16 month letter

Dear Beanie Boo,
Well that month flew by fast.  You are becoming a little girl at a rapid rate.  It is something new all the time.  This seems to be a theme in the letters I write you, but it is true every month.  I feel like I just wrote your 15 month letter, but I know there has been some awesome stuff this month.  Let's see...

 Your vocabulary gets bigger everyday! You can say so much, I cannot even remember it all anymore.  You are more discriminate with your words too.  You will ask for mama or dada.  You will sometimes answer questions with a no or yes (usually no).  Sometimes it even looks like you shrug your shoulders with your hands up (like saying "I don't know").  When you are content or want to be part of a conversation you will nod your head yes as if to say "I like what is happening here".   Some hot words of the moment that I think are new:  ice, Mimi, boo boo, knee, hi, car, tree, hot, spider, fire, blue, red, slide, lolo, gaga, doll, beer, ice, key…and many more.  You have started a high pitched scream to get what you want.  Or you will grunt.  Not so flattering.  We will remind you to use your nice words and you will usually say please and give us a kiss.  You haven't said thank you yet, so we tell you to "say thank you with a kiss", and you usually do.  Anything that is the color red you say "fire" and "hot".  The other day we were working on the color blue and you started to blow with you mouth…confusing blew /blow and blue.  so silly.  Speaking of blowing…you can blow your nose!

 One morning, Daddy left for work around 5 am.  As he kissed me goodbye he whispered "is B asleep?" and YOU responded "no, BYE!" and then went back to sleep.  You have joined us in bed around 2/3 every morning recently.  You are growing majorly (grew out of several of your shoes this month…you are an official size 5 now).  You also gained 4 new teeth.  Naps have been shorter and you have needed to cuddle your mommy.  You have longer spurts of sleep without nursing in our bed now.  You also like to sprawl and turn in circles while you sleep which makes getting comfortable impossible.  When I do try to change positions, I move so slowly and slyly trying not to wake you for fear of having to nurse for another hour.  This means I sleep in a ball at the foot of the bed some nights. You are so fun to wake up with though.  As soon as your eyes open, you pop up and start jabbering away.  You always do a roll call.  Mama!  Dada!  Bubba!  If Bubba is not on the bed, you call for him until he jumps up.  You love having your whole family accounted for each morning.  You have also started to call for Bubba by slapping both of your hands on your thighs and shouting "Bubba!".  You tried this with Wilder (your buddy) once, but it was unsuccessful.  Have I mentioned that you and Bubba Leon are best friends?

 You are doing more role play.  You like to pretend you are leaving and will close any door and say "Bye!".  One day, you put on Daddy's hat and walked toward the front door and said "Bye!"…which is exactly what daddy does before work.  You walk around with my phone (or a toy to your ear) and pretend to have phone conversations.  You will even pick up the phone and request to call somebody.  You love to hear people you know on the other end of the line, even though you'll get shy and won't say much.   You LOVE to sweep.  You always find the broom, no matter where we are, and do a little sweeping.  You will also take wipes out of your diaper bag and start cleaning the house. You take care of your dollies, and you know each of them by name.  There is Leon Valentine, Madeline, Dolly, Pink Baby, Carrots, Violet, Thumper, Jerry Bear, and Bow Bear.  You will read them stories in the rocking chair or sing them songs and put them "night night".  Speaking of "night night", you are a big fan.  As soon as you show signs of getting tired, we will ask you "are you ready for night night?" and you will usually start waving and saying "night night".  One night, you grabbed a blank, went and turned on your sound machine, and crawled up into your rocking chair when I asked if you were ready!  Daddy and Mommy usually switch off nights for putting you to bed, but you have really been wanting your mommy lately.

                             

 Meal time is hit and miss.  You are starting to avoid your veggies a little more than you used to.  You love to use a fork and spoon and will usually insist that we get you one.  You still love your meat, beans and cheese.  You love to cheers.  With drinks or food.  You had your first snow cone (well, bites of mine).  You love to chomp on ice and we use this when we are at a restaurant (which is getting almost impossible with you!).

 You still love to sing and dance.  You will walk right up to the record player and turn it on when you feel like getting your groove on.  You like to clap and stomp.  We will ask you "Will you sing me a song?" and you will start humming a tune and do an interpretive like dance.  It is awesome.  I caught you in your room by yourself one day dancing and singing to Madeline your doll.  You have been doing the motions to Itsy Bitsy spider for a couple of months now.  You like to play with your puzzle and do animal noises.  You can do a monkey (hoo hoo ha ha), horse, pig, cow, cat, and duck.  We have been watching a lot of football and you can identify a jayhawk and you love to throw your guns up for the cowboys.  We have been to the splash pad a few times now.  You run around squealing with delight and filling up your plastic bucket with water.  We have also been enjoying the beach with daddy lately.  You and daddy will run into the water and run from the waves.  You are a california girl.

 You got your first boo boo where you needed a band aid while we were in Oklahoma at the beginning of this month MEETING YOUR NEW COUSIN NORAH!!! (you love your Norah).  You now get boos boos on the daily and you will point at them and say "knee.  boo boo."  You even showed me the scar on Madeline (from getting her appendix out) and said "boo boo".

 You are very into cars and love anything with wheels.  You love your rocking giraffe more than ever this month…and you will rock HARD!  You also like to lounge in doggie beds and you have crawled out the doggie door a couple of times.  You swung (very carefully) in a big girl swing this month.  You still love your plastic kiddie pool with the slide in the backyard.

Yes.  There are tough days.  It is not easy having to grow so fast.  As I type, you are at the foot of the bed yelling "momma! momma!" because, for some reason, daddy is not enough for you these days.  So, I am going to cut this "short" and go cuddle me baby who needs me and only me.  And that is pretty awesome.

Love, 

Mommy and Daddy