Seventeen Months

Just a moment ago, walking barefoot in the house, I stepped on something icky. Turns out it was two little raisins stuck there on my toepad. This made me smile.

Little things, miss June, are my favorite things. You have a new love of raisins. I have a love of any food you will cram into your mouth in big handfuls. You also love blueberries: frozen, fresh, or dried. And cherry tomatoes. Each of these items you call "buoys." I could listen to you say that all day. It started with the blueberries. Which you called boo-buoys. Now it has morphed and all little sweet round things are buoys.

Your language use is out of this world. I can't keep track of individual words anymore, there are too many. But I like your little "isms" and I'll try to record them here. The biggest marvel is that this month you started using sentences. More accurately, you started asking questions. "What is that?"
"Who is that?"
We were stunned at first. Could you really be asking questions? And you are persistent. For example, looking at the side of the Huggies box you were speaking and I wasn't listening closely. I said, "yes, that's a baby." And you insisted. "What IS THAT?" And lo and behold there is a tiny little mickey mouse there on the box. So I told you what it was. This is what I mean about persistence.

You also do a lot of word pairing. "Mommy - shoe - on." Things like that.

And the concept "bye-bye" has reached a new level. You've said it for a long time. But now it is a point of comprehension, where we can say, "time to go bye-bye" or "say bye-bye to the kitty" and then you won't cry when we leave. You seem to get it now, whereas before, it was just a reason to get mad when we pulled you away from something. I really like this development.

Sleep: we've had some ups and downs this month. You are getting your first cuspid and it has been a major PAIN. Which means poor sleep. But you seem better the last few days.

You still love toothbrushes. And coloring. And books. You know the names of many of your books. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is "pillar." "Moo Baa Lalala" you sing out when you see the cover. And you'll carry "Hop on Pop" to me twenty times a day. You learned to say cactus from that book, which I think is very useful here in Tucson. We go for walks now and you see them and say "cactus. no-no." Thank goodness.

As for me, I still ache for you when we are apart. Sometimes it is strong, just like in the very beginning when you were new. It is hard to be apart from your bright smile and your hugs. Your sense of humor. And you are like part of my own body, I go semi-paralyzed when we're apart. Or perhaps it is like a ghost limb, calling me. Whatever it is, it is real and I love you baby.

One of my favorite things is to watch you dance. You love reggae. You stand up, you sway your hips. You smile. I want to cherish these times where you lack self-consciousness about things like this. Please let that be for a long time. I never let on my own inhibitions and find myself dancing with you in public places, hoping not to squelch your expression, your happiness.

You love to make us laugh. Two things you do: strain your arms and neck like a body builder, grinning. This busts us up. You also started this new game I don't want to encourage, where you lightly slap your own face and say "Ow!" So silly.

You've learned to say "bluck" when you look at a tissue after you get your nose wiped.

In the car, we turn up songs like this one by Kanye, and we dance with our arms and smile. And my heart can't take so much joy.

Darling, life would be very empty without you. Happy 17 months my big girl!

Love,
Mom

PS If anyone likes to eat green curry, here is how I make mine. Jen saw my dinner photo on flickr so I posted how I make it.