Just publishing this unfinished draft so I don't lose these quotes/memories. :)
- wave to me as you nurse, stroke my face
- "read this book please mommy" - first long sentence
November 2015
Nightmare about something happening to Carys, couldn't go back to sleep until she checked on DeeDee kept trying to wiggle out of my arms to run out of the room
- drawing mommy fish and baby fish, mommy bird/baby bird
March 2016
(in a super high pitched, quiet voice) "Little tiny baby kiss!"
May 2016
I cough a hundred times a day due to allergies: "You okay, mama??" often paired iwth a hug or back pat.
Showing posts with label letters to emmeline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label letters to emmeline. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Letters to Emmeline : Twenty-Four Months
Dear Emmeline,
Back when I wrote the first letter to you, it felt like this day would never come. It feels like I wrote that first letter ten years ago and ten days ago simultaneously. My gosh. I just can't believe I'm writing this, that we've come this far (it's equally mind boggling to me that when Carys was the age you are now, I was pregnant with you!).
Man, this is a hard one to write. I keep staring at the screen and the words just aren't coming. (Me? At a loss for words? QUICK LOOK OUTSIDE ARE PIGS FLYING?). It's the end of a (personal for me) era. The end of your babyhood. The end of me raising babies, which I've just loved beyond anything. The end of counting ages in months, the end of toddling, the end of monthly letters. And the words are just failing me. So I'm sorry if this last letter isn't up to par - I'm writing it under duress.
I just can't get enough of two-year-old Emmeline. You're so funny - if you discover something makes us laugh, you repeat it ad naseum in an effort to keep us in stitches. You will be doing something totally normal, then suddenly you'll just start walking funny or making goofy faces and Carys and I will just start laughing and you love it. Your dad and I have often mentioned that this stage that you're in right now is reminding us that the 24 to 36 month stage with Carys was our absolute favorite (don't get me wrong - all the stages are pretty great, but that one was particularly adorable) and so we're both really excited to enter this stage with you and re-live it with you. It's a lot to live up to, but based on what we've seen over the last few weeks...it's going to be just as fun with you.
The only part of this age I don't like is the OMG INDEPENDENCE stage - but not the OMG I CAN ACTUALLY DO IT MYSELF stage, just the OMG I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF DESPITE THE FACT THAT I HAVE NEITHER THE STRENGTH NOR THE DEXTERITY TO DO SO stage. It's only a slight exaggeration to say that literally everything I go to do for you is stopped by you yelling, "NO! EMMELINE!" You want to pour your own milk. You want to get dressed yourself. You want to put your shoes on. You want to climb in and out of your car seat (which you can actually do, it just takes forever). You want to wrap the presents. You want to cook dinner. You want to chop peppers. I'm sorry for not letting you handle the razor-sharp knife. You can talk it out with your therapist in 20 years.
I'll get it out of the way here: yes, you still take a paci at night and naps, and will steal a paci if you find one at someone else's house. You're still nursing, though we've cut way back, and you don't nurse before nap or bedtime anymore. KNOCK ON WOOD but you're a great sleeper and really easy to lay down.
You're talking more and more every month and have even started singing. You sing "Jingle Bells" (Dinga beh, dinga beh, dinga beh, dinga beh, dinga all the da way, HEY!) and "Let It Go" (leh it goooo, leh it goooo, anyMOOOOOORE!). You're starting to express more and more complex thoughts and your vocabulary has exploded. Which, since you weren't a big talker for a very long time, is really good. I'm glad you've found your voice. It's a really cute voice. It's a voice that seems to never stop, so it's a good thing it's cute.
You know several colors - definitely yellow and purple. I think you know blue and green and red and pink but those are a little more hit or miss. Yellow and purple you can identify, say, and pick out. The others you can pick out of a pile if I say, "Emmeline, give me a green crayon!" but you don't say the words yet. You're starting to get the hang of counting, and pointing to items individually while I count. Your dad taught you to hold up two fingers and say "two!" whenever anyone asks you how old you are. He also taught you to answer "Daddy!" when he asks you who your favorite person is - stinker! He did the same with Carys. I can't be mad - it's cute.
You're still the tag-along to Carys and the other big girls - always a minute or two behind them. They'll run a lap around the house, yelling some phrase at the top of their lungs, and a few seconds later you'll come running the same path, yelling gibberish at the top of your lungs. It's so endearing (and a little heartbreaking). Soon enough, girl, you'll be able to keep up entirely. Too soon for my liking!
