dear sweet baby a

Happy Birthday! You are 18 months old today! I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital, and now you are a walking and talking bundle of energy. Every day, you grow and change so much...and as much as I would love to remember every little detail, I know I won't. So here is what you are like right now.

At 18 months you:

• love to be picked up. You strech your arms over your head and repeat "UP!" until whoever you are asking picks you up. But, because you are polite, you will thank the person for picking you up by saying "Dant do."


• love to eat fruit. Your favorite fruit du jour is apple, which you call "Ah-pull" and give the sign for. Previous favorites included bananas and clementines. You also could eat a bag of Craisins in one sitting.
  
• love Dora and Diego, especially Diego. You call them "Doh-da" and "Dee-a-doh", and you always give a yelp of excitement when they are on. But, unlike your sister, your attention span is only good for a few minutes of show watching at a time.
  
• play with E's dollhouse a lot. You could spend all day playing with the babies -- putting them in the high chair or the car or the cradle. You also like Little People.
  
• also love to play outside. Just like E did when she was your age, you love to walk on the stone wall that the neighbors have around their tree. You also love our swingset and your tricycle.
  
• are quite the daredevil. You didn't seem to enjoy the swings all that much the other day...but I figured out that you wanted to be pushed higher and faster and then you were happy. You also don't want me to help you down the slide anymore and are trying to walk down the stairs holding my hand.
  
• love to read. Every night we read "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear." You are starting to memorize it so when I say "Oh how that bear loves strawberries" you shout "Oh!" as loud as you can along with me.
  
• want to be like your big sister. You follow her around a lot. You also love to climb into her bed and pretend to go to sleep. She loves you, too, and I hope you will always be as good of friends as you are now.
  
• are a fantastic little girl and I'm so proud to be your mommy!