Dear Carolyn,
In the past month I think I’ve entirely lost the little baby I brought home, but she’s been replaced by the coolest little girl, so it’s all good. You’re such a good-natured little person: you’ve had a cold on and off for this entire month, cut another front tooth plus two molars, and you’ve taken it all in stride and been a happy little girl despite it all.
I don’t even know where to start. You’re up to 100 signs now, having learned a whopping 30 this month: “please”, “thank you”, “help”, “leaf”, “train”, “bean”, “red”, “yellow”, “green”, “blue”, “purple”, “candy”, “surprised”, “boat”, “house”, “brush teeth”, “mouse”, “cake”, “grass”, “clean”, “dirty”, “love”, “I love you”, “hug”, “sorry”, “stop”, “go”, “time”, “sun” and “juice”. And just in this past week your verbal language has exploded too! You’re saying a total of 18 words now – the ones you’ve started saying this month are “ball”, “cup”, “duck”, “chair”, “bear”, “shoes”, “blocks”, “cereal”, “book”, “butterfly”, “hi”, “socks”, “bread”, “coat”, and “cookie”. That gives you a vocabulary (not counting duplicates of signs and spoken words) of 107 total words. That’s amazing! Of course, I’m about the only person who understands fully half of those signs and words, so I get to act as your full-time interpreter. Oh, and you’ve finally realized that dogs do more than pant. If I ask you what Molly says you say “wooo” (your version of “woof!”) and Murphy says “rarararar” (your version of “arf, arf, arf!”)
You’ve learned how to build lego (duplo) towers this month – you can connect a dozen or so of the 2×2 blocks before they get too unstable and start falling apart. And you’re very into mothering your dolls, giving them bottles and binkies and making sure they’re covered with blankets…that is, until you drop them on their heads to go do something else. Reading is still one of your very favorite things to do, and you have a dozen or so of your favorite books that you’ve made up names for, mostly in sign. You’re also starting to become interested in the actual words on the page, pointing them out to me while we read.
It’s amazing how much stuff you’ve learned in the past 16 months. You know where a couple dozen body parts are, including your elbows and your cheeks. I would estimate that you understand about 90% of what people say to you. You’ve learned that to watch Blue’s Clues or Signing Time you need the T.V. remote (and Mommy’s help) and that the cupboard next to the refrigerator is a seemingly endless source of snack food. You’ve even figured out how to push a little step-stool up to the sink so I can help you wash your hands before meals.
Speaking of food…you’re starting to be a little pickier about it finally. Not so much what you’ll eat, because you still eat almost anything we cook, but more how much and when you’ll eat. Some days you eat as much as I do at a meal, other days I wonder whether the dogs are sneaking you food when we’re not looking because you hardly eat anything. The dogs get a lot of extra on those days, and are now on a diet because the vet says they’re each 5-10 pounds overweight! The craziest new thing you’ve tried (and liked) this month is sushi – just cucumber rolls, no raw fish, but sushi nonetheless. We skipped the wasabi, but maybe we’ll let you try that next time.
It’s so much fun watching your personality start to develop, and seeing all the new things you learn every day. It’s amazing to look back at pictures from just a year ago and see how much you’ve grown since then. I’m sure I’ll never be able to record or remember all the cute, funny and crazy things you do, but I hope that these little glimpses of your life will make you smile in a few years.
Love, Mommy
Carrie absolutely adores 
