Month Eighteen

Dear Amelia,

Today you are eighteen months old! Happy half-birthday! We celebrated by eating strawberry popsicles for our mid-morning snack, and later we are going to bake some brownies to enjoy after we eat salmon for supper. You are such a fun little girl these days, and you are starting to use many different sounds. No longer is everything a variation of “ba” – you have started making “loy bloy dju bljdu” sounds, among many other new sounds. I can tell that you are going to have a language explosion very soon!

These days you are a champion whiner & face crier. You have become very attached to me, and often times will whine/fuss/cry until I get right down on the floor to ask you what’s bothering you. As soon as I do that, though, you’re running off to get a toy or a book, leaving me in the dust. I know you are just trying to express yourself, and since you don’t have many words yet everything seems a bit more difficult. You’ll get there in your own time, though – of that I’m sure. You make the funniest faces when you are whining – sometimes the only thing for me and Daddy to do is whine and make funny faces back at you, which always makes you smile.

You are enjoying a variety of music these days, and you have a few new dance moves! You have started swaying back and forth and stomping your feet (like you’re running in place) in addition to bouncing up and down. Lately we’ve been listening to a lot of music from the first season of the TV show Glee – it’s a lot of fun for both of us! Another thing you enjoy is playing pretend – you “feed” your toys, and sometimes you even try to feed me and Daddy! You think it is so funny to share your milk and throw tea parties! Your weight seems to be slowly creeping up – I’m hoping that you’ll be at least 20 pounds at your 18-month checkup on Friday. You have the cutest little dimples on your elbows and knees, and you’ve always got a big belly stuffed with food. You’re finally starting to fit into 12-month pants!

Amelia, you have a very sensitive spirit – if you sense that someone is upset with someone else, or see someone getting ‘hurt’ on TV  (the mean dogs in the movie Up or someone falling into a lake on Curious George) you start to cry like it’s YOU that is being hurt or fussed at. You are so sensitive, and that makes disciplining you very hard. We have been trying to teach you not to throw things. What you really do is just toss your toys to the side when you’re done playing with them (or when you get too excited). Often times you are playing with something hard, and it hurts when you toss it aside! You actually gave me a goose egg one day by carelessly tossing a ball. You get SO UPSET when we are stern with you. We get down on the floor with you and make you look us in the eye, and then we tell you what you did wrong, why it was wrong and what you need to do to fix it. I hate seeing you upset and my heart breaks when you cry because you are being disciplined. Even though I know it is for your own good, I still hate to make you upset. Thankfully you also have a very forgiving spirit, so you never stay upset for very long.

I can’t believe I’ve been your mom for a year and a half. It seems like so much time, but it has gone by very quickly. Everyone says that time passes faster as you get older, but I never realized how true it was until you came into my life. Daddy remarked the other day that he can’t believe you are standing up during your baths and trying to climb out of the tub – he was remembering the days when he had to lean halfway into the tub to keep you from slipping around in your little baby bathtub. You’re growing up so quickly, Sweet Girl, and Daddy and I are so blessed to be along for the ride!

Love, Mama