Maybe because you're always trying to keep up, you're a total climber and daredevil (although it may just be in your genes, since big sis was the same way). You learned to ride a trike during the last warm days of fall in late November and early December. You are nearly as good on a scooter as your sister is (in fact, you love HER scooter so much, there's one on your Christmas wishlist). You love being tossed in the air and playing airplane with anyone who will have you (but especially dad).
You've REALLY gotten into dressing up - I don't know if you developed this interest by yourself or if it's part of copying everything Carys does - but you're entering the "put the Anna dress on and then not take it off even to go to the store and throw a fit when I forcibly take it off you because you can't wear it to swim class" stage. There are a few different outfits you like to dress up in - a tank top of mine, a shiny play skirt of Carys's - but by far your favorite is the Elsa dress. And the Elsa dress. And then the Anna dress again. And then Elsa.
Speaking of Elsa and Anna, it's the first movie you've really taken an interest in and ask to watch. You urgently point to the TV saying, "Movie! Elsa! Anna!" over and over until we put it on for you. We probably watch at least a snippet of it five days out of the week. Carys is pretty sick of it, but then I remind her that she was JUST as obsessed at your age, and she thinks it's cute that you are into the same thing she was, so she relents.
Almost concurrently with becoming obsessed with Frozen, you became obsessed with my phone. It's like a switch flipped and you suddenly recognize those screens can offer you entertainment. Much like your sister, I actively avoid letting you have my phone. Much like your sister, your dad thwarts my no-screen-time plans. But in the course of less than a week, you learned to navigate my phone almost as well as Carys can and it's a liiiiiiiiiiittle frightening.
We did some fun things this month, though it was pretty slow as we prepped for your dad's birthday, your birthday, and Christmas. We went to the Children's Museum. We had several playdates in the circle, and had the two daughters (Charlotte and Shelly) of friends from out of town over. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house. You slept through most of it, but I did manage to get you in the same outfit I wore when I was just a little older than you, and the same outfit your sister wore at your age. We saw Santa (and you wanted nothing to do with him - though you love pointing him out in pictures and saying "ho, ho, ho!"). Nana came into town - once for Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas break - and you've decided that she's your all-time favorite person in the entire world and attach yourself to her hip permanently. She'll leave again at the beginning of January to go back to Dubuque and I'll immediately start counting down the days until her next visit on your behalf.
You experienced the first snowfall of the year and absolutely loved it. This surprised me, because you strongly dislike being cold. But when you saw the snow, you ran out, touched it, ate it (why?), threw it, stomped in it, and enjoyed the heck out of it. I had to physically drag you back inside when your fingers turned purple.
You've also discovered that with snow comes hot chocolate, which to you is like manna from heaven. CHOCOLATE IN A CUP TO DRINK? YES PLEASE. AND MORE. MORE MORE MORE. (This is good for me because I, too, love hot chocolate and you present a great excuse to have it more often.)
We got an Elf on the Shelf this year and I didn't think you'd be into it at all - or even notice - but Carys really involved you and would ask if you wanted to go find Callie (named after our neighbor's dog). A few times, you'd find her totally on your own and would yell, "Callie! Callie!!!" and be so proud of yourself. We didn't follow the "no touching" rule for either you or Carys, so we'd often find you carrying Callie around treating her like a baby doll.
I am so, so, so eternally grateful for you, my sweet, spunky, hilarious girl. I love you so much.
Love,
Mama
Back when I wrote the first letter to you, it felt like this day would never come. It feels like I wrote that first letter ten years ago and ten days ago simultaneously. My gosh. I just can't believe I'm writing this, that we've come this far (it's equally mind boggling to me that when Carys was the age you are now, I was pregnant with you!).
Man, this is a hard one to write. I keep staring at the screen and the words just aren't coming. (Me? At a loss for words? QUICK LOOK OUTSIDE ARE PIGS FLYING?). It's the end of a (personal for me) era. The end of your babyhood. The end of me raising babies, which I've just loved beyond anything. The end of counting ages in months, the end of toddling, the end of monthly letters. And the words are just failing me. So I'm sorry if this last letter isn't up to par - I'm writing it under duress.
I just can't get enough of two-year-old Emmeline. You're so funny - if you discover something makes us laugh, you repeat it ad naseum in an effort to keep us in stitches. You will be doing something totally normal, then suddenly you'll just start walking funny or making goofy faces and Carys and I will just start laughing and you love it. Your dad and I have often mentioned that this stage that you're in right now is reminding us that the 24 to 36 month stage with Carys was our absolute favorite (don't get me wrong - all the stages are pretty great, but that one was particularly adorable) and so we're both really excited to enter this stage with you and re-live it with you. It's a lot to live up to, but based on what we've seen over the last few weeks...it's going to be just as fun with you.
