart on my sleeve. I have always fought to have things my way and butt heads with my mother (who is still my best friend!) and cried when I was sad and laughed hard and loved hard and was emotional when I needed to be and demanded attention when I wasn't getting any. Why would I expect any different from my tiny daughter? My sweet baby who is learning so much daily and growing and has no other way to express all of her feelings? She has every right to throw herself back with exasperation when she cannot figure out how to open her toy box, because that is frustrating! Instead of me wanting to also fling myself backwards for hearing the 100th tantrum that day, I vow to patiently show her again and again the right way to open the toy box until she knows how to do it. Because that's why I am her mommy, right?
It's hard. Not the mommying part, there's nothing better than that. But the constantly questioning yourself part. I wonder if at any point you just KNOW you are doing/saying the right thing. There's so many parenting books. So many opinions. So many people and ideas and other parents and doctors telling you to do things a certain way or forever mess up your child. So here's where I stand. I don't care if Juniper is a toddler. Or a kid. Or a pre-teen. Or a teen. She will always be my BABY. I think as long as I love her with every fiber of my being and continue to do the very best I can for her, then that's all I can do. I think that's enough, and everything, all at once ❤️
I can't believe you are one year old my forever tiny newborn baby ;) 
