- You are wearing 12-18 month shirts and 18 and 24-month pants and pajamas.
- Your vocabulary has grown incredibly in the past few weeks. You "talk" in what certainly sound like sentences, and you speak with a purpose. It's such fun to talk with you!
- One of your latest words is "knee" (please). You usually take some prompting ("how can you say it nicely?"), but you usually say it following a request, with a smile on your face, pleased with yourself for doing what we've asked and knowing that what you've asked for will now be given.
- Squatting is a new position for you. When you're on the floor playing, you'll squat for a while. Feet flat on the floor, knees bent and bottom down. It doesn't look particularly comfortable, but it's an easy way for you to get up and going quickly...and you're not in the same place for long!
- You have discovered feeding Royal. Frequently, while Mommy is fixing dinner, you'll go to his bowl and pick up pieces of his food, one by one. You feed him piece by piece, sometimes throwing them on the floor in front of him for him to pick up. You squeal with delight when he eats it, and he plays along with you so well. You really love that dog, and he is so sweet with you.
- "Do you love Mommy?" ... (nods) "Mama. ... Dada." "You love Daddy?" (nods head) "Rah-rah." "You love Royal?" (smile and nod)
- You know when you're "working hard" doing a task, and will often rub the back of your hand across your forehead and say, "whew!" It's quite adorable.
- "Uh-oh" is one of your favorite things to say...when something has actually happened, and sometimes just because. You like to hear yourself say it, I think. So do I.
- You love to play "get you", which is the result of Mommy saying "I'm going to get you!" and then proceeding to chase you down the hall on hands and knees. Now, you request it...crawling on the floor, pointing in the direction you wish to go, and requesting "geh-choo!"
- You're stacking blocks, a few at a time...and then get bored and move on to something else.
- You enjoyed making bubble "Santa beards" with Daddy during bath time. Adorable.
- After dinner, on more than one occasion, you've run around the island in the kitchen...over and over again! Sometimes being chased, or chasing Royal, or just for the fun of it. This game seems to be most fun for you when your clothes are off right before bath time.
- Being nude is preferential to you these days, which has made changing clothes and changing your diapers more interesting. Thank goodness that we very infrequently have somewhere we have to be or have to do, with any real sense of urgency. You would just rather run around the house without clothes on than do much of anything! And your increasing need to express your independence most often comes in the form of refusing to get dressed until you're good and ready. Noted.
- The speed of which your diaper must be changed has greatly increased, too. You just don't have the patience to lay still for long...you're on the go!
- Napping in your crib has gotten so much easier. You usually want a book to look at before you fall asleep, but you're getting really good at letting yourself rest for a while in your bed.
- Nighttime is hard. You go to sleep so easily at bedtime. We nurse and pray, and you are happy to lay down with little fuss after. Which makes it all the more confusing when you wake during the night, entirely unhappy to be by yourself. Mommy has spent a good many nights sleeping on the floor next to your crib. You complain...dramatically...as soon as I try to quietly tiptoe back to my room, tearfully and constantly requesting "baah, baah" and reaching for your back. You lay down quickly, seemingly happy enough to be in bed...as long as Mommy is gently patting your back. It's made for some long nights, for all of us. But, for whatever reason (growth spurt? hunger? separation anxiety? developmental milestone?) you really need to be close to Mommy right now, and I know that meeting that need for you is important. Another phase, that I'm sure will pass...one of these nights!
- Food is still not of interest to you in the same way that it used to...especially at dinnertime. Which forces us to wonder if you're waking up hungry in the middle of night, and thus your desire for Mommy to be close by? Who knows?!
- When you're asked a question, your "no" has become quite clear. It's fun hearing a word so obviously...we're really talking together! Your opinion is heard loud and clear these days, little one!
- "What's your name?" ... "Ehhhmm....", you say, pointing to yourself. Your voice trails a bit after the initial "eh" sound, as though you know there's more to it, but you haven't quite figured it out. Precious, I tell you.
- Oh, do you love to dance! You've got some fun moves.
- You are really reading the pictures in your books. You know what's happening on the pages of your favorite books, and you know what's coming next. In one of your favorite bedtime books that Daddy reads, you make motions along with the words of each page. You see the picture of the baby on her Daddy's feet ("dancing on Daddy's feet, cha-cha hugs"), and you start wiggling like a dance before even hearing the words. You know your books, and seeing your love of reading so early on makes me so proud.
- When we pray before dinner, you usually bow your head with us. And when we hold hands before Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house, you want to hold hands, too, and patiently listen to our prayer. More often than not, you even say "amen" at the end. "Ehh-mehhhn", you say. How the Lord must smile to hear you. We certainly do.
- You have quite the mouthful of teeth these days! Teething must be relatively easy for you...for a good many of your teeth, your disposition has been so unchanged, I haven't even noticed the teeth were on their way. You're a tough cookie...and you look so adorable with your toothy smile.
Emerson, I am more amazed at you every day. Watching you grow is such a gift and a joy.
It doesn't feel as though you can possibly be a year and a half old already...and yet it feels like you've been a part of my life forever. I am so in love with you, and the person you are becoming.
What a blessing it is for me to have you as my little girl. I love you.
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