Dear Anna,
Wow, what a month it’s been, you travelled to be beach and back and I swear you turned into almost a new, more grown-up little girl, along the way. You’ve physically been growing like a week; at your 15 month appointment we learned you’d grown 3 inches and gained 3 pounds in 3 months. Insane! You’re now in the 25-50th percentile for weight and the 50-75th percentile for height. You’re finishing out the summer in your 12 or 12-18 month clothing, but are quickly moving into your 18-month fall attire and wear about a size 5 shoe. Your hair is getting LONG, all around, but especially in the back. I’m still not keen on cutting it because it curls up and looks adorable. You have all of your one-year molars and your tooth count now stands at 11 in total. It doesn’t just seem like you’re getting big, you ARE getting big!
You’ve started to show affection and preference in different ways over the past month. You now hug and kiss on command all of the time, but more often, not on command. You are such a loving little girl! You can now offer closed-mouth kisses and sometimes make the “muah” sound, it’s simply adorable. When you want my attention you will now physically push me from whatever I’m doing, including sitting in a chair, position me so that you can stand at my feet and will put those little arms up. Yes, it’s frustrating at time, especially when I’m trying to get one last e-mail out for work or chopping veggies for the week’s dinner, but I sure can’t resist that sweet face that smiles up at me when I look down.
You LOVE animals. I can’t even express how much you love them without sounding like a broken record. You love the cats, that’s a given, but you also really love dogs. When we’re outside walking or playing and you see a dog, you call out “oooooooohhhhhhh” in the sweetest voice. When we returned from vacation you ran around the house for a good 30 minutes yelling “Hiiiiiiii!” and chasing the cats through the house. And your love for animals doesn’t stop there. You are on the verge of becoming the youngest hoarder on record with your stuffed animal collection. You sleep with a puppy that your Paw Paw got you for your birthday and I dread the day he gets lost, worn out or needs to be washed; he routinely watches you eat breakfast and follows you on your morning adventures, I guess sometimes it’s just too much for you to leave him in your crib all alone.
You had a blast on vacation this year. Grandma, Grandpap and Uncle Sean joined us and you loved everything about the trip. Minus a little bit of the driving, but who doesn’t get bored in the car? You were great at sleeping in your pack-n-play in a few different locations and slept-in later than everyone else on several occasions, so much fun wears a girl out, I guess. You and Grandma took walks into town a few mornings and went to see the dolphin statues each day. You loved walking on the beach with Grandpap and letting him assist you in the pool with your float. And you loved everything about Uncle Sean being there, I don’t know what it is, but you two connect and have the best time when you’re together. It was a real treat to spend so many consecutive days with family that live further away and I’m SO glad you are able to bond with them and create so many fun memories.
Your personality is developing more and more each day. You have an awesome sense of humor, but on the flip side, someone along the way told you that you were already a 2-year-old and we’ve seen a few fits of fussiness that have me worried. It doesn’t help that you’re incredibly smart. Case in point, on vacation you knew exactly how to walk the 15 feet from our condo to the beach access area and any time we were on the promenade you expected a trip out to the sand and surf; even if we were dressed for dinner and had spent the entire day at the beach. If you weren’t allowed, you weren’t happy. Luckily these instances are few and far between, but I'm already bracing and stocking the wine cellar for your teenage years.
You have a tiny shy streak, but are generally very friendly and hardly meet a stranger. On vacation there were several toddlers your age and you weren’t afraid to go up holler “Hiiiiiiii” and ask them to play in your own language. If anything, you were a little too forward, but I’ll take that over a shrinking violet any day. You love an audience, you love friends and you love being around those you love. Your laughter and smile are infectious and you literally light up the room when you enter.
You’ve become a bit of a daredevil lately and love to test your limits. A favorite “thing” is to fall backwards, into someone’s lap, arms or a pillow. Thank goodness you’re never left alone because you don’t always know your limits or make the smartest choices; you’re a toddler after all. On a recent evening you were standing on the couch, looking out the window with your Dad and me and decided you’d like to free fall backward. Of course we caught you. As we all sat there, your Dad and I trying to explain to you why the free fall wasn’t safe, and you not understanding and loving the game you’d invented, I thought, in that moment, *this* is one of SO many instances where we’ll catch you in life. You may not always like the answer or advice we give you, but I hope you know that we’re always here for you and will ALWAYS catch you when you fall.
Love,
Mom
