Dear Emma,
I stopped writing monthly letters after you turned 1, but let’s face it — I’m your mama, so I get to write you letters whenever I want, and 15 months seems like as good a time as any! Three months ago you still felt like a baby. But now? You are all toddler. Frustrating toddler, cranky toddler…wonderful toddler, adorable toddler.
You want to do everything these days — use a spoon, brush your teeth, comb your hair, put on your shoes. You’re not actually successful at getting any of those done on your own, but it’s so much fun to watch you try, and I think you love it too. Your understanding of the technology around you is also incredibly good. You point the remote at the TV, hold our phones to your ear, press the single button on my iPad over and over.
You have needs and wants and even though you can’t say much, you have ways of making them known. You scrunch up your face and yell when you are frustrated. You fake cry for a moment when I prevent you from doing something you really want to do, like play with a cord plugged into the wall or leave the freezer drawer open while you root through all our frozen foods.
And even though you can only say a few things, it’s amazing to see how much you understand. You can find your shoes if we ask you to. When we say it’s time to go bye-bye or go to school, you walk towards the door and reach for the knob. You blow kisses on command to your grandparents when we skype. You run to the bathroom and pull up on the counter when we suggest brushing your teeth. At the mere mention of dinner or snack, you hustle over to your booster seat to a self-produced chorus of “ee-ee-ee-ee!” (That’s “eat” to those who don’t speak toddler.)
In addition to the all-important “eat,” you’ve picked up quite a few other words. “Ball” was officially your first, followed quickly by “light.” Do you know how many lights there are in the world? A LOT. And Emma, you make sure Dad and I know where every since one of them is. You’ve also got “uh oh,” although I’m sorry to tell you that saying it right after you throw (not drop) something on the floor is not really the appropriate use. “Hi” and “bye-bye” come out of your mouth regularly, and in the last couple weeks you’ve picked up “book” as well. You absolutely LOVE books these days — or at least you love turning their pages — and watching you sit on the floor with a pile of them around you is pretty much the best thing ever.
One of your favorite things to do is play hide-and-seek with us in our big closet. And when you get that idea in your head, you don’t give up easily. You grab Dad’s or my finger and pull us to the bathroom — even if we have to cross the whole house to get there. You lead us to the door, then move around to push on our legs from behind until we’re soundly inside the closet. After that, you hurry back to close the door. We open and close the door dozens of times, and every single time you see our face peek out you laugh like it’s the funniest thing in the world.
At this point, your bedtime routine is familiar — take a bath if it’s bath night, then put on pajamas, brush teeth, say goodnight to Dad, and then go to your room. I sit in the glider with you on my lap and we read 2-3 books of your choosing. Lately, you’ve been really fond of a Halloween-themed book Gima gave you when we were in Charlotte. There’s a little cartoon bat somewhere on every page, and you can point out every single one!
When we’re done reading, I put the books on the table and sometimes you whine — because did I already mention how much you love your books? But then I start to sing. And when I do, you immediately relax and lean back against me. It’s one of my favorite parts of every day — singing and rocking with you quietly resting in my lap right before I put you in your crib. And I know this time won’t last forever, but I hope I don’t ever forget.
Love,
Mama
[…] had her 15-month checkup last week and as expected, she is a healthy and happy little girl. She weighed in at 27 […]