I'll get it out of the way here: yes, you still take a paci at night and naps, and will steal a paci if you find one at someone else's house. You're still nursing, though we've cut way back, and you don't nurse before nap or bedtime anymore. KNOCK ON WOOD but you're a great sleeper and really easy to lay down.
You're talking more and more every month and have even started singing. You sing "Jingle Bells" (Dinga beh, dinga beh, dinga beh, dinga beh, dinga all the da way, HEY!) and "Let It Go" (leh it goooo, leh it goooo, anyMOOOOOORE!). You're starting to express more and more complex thoughts and your vocabulary has exploded. Which, since you weren't a big talker for a very long time, is really good. I'm glad you've found your voice. It's a really cute voice. It's a voice that seems to never stop, so it's a good thing it's cute.
You know several colors - definitely yellow and purple. I think you know blue and green and red and pink but those are a little more hit or miss. Yellow and purple you can identify, say, and pick out. The others you can pick out of a pile if I say, "Emmeline, give me a green crayon!" but you don't say the words yet. You're starting to get the hang of counting, and pointing to items individually while I count. Your dad taught you to hold up two fingers and say "two!" whenever anyone asks you how old you are. He also taught you to answer "Daddy!" when he asks you who your favorite person is - stinker! He did the same with Carys. I can't be mad - it's cute.
You're still the tag-along to Carys and the other big girls - always a minute or two behind them. They'll run a lap around the house, yelling some phrase at the top of their lungs, and a few seconds later you'll come running the same path, yelling gibberish at the top of your lungs. It's so endearing (and a little heartbreaking). Soon enough, girl, you'll be able to keep up entirely. Too soon for my liking!
You've REALLY gotten into dressing up - I don't know if you developed this interest by yourself or if it's part of copying everything Carys does - but you're entering the "put the Anna dress on and then not take it off even to go to the store and throw a fit when I forcibly take it off you because you can't wear it to swim class" stage. There are a few different outfits you like to dress up in - a tank top of mine, a shiny play skirt of Carys's - but by far your favorite is the Elsa dress. And the Elsa dress. And then the Anna dress again. And then Elsa.
Speaking of Elsa and Anna, it's the first movie you've really taken an interest in and ask to watch. You urgently point to the TV saying, "Movie! Elsa! Anna!" over and over until we put it on for you. We probably watch at least a snippet of it five days out of the week. Carys is pretty sick of it, but then I remind her that she was JUST as obsessed at your age, and she thinks it's cute that you are into the same thing she was, so she relents.
We did some fun things this month, though it was pretty slow as we prepped for your dad's birthday, your birthday, and Christmas. We went to the Children's Museum. We had several playdates in the circle, and had the two daughters (Charlotte and Shelly) of friends from out of town over. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house. You slept through most of it, but I did manage to get you in the same outfit I wore when I was just a little older than you, and the same outfit your sister wore at your age. We saw Santa (and you wanted nothing to do with him - though you love pointing him out in pictures and saying "ho, ho, ho!"). Nana came into town - once for Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas break - and you've decided that she's your all-time favorite person in the entire world and attach yourself to her hip permanently. She'll leave again at the beginning of January to go back to Dubuque and I'll immediately start counting down the days until her next visit on your behalf.
You've also discovered that with snow comes hot chocolate, which to you is like manna from heaven. CHOCOLATE IN A CUP TO DRINK? YES PLEASE. AND MORE. MORE MORE MORE. (This is good for me because I, too, love hot chocolate and you present a great excuse to have it more often.)
Also you can see in these pictures that you still have your total cheeseball fake grin.
We got an Elf on the Shelf this year and I didn't think you'd be into it at all - or even notice - but Carys really involved you and would ask if you wanted to go find Callie (named after our neighbor's dog). A few times, you'd find her totally on your own and would yell, "Callie! Callie!!!" and be so proud of yourself. We didn't follow the "no touching" rule for either you or Carys, so we'd often find you carrying Callie around treating her like a baby doll.
