Leaps and bounds

You are changing so much every day right now it is hard to keep up. I want to follow you around with a video camera and catch all the cute little things you are doing and saying. You are becoming a little person and it is amazing!

Physically

You are toddling more securely every day. Your penguin-like stance with stiff arms and quick moving legs is slightly precarious and absolutely adorable to watch. You are learning to handle inclines and changes of surface with less falling and even when you lose balance, you often catch yourself in a stiff sway. Every day brings a few head bonks and a couple of face plants though. I think we'll be keeping you off of hard surfaces for a while yet.

Your body is changing shape with all of the baby olympics. You do hundreds of squats every day and can hold yourself in a low position for a surprising amount of time. You can climb up and down stairs and on and off of low furniture. Your world is an obstacle course and, my oh my, you are getting a workout.

Opting for bigger movements and lots of roving, you aren't spending much time on fine motor skills. You are interested in opening and closing containers though and I have to keep the "child-proof" bottles out of your way because they are not Lucy proof.

Language

You spent about a month saying only "whatissszat" but now you are sprinkling back in words we've heard you use before and a new one almost every day. You say "mama" and "dada" all the time. You point out any elephant, butterfly or dog you see. You also greet dogs with a "wov wov wov" barking noise that is oddly heart-melting for me. If you hear an airplane in the sky, you are quick to shout out "aero" and point to the sky.

Some words seem to come from nowhere. Today, you saw a toy character and said "Elmo" clear as day. How did that marketing juggernaut reach you already? And yesterday, I said lizard and you pointed to a picture of one. Have we shown you lizards before?

You use sign language for "more" and "all done" and sometimes "drink." Instead of the food sign, you just say mmMMmm if you are hungry.

My favorite lately is your singing. You like to sing the first line of Hot Cross Buns sounding something like "ha ca bah." You also like the "Up above the world so high" line from Twinkle Twinkle and you sing that "up a buh buh buh buh buh ... hi." You love it when we sing to you and almost always offer a little applause and sign for more. Some favorite songs we sing a lot: If You're Happy and You Know it, Bats Are Sleeping, Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, Bingo, Three Blind Mice, and just about anything I can think of when I get sick of those by 9 a.m.

Play

Jamie brought you a sit-on rocket that was Dane's to play with and you love climbing on and off it. You also love carrying a purse on your shoulder, taking it on and off, and putting various things in and out of it. You carry around a doll or stuffed animal a lot of the time too. You give them hugs and kisses and take them for rides in your cart. Of course, you also throw them down stairs and run over them with your rocket.

Any play with water keeps you occupied and happy. We've been exploring park fountains and wading pools all over town. They are usually packed with kids and decked out with waterfalls or sprinklers or some other fun feature. You also love to swim in a plastic pool in the backyard. You don't always enjoy your bath however, as we make you sit down and that is apparently unacceptable.

You still love books and will sit and read and sing with us several times a day. Your attention span seems shorter than it seemed to be at 12 months though. The urge to move has taken over and you need to wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

Socially

You seem to understand that you are your own person. You will point to yourself when we ask "where's Lucy?" Sometimes, I can see that you are feeling something that I am not getting and this can be frustrating for both of us. Luckily, it doesn't last long and we aren't into any major fussings or tantrums...yet.

You laugh a lot and like to show us your toys and point out things you are looking at. You love to be chased and peek-a-boo is still a favorite. If I catch you in the right mood, I get lots of slobbery kisses and hugs complete with pats on the back.

You have stayed open and friendly to the world and most strangers which I am sooooo happy about. Yesterday, we had a new sitter here and I was really afraid you'd start crying when we left but you were fine and settled right in with her. I however, proceeded to have a small panic attack at leaving you with a near-stranger. Daddy's reassurances that she "probably hardly ever does meth" were only moderately helpful.

We love you baby,

Mama