Dear Anna,
Today you are 19 months old. You are definitely out of baby mode and full-on into toddler mode…and an independent toddler at that! You are very much done with the walking bit. Now, you run. And when you’re not running, you’re climbing. You have no fear. Not one little bit!
You thrive on our routines. Every night, you climb up the stairs, go straight into the bathroom, climb up on the step stool, and wait (impatiently, I might add) for your tooth brush so we can brush all 12 of your teeth. From there, it’s into your room, where you demand that I turn on the lights so we can get you the rest of the way ready for bed. And you live for the bus, every afternoon. You wait with me (well, at least on the days you wake up from your nap early enough) until we see the bus coming around the corner. And then you light up with excitement over seeing “Dee-Dee”. (We think that means “sister”, but I suppose it could mean “Carrie”.)
You are completely hooked on TV. Your favorites are Dora (still), Mickey Mouse (which you call Nikki’s Mouse), and you even like to watch “Ar-fur” (Arthur) when your sister comes home from school. It does sound like a lot, but I really do promise that most days you don’t watch all of those things.
You are starting to grow out of your 18 month clothes. You have an enormous amount of clothes to choose from: your big sister’s old clothes, Nikki’s old clothes, clothes that I saw and wanted to buy for you…some days I feel like I’m drowning in little girl clothes! And now it’s time to dig out the 24 month clothes and sort through everything once again…
You absolutely can’t get enough books. We sit on the couch and snuggle together and read for a half an hour at a time. At that point you usually wiggle your way down and go play, but that’s a darn impressive attention span for such a busy little girl!
And you are busy. Busy driving cars around while making “vroom vrooom” noises, busy stacking blocks and “reading” books and getting into mischief. You are my little monkey, and you keep me on my toes!
Love, Mommy