Love,
Mama
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Letters to Emmeline : Twenty-three months
Dear Emmeline,
Well, this is your second-to-last monthly letter. After you turn two, I'll write to you every six months; trying to cram a hundred million amazing moments into one letter. I love these letters, and I love writing them, and I love looking back at the pictures I've taken over the last month, and I love reading them months (and years) later and seeing how you developed and grew. It also helps with my baby-amnesia since I mostly only write about the good things. (Probably why I want another kid. Too bad I can't get anyone else on board with that idea!) But monthly letters are a lot of work - plus, as you get older, the month-to-month changes are more gradual. So to every six months it is!
Over the last month, you've morphed into the world's most polite one-year-old. Every time I hand you anything or help you with anything or say yes to you, you respond with a dutiful, "Dank-oo, Mommy." I zip up your coat: "Dank-oo, Mommy." I hand you lunch: "Dank-oo, Mommy!" I open a pouch for you: "Dank-oo, Mommy!" Even in the middle of sobbing because you got hurt: I kiss your owie, and you get out "dank-oo" between sobs. It's so endearing.
Also endearing is this sweet little "Oh" sound you make whenever you're told information. I LOVE IT. It might be one of my favorite things that you've been doing. I have to catch it on video - it's like partly said in resignation, partly factually, partly in answer ,and it's just the cutest sound in the entire world. I'm always commenting on how much I love it, and Carys has picked up on it too, mimicking me: "Mom, I just love it when she says, 'oh.' It's so cute!"
You have become obsessed with my phone. In the past, you never paid more than two seconds of attention to it - at the most you'd sit for a couple minutes and watch a show with your big sister - but Dad taught you how to play a Lego game on his phone, and now all you want to do is play games on my phone. If my phone comes out to make a call or text someone, you're reaching for it and grabbing at it, repeating, "Peese? Peese? Peese?" You call it "ow" - not like a ribbon bow, but like "bow-wow". I finally realized you were asking for "owl," which is referencing the Kapu Forest game that has an owl in it. As much as I don't want to give you very much screen time, I'm still impressed by your dexterity in using the touch screen and how quickly you figure out new games. I let you have it every other day or so for a few minutes while I'm doing something I need you away from me during - like standing on a ladder trying to hang curtains (because otherwise you try to climb the ladder after me - and you can climb it - and that's probably not the safest thing).
We've been spending so much time with our neighbors (well, six-doors-down neighbors) over the last couple weeks. Carys has two little friends who are girls exactly her age (one a day older; the other six months younger). Then each family has a little boy, both who turned one in September (I know, crazy, right?). So you kind of bounce between playing with the bigger girls and the little boys. You WANT to play with the big girls but you're always a half-step behind and I have to remind them to slow down and wait for you. When they are feeling generous and include you in their games, you're totally delighted. Seeing you mimic them and run after them is completely hilarious. You'll play with the little boys for a few minutes, but they're not quite at the actual "playing" stage yet, so you usually end up back in my lap or running after the big kids. I wish you had friends your exact age in the area, and maybe we'll find some more friends as we live here longer, but for now you're stuck in the middle.
We went to Dubuque to visit Nana, and you loved every minute of it. I'm so grateful to see the connection that you've built with her despite the distance. We visited a few nature centers, and you parked yourself in front of the fish/turtle/alligator aquarium and excitedly pointed them out to me. We went to an apple orchard, and while your sister played with the two resident dogs, you made an immediate beeline to the swings. You did great on the bus ride there and the car ride back to Omaha, keeping entertained with the Magnadoodles and stickers.
We also celebrated Halloween. We visited a local pumpkin patch and I don't even know what your favorite part was - the dog show? The jumping air pillow? The train? Oh - scratch that. I do know. The caramel apple. Holy shit, did you love that caramel apple. I tried to get you to go on a pony ride with your sister, but you refused - though you loved waving to her as she came around!
For actual Halloween, you did wear your costume, though you all but refused to keep the hood on. I think I got maybe two pictures with the hood on all night. You enjoyed trick-or-treating and if I walked you up to a door, you'd happily hold your bucket out and receive candy...but if I didn't walk you up to the door, you were just as happy to ride in the wagon.
Pumpkin carving didn't really interest you too much. While most kids would love the chance to get elbows-deep in slimy pumpkin guts, you weren't a fan of touching it and getting your hands dirty - although I did get you to pull a few scoops out.
You love putting on your sister's mermaid tail and hopping around in it - and you're surprisingly agile! Maybe you were a mermaid in a past life. You love riding your sister's scooter, and constantly challenge her on ownership of the scooter, telling her, "My scooter! My scooter!" while you try to wrest it from her hands. You also try to take her fake-American-Girl doll (Gracie) and tell her the same thing: "My doll!" Basically, you love anything belonging to your sister or that your sister is interested in.
