Month Fifteen

Dear Amelia,

Today you are fifteen months old. Today is also your Grandpa D’s birthday! You are going to see him (and Grandma G) in just a few days – they are flying up here for the weekend, and we are all going to have so much fun together! You are such a funny girl these days, and I am excited to see you share that with your grandparents!

This month you got your second and third molars, and your fourth one is just below the surface – hopefully it will make its appearance soon. You are a champ at this teething business – these molars have hardly seemed to bother you at all! You are such a loving little girl – you often stop whatever you are doing to rush over and give me a big hug. I can’t tell you how much that melts my heart! You also have started blowing kisses more often – you put your palm on your mouth and blow on it – pbttttttt – so cute!

According to you, “booooo” is what a cow says and “buh buh buh buh” is what a dog says (and also what a bird says)! When we ask you what your stuffed puppy Violet says, you will do a little dance because Violet plays music when you press her paws. It makes me smile every time! You know where your head is, and will grab it and laugh every time I ask “where is Amelia’s head?” You and Daddy were playing last night, and you showed him again and again where your ears are. When I ask you where your nose is, you first grab your head and then point at MY nose – we’ll keep working on that! When we are all eating supper, you will ask for a napkin and “wipe” your face, because you see us using napkins. Sometimes you seem like such a grown up, Amelia!

You are walking all over the place now, and sometimes you even run! I can’t believe how good of a walker you have become in such a short time. You love your routine – after breakfast and lunch you walk right back to your room because you know it’s time for a nap, even though a lot of the time you aren’t sleepy yet. You’ll just play in your crib until you fall asleep, and sometimes you won’t sleep at all. A few times you have even done it at night – you turn on your nighttime music by pushing one of Violet’s paws, walk out to the living room to get one last sip of water from my water bottle, and then toddle back to stand by your crib, waiting for me or Daddy to put you to bed. Sometimes you’ll even stand in the hallway and point to your bedroom to tell us that you want to go to bed. Once we put you down, we’ll hear you back in your crib for 30 minutes or more, just babbling away!

This morning was our last nursing session. I have been dealing with some minor health issues lately and am trying a few different medications – the doctors say they are safe while breastfeeding, but I don’t like the fact that you getting them (even in trace amounts) through my breast milk. You have only been nursing once a day for a few weeks now and it’s more out of comfort than anything else; while I am definitely going to miss nursing you, I’m sure that you’ll be fine once we stop. I’m very sad to see this phase in our lives end – I have enjoyed nursing you so much, and I am incredibly proud of the both of us for sticking with it for fifteen months. I already miss the connection we have when you’re nursing, but like your Daddy told me a few days ago, I’ve nourished you and taken care of you (through nursing) for the past fifteen months and now I need to take care of myself. Since I am not nursing you anymore, the doctors will be able to give me some stronger medications so I can get back into tip-top shape!

Sweet girl, you are such a joy. You love love LOVE birds and always want to play outside and look for them when you get up from your afternoon nap. When we run errands, you smile and wave at everyone we see. I am so proud of you Amelia, and I realize every day how blessed I am to be able to watch you grow and learn.

Love, Mama