My Dearest 18 month old

Dear Penny, today, you are 18 months old. I look at you sitting on the living room floor sick and miserable, and I wonder when you will be feeling better. I love you and it breaks my heart that you are so under the weather. I am thankful that you are interested in drinking some apple juice this morning. Last night you wanted nothing to do with anything that had to go into your mouth.

You have changed so much in the last 6 months, and 18 months seems such a lifetime ago for me.

Let's see, since May you have begun to put yourself in a sitting position on your own. I was so happy when you learned that trick. You seem to cruise all over the place, so I like to set up the chairs around the room for you. Although I bet you will not be in the mood for it this weekend. *update, I just had to take a break from this post because you wanted me to help you walk from the coffee table to the dining table.* I guess you are feeling a little bit better today.

You say a couple of worlds like Dada and dog. And Sara the speech therapist seems to believe you say "all done" and "what's this." It does sound like you could be saying these things, but when are you going to say "mama?!" I would think that is more important then these other worlds. That's OK though, in time, you will say mama.

You started to crawl on your hands and knees, abandoning the military crawl you were so good at. Sometimes you even move on you hands and feet! Daddy said he saw you go into a standing position from the inverted "V," but I haven't seen it yet. Someday in the near future you will be walking, but I can wait. You just take your time for the walking piece. Yvette, your physical therapist, is very proud of the progress you have made and I feel the same way!!

You are no longer the fragile baby from last year, you are a big baby that makes her opinions known. It was such a quick change from baby to toddler, even though you are not toddling yet. You are very vocal and quick to let us know if we are doing something you don't like/want, like going to bed, or changing your diaper.

Bath time is probably one of your favorite times of because you love to play and splash the water so much. You also like to play with your doll house and tea set. For some reason, you love to hit me on the belly s hard as possible and wait for my painful reaction. I don't know why this is so funny for you, you must like to see me in pain or something.

Feeding time has gotten more interesting. You really try to so hard to use your fork even though the food just won't stay there. But you sure get an A for effort. You have also been drinking a lot out of your straw-cups. Good for you!

I know your first 18 months of life brought a few painful experiences and a couple of close calls, but I thank God we were able to keep you alive through technology so that we could get to know you and love you.

I can't wait to see what kind of person you will turn out to be. I love you!!