When you don't want to listen or don't like what I'm telling you, you go into this hilarious "statue" mode where you pretend like you can't see me or hear me. You'll look just behind me, stand completely still, and not move. It's pretty effective until I pick you up and physically move you...after which you let me know your displeasure more vocally and by going limp.
You're a climber, just like your sister. You love to climb up anything you can get your feet on - me, the media center, a fence, your crib. You've recently started climbing out on the wrong side of the railings lining the hallway above the landing - which is something you've seen your sister do many times. Until recently you'd only go out a couple feet, so you were still right above the stairs going down, but I just caught you all the way out. I approached you slowly so I didn't scare you and grabbed you back over the railing. Talk about a heart attack!
You love being tossed in the air (what kid doesn't?) and swinging. You love making silly faces and having us mimic you. You apparently love baked beans, which is a little surprising considering you won't even any fruit that isn't a banana (it's payback for being so proud of Carys being such a great eater). You love coloring, but ONLY with markers. You love our neighbor Laura and will run to her as soon as you see her. You love toy balls. You absolutely LOVE to read. As soon as I say it's bedtime, you immediately start running to your room, calling, "Book! Book!" It might just be a stall tactic, but we could read ten books and you'd ask, "More book? Peese?" You have started to really enjoy dressing up in costumes and wearing silly hats and glasses. You love sweets and will literally fight anyone who tries to keep them away from you. You still completely adore your sister and want to be with her and do what she's doing every moment. You're still nursing, though we've been slowly cutting back on the sessions, especially during the day. You started pointing out "baby" versions of things - if we see a pair of animals, one is always the "baby," and anything that's smaller than the regular version of itself is a "baby" as well. Another thing that makes me laugh - also another thing that's better caught on video than a written description - is when you don't want to eat something. You put your hands over your mouth with these big eyes peeking out behind them and emphatically shake your head "no" while saying (muffled by your hards) "no eat!" So cute - while equally being frustrating since you eat. nothing. at. all. Sigh.
Well, this is your second-to-last monthly letter. After you turn two, I'll write to you every six months; trying to cram a hundred million amazing moments into one letter. I love these letters, and I love writing them, and I love looking back at the pictures I've taken over the last month, and I love reading them months (and years) later and seeing how you developed and grew. It also helps with my baby-amnesia since I mostly only write about the good things. (Probably why I want another kid. Too bad I can't get anyone else on board with that idea!) But monthly letters are a lot of work - plus, as you get older, the month-to-month changes are more gradual. So to every six months it is!
Over the last month, you've morphed into the world's most polite one-year-old. Every time I hand you anything or help you with anything or say yes to you, you respond with a dutiful, "Dank-oo, Mommy." I zip up your coat: "Dank-oo, Mommy." I hand you lunch: "Dank-oo, Mommy!" I open a pouch for you: "Dank-oo, Mommy!" Even in the middle of sobbing because you got hurt: I kiss your owie, and you get out "dank-oo" between sobs. It's so endearing.
Also endearing is this sweet little "Oh" sound you make whenever you're told information. I LOVE IT. It might be one of my favorite things that you've been doing. I have to catch it on video - it's like partly said in resignation, partly factually, partly in answer ,and it's just the cutest sound in the entire world. I'm always commenting on how much I love it, and Carys has picked up on it too, mimicking me: "Mom, I just love it when she says, 'oh.' It's so cute!"
You have become obsessed with my phone. In the past, you never paid more than two seconds of attention to it - at the most you'd sit for a couple minutes and watch a show with your big sister - but Dad taught you how to play a Lego game on his phone, and now all you want to do is play games on my phone. If my phone comes out to make a call or text someone, you're reaching for it and grabbing at it, repeating, "Peese? Peese? Peese?" You call it "ow" - not like a ribbon bow, but like "bow-wow". I finally realized you were asking for "owl," which is referencing the Kapu Forest game that has an owl in it. As much as I don't want to give you very much screen time, I'm still impressed by your dexterity in using the touch screen and how quickly you figure out new games. I let you have it every other day or so for a few minutes while I'm doing something I need you away from me during - like standing on a ladder trying to hang curtains (because otherwise you try to climb the ladder after me - and you can climb it - and that's probably not the safest thing).
