Eighteen months
Dear Eva,
These last six months, we’ve been discovering and learning and enjoying so many new things, and I don’t want to forget them. So here are my top ten from each of those delightful months.
13 months
- taking your first steps two days after your birthday
- your exclamations that either are or sound exactly like oh wow! hello! and a dog!
- all the waving at all the people
- all the handing of all the things
- brushing your hair with my brush
- laying your head on everything
- putting things back in the box after taking them all out
- pointing at everything that delights you
- your garden party first birthday party
- signing food and more
14 months
- climbing the stairs, the ottoman, the couch
- putting things into drawers
- your obsession with closing anything that’s left open (cupboards, drawers, etc.)
- bringing me the books you want to read
- singing little thirds and scales
- saying sounds that are more like words
- laughing hysterically at Siri
- feeding yourself with utensils
- how you love being chased
- blowing kisses (and are starting to give more hugs and cheek kisses)
15 months
- your obsession with shoes — yours, mine, and everyone’s
- bringing toys by name
- blowing bubbles with a straw
- reaching up to hold my hand (and then dragging me where you want to go)
- playing peek-a-boo
- waving goodbye at the end of books
- showing me where your nose, eyes, ears, hair, toes, and belly button are
- moving up to the next class at school and starting to eat school lunches
- discovering that balls are the best
- your love for the outdoors — especially when it involves pointing at flowers and taking rocks from the neighbors’ yards
- (bonus) watching you go underwater at your new swim lessons
- (bonus #2) making the most of this long, Indian summer, drinking smoothies and sitting in your little pool in the late afternoon
- (bonus #3) your first visit to the state fair, complete with hugs for any petting zoo animal that would stand still long enough
16 months
- putting puzzle pieces in place and becoming a stacking pro
- the way all the animals say moo
- enjoying more complex, longer books, like Madeline
- climbing up and going down slides alone, and starting to walk down stairs by yourself
- saying uh-oh constantly
- sleeping with bunny and giving him kisses (and Roo and Uno get kisses too… and nibbles)
- watching you do all the motions in Head to Toe
- discovering the wonder of stickers
- not only putting things into drawers and boxes but actually putting them away
- all the words you’re saying more consistently all the time: bye, dog, bird, yes, no, shoes (and sometimes even mama, please, cat)
17 months
- your enthusiastic yeah! to anything you want
- your love for owls and how they say who
- the little songs you sing
- tucking in and patting your animal babies
- tucking in and patting your people
- your obsession with pushing the stroller, shopping carts, and anything else with wheels
- how much you love seeing Snuggle Puppy stand on his head and jump in the leaves (and how you dance along to the song)
- the delights of crawl chasing
- how much you enjoy sit-diving and walking on the foam mat at swim lessons
- all of your very forceful kisses for mama
18 months
- walking up stairs by yourself, sometimes without using the handrail
- all of your animal noises — roar, quack, cluck, snorting and snuffing for pigs and rhinos, beating your chest for gorillas, waving your arms and making monkey noises, and of course the seasonally appropriate gobble gobble gobble
- the way you call butterflies shuh-shoo
- your vocabulary explosion — go, up, mama, daddy, apple, turtle, fish, car, ball, bubble, plane, moon, star, and so many others
- the way you think bubbles and balloons are the same thing
- watching you start to recognize letters and numbers
- turning the oven light on and off about a thousand times a day
- pointing to and naming other people’s eyes, nose, hair, ears, etc.
- the way you point to old photos of yourself and say baby
- how much you enjoy climbing in and out of your toddler bed
Halfway to being two, and I’m more proud of you every day. I love both who you are and who you’re becoming, day by day. Happy half birthday, sweet muffin.