Eighteen Months

You are a year and a half old today.  I don't know how this is possible.

You are learning your colors.  Purple was the first one you said and seems to be your favorite, but you know blue and green too.

You are learning new words almost every day.  This week so far:  "cooking" and "call."

You are learning to put together phrases.  You say "Bye-bye, Daddy!" when he leaves for work in the morning.  You say "Pee-pee, poo-poo" when I tell you it's time for a diaper change.  You walk around the house repeating "Baby daddy" over and over again for reasons I can't understand.  You make me smile.

You love to eat, especially hummus, applesauce, sweet potato fries, yogurt.

You still love to be outside, but your attention span for indoor play is increasing too.  You like to stack blocks into small towers, to take the lid on and off my lipstick while I blowdry my hair in the mornings, to pat your baby dolls "night-night," to flip through the pages of books by yourself.

I love watching you learn, the grin that lights up your face when you say a new word for the first time, the pride you feel when you master a new toy or piece of playground equipment.

When I took you to the doctor today for your 18 month appointment, they told me that you were in the 90th perecentile or higher for all of your measurements.  You are growing so fast, my big and yet still so little girl.

There are moments when I catch glimpses of your babyhood, mostly during the rare times you are asleep in my arms, but there is very little baby left in you.  You are a child, a curious, opinionated, chatty little girl, a delightful companion on errands and outings, a fearless explorer of playgrounds, a lover of dogs and toes and spinning around in circles.

I miss who you were.  I love who you are.  I can't wait to see who you will become.