17 months

Dear Zadie,

I've been feeling a little guilty that I didn't write you one of these last month. We were in Chicago and I had a slow internet connection, and since we've been home it has been on my mind, but you and I have been very busy. I've been trying to make sure we have all kinds of fun before I have to go back to work. To that end, we've been to the zoo, ArtBeast, Old Sacramento, the wading pool, the park, on bicycle rides, to Grandpa John's house, out to breakfast... I know you'll never remember any of this when you're older, but it is important to me.

On to you! You are just amazing. You speak in sentences most of the time now. Sure, mostly it's simple subject-verb sentences, like "baby eat," "baby walk," "mama sit," "daddy read the book," and so on, but you're communicating very effectively. And you certainly make longer sentences as well. "Baby can drive the car!" and "Baby fall down, go boom on butt" and "Mommy, tickle my tummy" are among the more impressive sentences you've said lately. You have a full vocabulary with many three-syllable words. You clearly pronounce flamingo, Chicago, bicycle, koala, Odwalla, and domo arigato (which we taught you for fun).

One of the big changes this last month has been your ability to really make choices. Now that you can speak so well, I can ask "hummus or peanut butter?" and you'll answer (it was hummus, for the record). Or the other day, I asked you if you preferred to go to Old Sacramento or ArtBeast, and you quickly chose ArtBeast. It's fun to see you making decisions and taking a little control over your own life.

You are so energetic, and you really love many activities, but the things you like to do most are read books, walk up and down the street, dance, eat snacks (blueberries rank very high), watch Yo Gabba Gabba, play peek-a-boo, sing songs with me (you usually request Kimya Dawson's "Bobby-O," which you can sing along to), play with your magnetic letters on the fridge, color with crayons (and sometimes you even stay on the paper!), drum, and riffle through my purse.

You love trucks and trains and drumming, but you are for the most part REALLY into girly stuff. You clap and yell "Yay, shopping!" when we pull into a store parking lot. You request that we put lipstick on you, you want pink sparkly shoes, you want to put jewelry on (particularly earrings, but I don't have any clip-ons for you), and you love barrettes and headbands. After we put any of these items on you, you request "see mirror!"

You would love to drive the car or ride a bike. I think I'll get you a bike (with no pedals -- a training-type bike) for Christmas, because you ask about them all the time. Just this morning, you saw our neighbors getting out their bikes and clapped and said "Yay, bicycle!" Then you asked several times "Mama ride a bicycle? Baby ride the bicycle?" You also could spend hours in the driver's seat of the car just standing holding the wheel and pretending. You ask to be seat-belted in, too, which makes me smile. Your other favorite pretend game is talking on the phone. You grab my cell phone or your play phone, hold it to your ear and laugh like someone has told you a joke. Lately you've told us that you're talking to Elmo, Big Bird, Grandma, Boompah, Grandpa,Grandma Jan, Jenny and Aunt Maryam.

When other babies cry, it freaks you out a little, so I've been teaching you that when babies cry, we just pat them and say "It's okay." You have extended this to other people, too. The other day, you demanded that I cry, so I faked crying, and you patted me on the shoulder and said "It's okay." At the wading pool on Friday, I met an old high school friend and her baby briefly cried. You were too nervous to pat the baby, so you patted yourself on the arm and said "It's okay." Speaking of the wading pool, you seem to enjoy being there, but you don't really want to go in the water. You prefer to stand on the edge and throw things in. If I put you in the water, you cling to my legs and bury your face in my lap. You will NOT walk in the water, even if I hold your hand.

You have become quite a helper. You can bring me shoes, put books back on the shelf, and put small toys away. When we take showers together, you say "clean mommy" and rub my chest as if to help me wash. If I ask you to clean yourself, you will. It makes me laugh to ask you to clean your butt and watch you say "clean butt" and rub your booty.

You probably don't want this preserved on the internet, but you are also kind of weird. About once a week, we have the poop-eating discussion. "Baby eat poop?" "No, yuck-o! We don't eat poop." "Mama eat the poop?" "No, that's yucky." Long pause. "Baby eat poop?" And so forth... You have also asked if you can take your hair off, if you can eat the cat, and if I can take my boobies off.

You love you ride on your little zebra, and have recently discovered that you can stand on the saddle. You also can climb onto the kitchen table. Long gone are the days when I could put you somewhere and expect you to stay there!

A few other tidbits -- you have an Elmo doll you're pretty attached to. Sometimes you insist that he nurses, too. Other times you throw him violently to the floor, then pick him up, rock him, and tell him "It's okay." You love Dylan from down the street. Whenever you're both outside, you follow him all around. If we walk past his house and he's not outside, you look at me and ask "Dy-an?" with your palms up. Your memory surprises me -- A month ago, we saw cousin Cristin and baby Grant. He ran into a table, hit his head, and was crying. Just a few days ago, you saw a picture of Grant and said "Grant. Baby cry." You also regularly ask for Naia, a little girl we met on the airplane last month. In June, we met my step-brother's kids at Grandpa John's house. One of them is named Audrey, and she was playing in the hot tub. Several weeks later, we went back and you pointed at the hot tub and said "Audrey?"

