Tuesday, August 28, 2012

16 Months

Dear Elle,
This is your new word. More. And this is how it sounds coming out of your beautiful little rose bud lips: Mower. Moooow-er. MOOOOWWWER. You say it loud and you say it proud, and it applies to everything. If you would like to eat some more raisin bread, "mower" you say. If you would like Daddy to keep throwing you up in the air so high that you have time to grab onto your toes and do a straddle split, "mower" you say. You also say, "again" but you use it for times when someone is doing something to entertain you and you want them to keep going, like reading books or singing songs. Amoung other things, new to the list of words are Uncle and Auntie, towel, bebe, ball, blue, milk (nilt), elephant and iPad. You can also identify lots of body parts when asked; head, hair, teeth, belly button, toes, ears, nose.

You are seriously obsessed with the iPad. You have more apps than mommy and daddy combined and you know exactly what each one does. You slide the pages over until you get to your page and then with your little finger on your chin and your brow furrowed you carefully consider which one you would like. You look just like Daddy when you do that. You can say "elmo" (Elm) and "Grover" (Groder) and "Dora" (Dorda) and sometimes you play with their apps but lately you are falling in love with animals. You feed the frogs by dragging bugs into their mouths, you help the monkeys get their bananas (which you can also say and it comes out like this "ba-labl-abla") you sing along with old MacDonald and you know all of the animals on the farm and most of their sounds. You have this app of a zoo scene and when you touch the animals something silly happens and when you touch the camel, he pulls his head back and spits directly into the face of a man who is just walking by, who turns red and makes a silly surprised noise. You think this is the funniest thing that ever happened. You made that camel spit in that poor man's face at least 40 times before breakfast. You laugh and laugh. You have your daddy's sense of humor.

A few weeks ago we went to visit Nana and Papa and all your cousins and your aunties in Massena. You were running the show up there, that's for sure. You showed all your cousins your Grover app and they were all gathered around smiling which was very sweet of them because they are older and therefore know that Grover is actually the monster at the end of the book. You took lots of naps on the boat on Mary's shoulder and you played in the sand and we went on morning walks and saw a little fox. You got some time with Nana and Papa and you liked to splash in the dog's water bowls and put on Papa's sneakers and walk around.

This month you got your first pet! It's a goldfish named, "Dorothy" just like Elmo's goldfish and she lives at Grandma's house. She lives in a little glass bowl with hot pink stones and a little sign that says, "no fishin'". Grandma says they can live for 17 years and that they keep growing and growing so when you leave for college Dorothy can move into the swimming pool.

You are taking a nap right now, all cuddled up in your crib. When you wake up, you can have a pear or a rice cake (your favorite) and then we are going to go to the beach nearby to gather some items from outdoors like rocks and leaves and sand for a sensory box that we are going to play with in the little pink tent we got at the craft store this morning. I am having so much fun with you, getting down to your level, looking at things like you look at them, exploring the world through your eyes. Thanks for letting me.

Love,
Mama

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

15 Months

Dear Elle,
Last week you turned 15 months old. We were on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Traci and Uncle Paul and you got to go to the beach and build sand castles with Daddy and go to the zoo and eat ice cream almost every day. You also went to bed late and got up very very early, when it was almost still dark out, so we are all still recovering from all the lost sleep, but we did have fun, so, i guess someday in about 20 years we will get to sleep late on a vacation with you.

Tonight in the bathtub after dinner you discovered something very magical and captivating. Your discovered your very own teeny belly button. You had some gas in the tub and you were blowing the most dainty of bubbles out of your butt and then you looked down and spotted your belly button and I think you thought it was responsible. You poked your finger in it and checked for any air leaks and everything checked out okay so you went back to splashing around and making up songs.

You also found out that your finger fits perfectly into your nose. If anyone even mentions the word nose, your finger shoots up there like a baby moth to a flame. I joke with you and tell you that ladies don't pick their noses but you just laugh hysterically and switch nostrils. Oh mommy, you so crazy.

You have lots more words and new ones come out everyday. Newly added are: ouch, ice, down, close, clock and you can sign bowl, computer, puzzle and all done. I think you named your little grey hippo, "Tim". You say long drawn out sentences that maybe one day I will figure out. It sounds like this, "cotcha cotcha cotcha tome tika tika GOYA GOYA GOYA GOYA?" and you point at something while screaming the "GOYA GOYA GOYA" part. You are very cute, but what are you trying to tell me? We work on words all the time by reading many books, mostly Dr. Suess since he's the official learn to read guy and we tell stories and sing songs all day and sometimes we watch Sesame Street when mama is super tired and needs to lie down for 15 minutes or drink a glass of wine before dinner.

You are the answer to a million prayers.

Love,
Mama