Today you turn 18 months old. Before you were born, I heard from many people that this was the absolute best age. I think they may be right. Even though you are a full on toddler now, so often you become my baby again when you lay your head on my shoulder, or I watch you sleep with your butt stuck up in the air, clutching your beloved seahorse. And at the same time you are such a little kid, my little girl. Your hair flies as you go chasing the cat, your cousins, or the sound of the door bell. You are learning to put things together, open and close, push and pull, twist and shake. Just recently you started using "yes" (or "ya") and "no", "please" and "thank you". You are learning new words everyday, that I stopped counting. You call by name: Nana and all your Papas, Auntie Keri ("Keh, Keh"), Austin, Killian, and Maz (or Max?? :-)).
You are learning to share and when I ask you to give or put something back, you usually listen. You have a love/hate relationship with shoes. You love to sing, dance and play music. It makes me smile that you still love Bob Marley and MGMT, your favorites as a baby. And now we can add Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and AC/DC to the list.
Some more of your favorite things include: airplanes, puppies, kisses, playing horsey, pushing baby strollers or shopping carts, slides, being outside, jumping on the bed, Elmo, Blues Clues (you always make jazz hands when it comes on), playing in fresh laundry, applesauce and bathtime.
But Snuggle Bear, you are also testing your independence. You want what you want, when you want it and that means RIGHT NOW! And most of the times the things you want are what you can't have. Where you want to go is in the street or on the highest ledge. You kick and scream and slap, and most times we have to lay you down on the carpet so you can throw your fit without hurting anything or yourself! Luckily these tantrums don't last very long and suprisingly, the threat of timeout seems to work pretty well (although I think you kind of like being on timeout, since you smile through it mostly).
However, you are generally very kind to your friends and cousins and I hope this lasts. You want to give everyone and everything kisses. I'm hoping that doesn't last forever, but I love it right now. We're working on you being gentler with Killian. You mean well but he doesn't really appreciate your love smacks or how you try and pick him up by his bladder. I'm sure you will be best buds someday, I know you love him so.
You are so much more that we could have ever hoped for and you bring Daddy and I so much joy. Happy Half-birthday Bubbies!
I smiled and laughed through so much of this...love the image of her rummaging through a fresh load of laundry, picking up Killian ( the good sport that he is) and the kisses that she is so well known for. She makes me smile and you two should be so proud of that little lady. 18 months...my, this time IS going by so quickly.
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Oh, Erin, there is just SO much that I love about this. First of all, you never cease to impress me with your writing. It always "flows" so nicely from one sentence to the next, from paragraph to paragraph, it is almost poetic at times. And the DETAIL with which you write about Harlie is just incredible. It is so obvious how utterly enamored you are with her. I also loved how you weaved all (or several?) of her nicknames into this beautiful love letter. Fantastic! This will be so much fun for her to read when she is older.
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