We went to the doctor a few weeks ago for a check-up, and you're above average in height and weight, and way advanced for your age in terms of vocabulary. We still nurse, but we don't use the SNS anymore. Now I try to get you to drink milk from a cup. You don't drink as much as you're supposed to just yet, but I'm hoping that will improve.

Now you're on my lap begging to see pictures of yourself, so I'd better go. I love you tremendously.

Love,
Mom

15 months

You are amazing, spectacular, beautiful, a genius... Honey, I can't believe how much you keep learning. Every day you say new things. Seriously, when I read you a book, you sometimes repeat the last work on every page. You can speak in short sentences, like "Mommy cook" and "baby sit." You use many of these. You also sometimes say three-or four word phrases like "sit on mommy" or, most recently, "up in the sky." (Okay, it sounds like "up in kye," but I know what you mean.) You also say "I see a Mommy," "I see a baby," "I see a Mina," "I see a ball," "I see water," etc. I'm not 100% sure you know what you're saying, but I'm impressed nonetheless.

You can climb steps, scoot yourself down a slide, dance (your moves include stomping, head-nodding, turning around, and clapping), climb down from couches and beds, and you're starting to run a little (or at least walk fast). You can give high fives, you are learning to shake hands, you wave very well, and you blow raspberries regularly (usually just when someone has complimented you).

You can point to your eye, mouth, nose, ear, head, hand, arm, leg, knee, foot, cheek, chin, and tummy. When we went to Oregon, your grandma asked to see your tummy and you came running over and lifted your shirt. You can take something like a ball and follow instructions to put it in, on, under, on, and off other things, like a chair or bowl.

We have been taking swim lessons, which are more focused on getting you comfortable in the water than anything, but they seem to be effective. Today we put you in Grandpa John's pool, and it was the first time you'd been in a big, cold-water pool, and you were totally cool with it.

It is finally summertime. The very first thing we did when I got out of school was go to Oregon to visit our family. You had a wonderful time playing with your cousins and aunties especially.

Your hair has grown a lot since your first birthday. It's still noticeably copper-colored, but I think it's coming in a little lighter. My favorite thing is that at the back of your head, there are some crazy little ringlets. I suspect you're going to have very curly hair.

You are very sweet. You give kisses and hugs, and even though you are frequently on the go, you still like to be held or sit on our laps and have stories read to you. I just can't get enough Zadie time.

I love you very much,

Mom

over 13 months

Well, I'm a slacker! I was trying to update this once a month. Ah, well.

You are so much fun right now. Everywhere we go, you insist on "walk walk walk!" We let you walk up and down the sidewalk, all over the house (which can be trouble, as two of your favorite things to get into are the diaper pail and the cat's food), and wherever else we think it's safe to let you walk. The other day you went face-first into the concrete of our neighbor's driveway. You can really get around and get into everything! I had to get locks for some of the cabinets. Everywhere we look around the house are pieces of Tupperware, lone shoes, purses, junk mail...

Grandma and I have been working on potty training you. At first we had a lot of luck -- we were catching you just at the right moment and you were peeing in the potty and having dry diapers. By the end of the week, you had even pooped in the potty three times. But since then, you had an upset stomach one week and we haven't been as lucky, so we're still having a mix of potty and diaper. Still, it's progress! You're rather young for potty training anyway, so anywhere we get is a bonus.

You can say "book" now, and you chant it while bringing us books to read. You recognize that letters are a particular kind of shape, but for the moment, you think they're all "e."

You still love drinking water, and you'll eat almost any kind of food. We've been getting you your own sandwich at Corti Brothers for dinner on Wednesday.

You are learning to dance. Grandma has been taking you to a music class on Mondays, and they stomp, turn around, put their hands in the air, and shake their hips. She's taught you the first three. Last night at Maalouf's, we were the only ones in the restaurant, so I let you walk around, and you showed everyone your dance skills. Abdul said he might put you on the schedule of belly dancers.

You are still obsessed with the cat. You call every cat you see "Mee-ah" and when we're at home, you always want to pet her. I have to say "gentle, gentle!" and take your hand, because you can be a little rough. You also like to kiss her on the face, which she is not wild about, so I monitor that carefully.

As we speak, you're getting into something, so I'd better go! I'm having a blast running after you, my curious dumpling.

I love you more every day,

Mom

More words and signs

Time to update the list with words and signs she's added! The doctor was very impressed with her language skills at her one-year visit.

