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

1. taking your first steps two days after your birthday
2. your exclamations that either are or sound exactly like oh wow! hello! and a dog!
3. all the waving at all the people
4. all the handing of all the things
5. brushing your hair with my brush
6. laying your head on everything
7. putting things back in the box after taking them all out
8. pointing at everything that delights you
9. your garden party first birthday party
10. signing food and more

14 months

1. climbing the stairs, the ottoman, the couch
2. putting things into drawers
3. your obsession with closing anything that’s left open (cupboards, drawers, etc.)
4. bringing me the books you want to read
5. singing little thirds and scales
6. saying sounds that are more like words
7. laughing hysterically at Siri
8. feeding yourself with utensils
9. how you love being chased
10. blowing kisses (and are starting to give more hugs and cheek kisses)

15 months

1. your obsession with shoes — yours, mine, and everyone’s
2. bringing toys by name
3. blowing bubbles with a straw
4. reaching up to hold my hand (and then dragging me where you want to go)
5. playing peek-a-boo
6. waving goodbye at the end of books
7. showing me where your nose, eyes, ears, hair, toes, and belly button are
8. moving up to the next class at school and starting to eat school lunches
9. discovering that balls are the best
10. your love for the outdoors — especially when it involves pointing at flowers and taking rocks from the neighbors’ yards
11. (bonus) watching you go underwater at your new swim lessons
12. (bonus #2) making the most of this long, Indian summer, drinking smoothies and sitting in your little pool in the late afternoon
13. (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

1. putting puzzle pieces in place and becoming a stacking pro
2. the way all the animals say moo
3. enjoying more complex, longer books, like Madeline
4. climbing up and going down slides alone, and starting to walk down stairs by yourself
5. saying uh-oh constantly
6. sleeping with bunny and giving him kisses (and Roo and Uno get kisses too… and nibbles)
7. watching you do all the motions in Head to Toe
8. discovering the wonder of stickers
9. not only putting things into drawers and boxes but actually putting them away
10. 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

1. your enthusiastic yeah! to anything you want
2. your love for owls and how they say who
3. the little songs you sing
4. tucking in and patting your animal babies
5. tucking in and patting your people
6. your obsession with pushing the stroller, shopping carts, and anything else with wheels
7. how much you love seeing Snuggle Puppy stand on his head and jump in the leaves (and how you dance along to the song)
8. the delights of crawl chasing
9. how much you enjoy sit-diving and walking on the foam mat at swim lessons
10. all of your very forceful kisses for mama

18 months

1. walking up stairs by yourself, sometimes without using the handrail
2. 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
3. the way you call butterflies shuh-shoo
4. your vocabulary explosion — go, up, mama, daddy, apple, turtle, fish, car, ball, bubble, plane, moon, star, and so many others
5. the way you think bubbles and balloons are the same thing
6. watching you start to recognize letters and numbers
7. turning the oven light on and off about a thousand times a day
8. pointing to and naming other people’s eyes, nose, hair, ears, etc.
9. the way you point to old photos of yourself and say baby
10. 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.

Today, I was delighted to be a guest author on He Speaks in the Silence in Diane’s series, The Order of October. In my post, I talk about what doing life on purpose looks like for me in this season of life — and what it means to live a small but valuable life. Read the post here.

Dear Eva,

On your real birthday, we were in Lake Tahoe — but when we got home, we gathered in Laurelhurst Park with friends and family to celebrate the first year of your life. The day was so hot that all the frosting on your cake melted and you tried to climb into the ice bucket with the cold drinks and your Auntie Erin had to schlep buckets of water back and forth from the bathroom to fill your splash pool. But it will forever be one of my favorite days.

Credits

Photography: Mae Wright Photography
Invitations: Idlewild Co.
Confetti balloons: The Paper Kit
Teepee: Sugar Shacks (with handmade flower garland and vintage quilt)
Cake topper: Pluma Paper
Outfit: Baby Gap (dress), Freshly Picked (moccasins), Fancy Free Finery (flower crown)
Napkins, wooden silverware, cups, straws: Sweet Lulu
Flowers: local farmers market
Flower number 1, photo garland, ribbon pennant banner: handmade
Vintage serverware: from my collection