I figured I would try to get your 15 month letter out in a more timely manner. Exactly a week late is basically on time, right?
Oh, kiddo. Every day I see that my (probably) last baby is just not a baby anymore. You are so very much entering true toddlerhood and leaving babyhood far behind. You interact with the world in more more sophisticated ways lately and it's kind of blowing my mind. Your Nana is always commenting about how you appear to be taking in the world around you and really considering it. You observe. You watch. You learn. You're very contemplative in new situations - but that's not to say you're always a serious baby. You are, at times, but you're also silly and smiley.
You point to everything. You see a thing that interests you, and you point to it, with the intent of getting whoever is with you to take you to the interesting thing. We went to the zoo, and I don't think you put your arm down once. Your pointer finger was fully extended the entire time. Everything from peacocks to monkeys to crows to rocks - you wanted to examine them all. Whenever you see a painting or picture on the wall, you want to look at it up close.
You love to read and to carry around dolls, whether baby dolls or Carys's Barbie-type dolls. Or Niall from One Direction. You love to pick up the trashcan (why?) and carry it around the house before ceremoniously dumping the contents all over (WHY?). In fact, you love to throw pretty much anything on the ground. Trying to clean or put clothes away with you around is like trying to stack papers in a tornado.
(Cuddling a real baby on the left - somewhere in that blue blanket under her!)
You love to play with our Kinetic Sand - it might be your very favorite thing in the entire house. You've just recently discovered coloring, and you especially love to color on the walls. And you really especially love to sob when I take the markers away from you to stop you from coloring on the walls (I'll redirect you to a piece of paper, but you really just want to decorate the walls.) Since we're packing to move, we have broken down cardboard boxes, and I opened one up and laid it out on the floor and both you and Carys have enjoyed coloring all over it. We also prop it up and use it as a tunnel, or a house, or a tent, or whatever else our imagination comes up with (well, Carys's imagination).
I really do think you're saying "daw" for "dog," and "dah" for "dad." You have a specific sound for Carys - kind of a "caw" - so we're getting there with words. You know eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and tummy and can point them out on other people. I don't think you've quite realized that you have the same body parts (except for tummy - you love to pick up your shirt and poke your tummy when I ask where your tummy is!). You can eat with a fork and drink from a real cup (though I don't let you alone, since you immediately dump it out). You love bathtime and walks.
You blow kisses and give big, open-mouth kisses and giant hugs on command. You've become such a climber and adventurer - climbing up on anything and everything, from your crib to the pile of boxes in the hallway to the TV stand to the bookshelves. You put together simple puzzles and sit and read books to yourself.
You've entered the hitting stage, much to Carys's dispair. Prior to this, all she had to watch out for was hair pulling, but now you hit. And hard! And with objects! We're constantly reminding you to be "soft." "Soft touch, Emmeline!" is heard all day long around here.
It's been so nice this month that we've been able to get outside and go on walks, and you....you really aren't sure about walking on that spongey surface known as grass. As a winter baby, you learned to walk when it was too cold to go outside, so you've been walking for four months indoors and never experienced walking on grass until now. And you just kind of freeze up as soon as your feet touch the bare ground. We're going outside every day to get you used to it, because kid - the best adventures come from walking on grass. So you need to get used to it! You can't be a great explorer if you won't walk on grass!
You are still not sleeping through the night and I'm just kind of at a loss. Crying it out doesn't work - I hate to say that I've tried, but I have, several times. You just cry and cry and cry to the point where you make yourself sick, and I can't leave you to do that. You'll sleep through the night some day, right??? RIGHT?!?!?!?! And that's really all I can say about that because if I think about the fact that I haven't slept more than three hours in a row in 15 months* I'll be the one crying.
(Note the two babies tucked under your arms)
*Except for one night when you stayed the night at Nana's house.
You really are such a love, Emmeline. After I pick Carys up from daycare, the first thing she says is, "Now go get Emmeline! I missed her!" Life wouldn't be nearly as special without you and those delectable dimples of yours.
Love you so much, little girl.
(Look at the size of those bags under my eyes. Damn.)
Love,
Mama
P.S. I almost forgot this and it's so huge it deserves its own postscript. STICKERS. You are completely obsessed with stickers. If you get a sheet of stickers, you'll entertain yourself for an hour - or until they're all gone. You stick them on yourself, on paper, on other people, delicately peeling them off one by one. You're getting a lot of stickers for Easter (shhhhh).
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