Anna

Dear Anna,

Today you are eighteen months old.  That’s a year and a half – we’re halfway to two already since your birthday, which doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago! You have 10 teeth now: two of your molars have poked through.  Hey, if you get a couple more teeth in soon I might not need to cut your food into such teeny-tiny pieces anymore!

Your favorite words and your obsessions are one and the same.  You love Dora.  I cannot stress this enough; love may not even be a strong enough word.  Dora, Boots, Backpack…they’re practically all you talk about.  Also, Elmo.  I really, truly don’t understand the appeal, but you do love that furry red squeaky monster.  Sigh.  It causes you fits of baby rage that I won’t let you watch unlimited amounts of Dora and Sesame Street daily, but as I’ve already told you many, many times, I’m the meanest Mommy you’re ever going to have, so you’ll just have to learn to deal with it.

When you’re not begging for “mo’ Do-la”, you’ve been enjoying playing with the Potato Head set you got for Christmas, and stacking things like blocks and cups.  You also really love to color, although you have the words crayon and paper mixed up for some reason.  The other day I got out the sticker box, and you and Carrie spent the better part of an hour sticking stickers all over construction paper.  Somehow it didn’t seem to make a dent in the sticker collection, either…

You’re still napping and sleeping well, and are especially loving the new toddler pillow you got for Christmas.  It has monkeys, stars and moons on it.  As long as you have your pillow, your blanket, your quilt, your dolly, your baby, your Minnie, your aquarium, and your lullaby CD, you are all set at night.

So.  You’re eighteen months old now.  Which means, you are a Big Girl.  And Big Girls don’t sit in a high chair anymore.  Big Girls also will not be carried up or down stairs, will not be fed by anyone else in any manner, and must be treated equally to the big sister.  I had forgotten how interesting eighteen months could be.  Luckily, Big Girls are also sweet and funny and adorable, so I think we’ll both survive.  At least until nineteen months, anyway!

Love, Mommy

Dear Anna,

Today you are seventeen months old.  Another month before you are officially one and a half!  You’ve gained one of your top molars to bring your total number of teeth to nine, and you’re just on the verge of outgrowing a lot of your 12-18 month clothes.

What else is new this month?  You have a lot of new words and a lot of new signs.  Your favorite words to say are “belly”, “Molly”, “star” and “‘nack!” (you use this one a lot to get snacks).  Other fun new words are “plate”, “fork” and “Nee-Nee”, your best friend Nikki.  I think we’ve been out shopping with Nikki and her mom just a little too often, because pretty much whenever we get in the car to go anywhere, you start asking for “Nee-Nee”!

You’ve learned how to climb up on the chairs and couches, and I swear you’re going to give me a head full of gray hair by Christmas.  Because once you climb up on those chairs and couches, you stand and walk around on them without a care in the world.

When you’re not playing Danger-baby, you have a lot of fun playing with your baby doll.  You really, really love babies – dolls, pictures of babies, babies you see in the mall – you’re obsessed with babies!  You’re also still obsessed with books.  First thing in the morning, before Daddy leaves for work, he walks into your room to say goodbye, and you ask him for a book.  That occupies you long enough for me to get dressed and start getting your sister ready for school.  And once your sister gets on the bus, you get your daily episode (or two, if I’m under-caffeinated) of Signing Time.

You are exhausting to parent lately, with your constant need to climb and explore.  Luckily, you still go to sleep really easily and sleep all night.  You’ve chosen a couple of loveys finally – a pink plush “my first doll” and a small baby Minnie Mouse.  Oh, and “Billy”, your small taggie square.  (I think maybe “Billy” is a combination of “blanket” and “pillow”?)  Now I just have to somehow manage to get myself to bed at a reasonable hour so I’ll be able to keep up with your danger baby antics!

Love, Mommy

Dear Anna,

You are sixteen months old today.  I waffle between thinking that sounds so young and thinking that I should probably stop thinking of you as a baby.

I’m sorry to say that I’ve totally lost track of your words and your signs.  You have so many at this point that it would probably be easier to list the things you can’t sign or say!  Some recent cute ones are that you can sign “sister” and that you say “nose” (well, “no-oh”) whenever you see a tissue.  You also say “‘appy!” when you’re happy.  You’re starting to sign colors – green, red, yellow and blue – but I don’t know that you know what they mean yet.  It’s a really good thing you sign in addition to speaking, because many of your words sound exactly the same.  You basically can only say the consonants “b”, “d”, “n”, and “p”, so any words that rely on any other consonants are pretty tough to figure out.

The past few days, while I’ve been so sick, you’ve watched a lot of Signing Time episodes.  You’ve been obsessed for a while now, but now you’re a complete addict.  Oh, well, at least it’s educational, right?  Besides, your sister watched a ton of Signing Time as a baby and she’s turned out pretty well so far!

You are a little independent stinker pants now.  You want to do everything yourself.  Everything.  You use a fork and you make a good attempt at using a spoon.  You climb up on the step stool so you can reach a box of animal crackers on the counter, and you’ve figured out how to open the box and get snacks out.

You also have started having little mini baby tantrums.  Let me just tell you, it’s really, really hard not to laugh when you’re laying on the kitchen floor, kicking and pounding your fists.  And why, you might ask, were you having this little tantrum?  Well, really, it all comes down to me being a mean mommy.  A mean, mean mommy, who won’t let you climb into the dishwasher.  Yes, I’m really that mean.  And yes, mini baby tantrums are really that funny!

I know it’s cliche, and I know I felt the same way (and still do) with your sister, but the age you’re at right now?  It’s my favorite age.  Every month you’re more fun, interesting, wonderful…more you.  I’m loving watching you turn into a curious, spunky, exciting little girl.

Love, Mommy