Words:
cat
car
alley
walk
Mina
keys
kitty
back
tree
truck
clock
money
pee-pee
baby
all done
water
bottle
yummy (nummy)
whee
Grandma (sounds like Gee-aw)

Signs:
squirrel
hear
stars
elephant
wash hands
shirt
pants
bib
fan
tree
light
toothbrush
pig
me
bath
cat

Birthday!

Darling! You're almost a year old. One year ago right now I was in labor at the hospital. You were born at 3:07 on the 25th. It seems like a distant dream, and at the same time I can remember flashes of it with perfect clarity.

You are amazing. You started walking a week and a half ago, and now you are fearless and love walking, no matter how many times you fall on your bottom. If you're in a real hurry, you still crawl sometimes, because you are a super-fast crawler.

You say so many words now and make so many signs. You've added "all done," squirrel, back, alley, whoo (owl noise), and many others. I swear I'm not being biased when I say I think you are very advanced in your vocabulary.

You are also very energetic, curious, and loving. You give hugs and kisses now, and you give GREAT hugs. A visual of you I will probably always remember is you, in your stroller, leaning forward and kicking your legs, which is how you almost always ride. You never just sit back and relax.

You love to be taken around the house to see everything. You want to look at everything on the mantle, all the fridge magnets, my Alice in Wonderland figures, etc. You also like to walk around and try to pull things off tables and out of bags and drawers and shelves. If you can reach it, it will be in your hands soon.

You still love to cuddle and nurse, and you also eat pretty much any food we give you.

I love you so much, and this year has been absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for being my sweet baby.

I love you more than I thought I ever could (and I was pretty sure it was a lot).

Love,
Mom

Milestones - almost 11 months

We've had many milestones this month, sweetpea. Your grandma and I were just adding up all the words and signs you say, and came up with a list of about fifteen of each.

Words:
Hi
Bye
Mom
Dad
clock
duck
up
night
eye
butt
boom
Odwalla
Boompah
bubble
caw
bow wow wow
cluck
quack

Signs:
more
eat
all done
bird
hi & bye
hat
dog
water
frog
book
fish
milk
flower
butterfly
diaper

You also put together two sentences. You said "Bye Daddy" one morning just after your dad left for work. You also signed "birds eat" when you saw seagulls eating on campus at Kit Carson.

Tonight you took one step on your own. You can walk anywhere if you're holding on to our fingers, but until tonight you haven't taken any steps on your own. But tonight you were standing, and your dad said "You should walk after the cat." As if taking his suggestion, you took one step!

You love your books, and you often bring them to us to read. You also give kisses to your dolls with a little encouragement. You play peekaboo and pattycake. You bounce when music comes on, and lately you've been trying to sing along. You have been pretending to blow your nose -- you don't really know how, but you put paper towels to your face and blow with your lips. You say "Mmmm" whenever you see apples, whether in pictures or in person. You can point at eyes, noses, mouths, ears, and hair when asked, not always perfectly accurately, but most of the time. When we see a bear or lion picture, we growl, and you growl back. You love to be chased around by Daddy, and you laugh hysterically when he chases you.

When you see Boompah in the computer room, you scoot over to him and signal to get up so he can show you videos on YouTube. You also like the BabySigns videos, and you watched the Muppets at your Grandpa's house. (You signed "frog" at the picture of Kermit.)

I can't believe you'll be one in just over a month! You're getting to be such a big, smart, sweet girl. I love you very much.

Love,
Mom

Ten months!

Hello, my beautiful, sweet, perfect daughter. You are now ten months old. I'm starting to think about first birthday parties, even. You aren't walking yet, but you are standing competently and confidently. You eat damn near anything. You laugh a lot. One of your favorite things is sticking your index finger out like E.T., and when someone touches it with their index finger, you laugh your ass off, particularly if they say something like "Bzzz" or pretend to be electrocuted. You are crazy for peekaboo, and laugh when someone hides behind something and then pops out. You love eating out at restaurants, and can gnaw through a piece of bread, no matter how crusty. You're good natured, although you want to do whatever you like. You want, for example, to throw everything from the table onto the floor and do not want to be prevented from it.

You're a pretty good sleeper now, and usually can be put down at night without any fuss. You are resistant to naps this last week, though. You love birds, and whenever you see them you flap your arms and say "Caw!" You're going to Babysigns class again starting tomorrow, so hopefully you'll pick up some more signs. Now you do approximations of eat, more, nurse, milk, bird, and you do hat really well. You're also working on water.

You have picked up a few more words, including clock, and you now make a "vroom" noise when playing with your car. Your favorite noise is "MMMM," which you say whenever you see, smell, or taste food you like. The other day at the coffee shop, you apparently made "MMMM" noises at a family eating muffins, but they ignored you.

You have four teeth, and I think your hair may be getting a little darker. It's not filling in a heck of a lot, though. The little bit at the back is longer and curls up in a funny way.

This morning you crawled into the shower in your jammies while your dad was in there with the water on. You're funny like that.

Okay, that's all.

I love you,
Mom