We've been spending so much time with our neighbors (well, six-doors-down neighbors) over the last couple weeks. Carys has two little friends who are girls exactly her age (one a day older; the other six months younger). Then each family has a little boy, both who turned one in September (I know, crazy, right?). So you kind of bounce between playing with the bigger girls and the little boys. You WANT to play with the big girls but you're always a half-step behind and I have to remind them to slow down and wait for you. When they are feeling generous and include you in their games, you're totally delighted. Seeing you mimic them and run after them is completely hilarious. You'll play with the little boys for a few minutes, but they're not quite at the actual "playing" stage yet, so you usually end up back in my lap or running after the big kids. I wish you had friends your exact age in the area, and maybe we'll find some more friends as we live here longer, but for now you're stuck in the middle.
We went to Dubuque to visit Nana, and you loved every minute of it. I'm so grateful to see the connection that you've built with her despite the distance. We visited a few nature centers, and you parked yourself in front of the fish/turtle/alligator aquarium and excitedly pointed them out to me. We went to an apple orchard, and while your sister played with the two resident dogs, you made an immediate beeline to the swings. You did great on the bus ride there and the car ride back to Omaha, keeping entertained with the Magnadoodles and stickers.
We also celebrated Halloween. We visited a local pumpkin patch and I don't even know what your favorite part was - the dog show? The jumping air pillow? The train? Oh - scratch that. I do know. The caramel apple. Holy shit, did you love that caramel apple. I tried to get you to go on a pony ride with your sister, but you refused - though you loved waving to her as she came around!
For actual Halloween, you did wear your costume, though you all but refused to keep the hood on. I think I got maybe two pictures with the hood on all night. You enjoyed trick-or-treating and if I walked you up to a door, you'd happily hold your bucket out and receive candy...but if I didn't walk you up to the door, you were just as happy to ride in the wagon.
Pumpkin carving didn't really interest you too much. While most kids would love the chance to get elbows-deep in slimy pumpkin guts, you weren't a fan of touching it and getting your hands dirty - although I did get you to pull a few scoops out.
You love putting on your sister's mermaid tail and hopping around in it - and you're surprisingly agile! Maybe you were a mermaid in a past life. You love riding your sister's scooter, and constantly challenge her on ownership of the scooter, telling her, "My scooter! My scooter!" while you try to wrest it from her hands. You also try to take her fake-American-Girl doll (Gracie) and tell her the same thing: "My doll!" Basically, you love anything belonging to your sister or that your sister is interested in.
When you don't want to listen or don't like what I'm telling you, you go into this hilarious "statue" mode where you pretend like you can't see me or hear me. You'll look just behind me, stand completely still, and not move. It's pretty effective until I pick you up and physically move you...after which you let me know your displeasure more vocally and by going limp.
You're a climber, just like your sister. You love to climb up anything you can get your feet on - me, the media center, a fence, your crib. You've recently started climbing out on the wrong side of the railings lining the hallway above the landing - which is something you've seen your sister do many times. Until recently you'd only go out a couple feet, so you were still right above the stairs going down, but I just caught you all the way out. I approached you slowly so I didn't scare you and grabbed you back over the railing. Talk about a heart attack!
You love being tossed in the air (what kid doesn't?) and swinging. You love making silly faces and having us mimic you. You apparently love baked beans, which is a little surprising considering you won't even any fruit that isn't a banana (it's payback for being so proud of Carys being such a great eater). You love coloring, but ONLY with markers. You love our neighbor Laura and will run to her as soon as you see her. You love toy balls. You absolutely LOVE to read. As soon as I say it's bedtime, you immediately start running to your room, calling, "Book! Book!" It might just be a stall tactic, but we could read ten books and you'd ask, "More book? Peese?" You have started to really enjoy dressing up in costumes and wearing silly hats and glasses. You love sweets and will literally fight anyone who tries to keep them away from you. You still completely adore your sister and want to be with her and do what she's doing every moment. You're still nursing, though we've been slowly cutting back on the sessions, especially during the day. You started pointing out "baby" versions of things - if we see a pair of animals, one is always the "baby," and anything that's smaller than the regular version of itself is a "baby" as well. Another thing that makes me laugh - also another thing that's better caught on video than a written description - is when you don't want to eat something. You put your hands over your mouth with these big eyes peeking out behind them and emphatically shake your head "no" while saying (muffled by your hards) "no eat!" So cute - while equally being frustrating since you eat. nothing. at. all. Sigh.
I love you, girl. I love you so much. I delight in kissing your cheeks and neck before bed and making you squeal with laughter. I love demanding "BIG!" hugs from you and feeling your little arms wrap around my neck. I love cuddling you and feeling your weight against me. I can't imagine my days without you, my sweet, silly, darling girl.
Love,
Mama
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