Dear JD,

I have never written you a letter before because I just felt cheesy doing it but for some reason I have this internal push to do so now...so here I go.



You are 18 months, 21 days, 3 hours and 28 minutes old. I prefer to drop the whole "month" thing and just say you are 1 1/2...A YEAR AND A HALF...how did that happen already? I have this feeling that if you ever do read my blog you will be in your twenties and you will be like..."mom, seriously? You are a nightmare!" But I think you will probably eventually say those exact same words for some other nightmarish thing I end up doing along the way so I am going to continue blogging about our life.

This leads into the question of...have I told you that I think you are going to be opinionated yet? You will get this trait VERY honestly by the way...and Daddy and I have something coming for us I am sure. Well...at a year and a half you already kind of are opinoinated in your own "lost in translation" sort of way and Daddy and I LOVE IT! We are always going to encourage you to vocalize how you feel about things. But I am telling you right now, we are not always going to agree with you Mr. :)

Right now you are soaking everything in you possibly can and everyday I can see your eyes focused and your ears tuned in because you are a learning machine. You still aren't really "talking" but as said above, you do talk and share your opinions in the only (current) way you know how. Your favorite phrase is "Whats that?" (sounds like "wos aaaa?") and you ask that question about a cazillion times a day. We love it and answer each and every time because we cannot wait to hear that first clear as day word come from your mouth. Your favorite word (or closest to it) is "Dad" (prounounced "Da"). We have heard "ma" but normally only when you are mad about something. I hope this isn't a trend. We are so proud of your curiosity.

You do understand what we say though. Sometimes you try and pretend like this isn't the case, but you completely get us now. That is something Daddy and I weren't expecting and have really come to appreciate. I think we both thought you would talk first and then understand us. It really has been quite the opposite. You have understood us for months and do whatever we say (unless you are pretending you don't understand us, and this typically leads to a "time out"). Its amazing to have you understand what we are saying, because now we communicate with each other.

Recently you have decided to start climbing. You have always sort of climbed up on the ottoman but now its the top of the couch, the coffee table (where you also breakdance), kitchen table chairs, up and down the stairs and if I somehow the cabinets are unlocked from their babyproofing you would love to use the convenient pull out drawer as a step stool to get on the counters and dance.

Funny story...I always take you upstairs with me when I go to sort and start the laundry for the day/week (our laundry room is upstairs). You typically ride laundry basket over to start a load with me and then run around upstairs terrorizing night lights, blankets from your room, remotes from the guest rooms and anything else you can get your hands on. I let you because none of this is dangerous and it keeps you occupied. You never dare to try and go back downstairs as you are a little leery of going DOWN stairs by yourself. That is until the other day...when I was putting a load of laundry in and didn't hear you anymore. I yelled your name and still nothing. Then I heard something hit the hardwood floors at the bottom of the stairs (don't worry people this is a good ending). My heart stopped beating and I ran to the stairs thinking the worst. But there you were ALL THE WAY AT THE BOTTOM smiling the biggest cheese ever with the remote control (because heaven forbid you forget that anywhere you go) which had just fallen off the bottom step because you had carried it in your little hand the entire way down and dropped it just as you were hitting the first floor ready to run. So a chapter closed that day in our morning routine because as happy as I was that you were safe and sound, I also knew that could have ended very differently so you stay downstairs confined by gates in the safe living room while mommy goes to do the laundry. I am still very proud of you that you braved the big staircase all by yourself and went down the "baby way" safely.

You have also started giving us REAL kisses on the lips. This is something that you have done off and on since you were 9 months old but really you were more off than on. Lately if we make the kissey noise (translated MMWWWAA) you pucker your lips and make the same noise from wherever you are. Then if we ask for a kiss you lean in for and go straight for our lips! Its so freaking cute and we are enjoying every last one because we know that as independent as you are...this too shall pass.

We have always been very impressed with your motor skills. You were stuck in the same position in mommies belly for basically 9 months straight because of mommies oddly shaped uterus so I believe you came into the world and said "thank GOD" then stretched your arms and legs as far as they could go and have never stopped. I won't rehash all of your accomplishments on here because people read this and we aren't trying to brag on you (and I actually did document these sorts of things in your baby book so check there if you are curious) but you are amazing! Mommy and Daddy don't know all the ins and outs with "Gross" and "Fine" motor skills but everyone that comes around tells us you have them both mastered already. You recently started building huge buildings with your mega blocks (translated: large Lego's), did a "pudding painting" with GranBeck with an actual paint brush, and you color almost daily.

When you were an infant you HATED being naked. You peed through about a million outfits a day though so you were constantly naked throughout most days therefore you were screaming your head off. Everyone that came around found this very strange because apparently most babies love to be naked. Well to us you have never been "most babies" about anything so it wasn't surprising to hear that at all. At 1 1/2 you would now MUCH rather be naked than with clothes. In fact, given the opportunity you will undress yourself, even taking off your own diaper! This is not funny so please stop with the diaper business. We don't need poop on or in the carpet. Oh yeah...you aren't reading this until you are twenty...well anyway I hope you stopped, otherwise I have probably scarred you for life telling everyone your naked stories. Yes, I am totally going to be that mom. You also LOVE to pee in mommy and daddy's closet before and after bath time. We have purchased a potty because I am pretty sure you know what you are doing now. It may be time to start the process of potty training. I hear thats fun...again I will let you know in your teens in front of all of your friends how that one went. :)

Speaking of bath time...it is probably Daddy and my (and yours too) favorite time of the day. You have become this olympic swimmer/synchronized swimmer in our tub. You voluntarily lay back in the water with your just your face out of the water for most of your bath. You typically tell us "stories" while kicking your little legs as fast as they can go! Towards the end of every bath, as we are letting out the water you also flip over, stick your head in whats left of the water face first and blow bubbles. We did not teach you to do either of these things by the way so we aren't sure where you learned them, but we couldn't be more thrilled that you love the water as much as you do. We are, however concerned that your confidence is going to lead to you running up to the deep end of the community pool this summer and just jumping in. Due to this concern you will be living in some sort of flotation device whenever we are around water.

You never were a cuddler. I see all of my (and your) friends all snuggled up together for milk time or just because time and you are typically running around in circles laughing and "talking" (and lets be honest...on occasion screaming too). I stop you, sit you in my lap and give you a big hug and before I know it you are out of my lap and running again. I love your energy and am so proud of your mobility but I can't tell you how excited I am that you have entered a cuddle stage. This morning you came up to me as I was sitting at our kitchen table reading email and you stuck your arms up so I would pick you up and then just laid your little head on my shoulder for at least five minutes. This never happens so I am thrilled whenever I get those moments. I hope that we always hug each other.

A few of my other favorites are that you love purses and carry them around the house like a mommy (this is obviously NOT one of Daddy's favorite things), you know how to get the rocket started along with Little Einsteins (patting your legs and saying "pa, pa, pa" and then raising your arms in the air and saying BLAST OFF, or rather, "BAHHH"!-Its priceless), you dance on beat, especially when mom sneaks in some rap music to your life (you bump and grind and its hysterical), you are a ham and whenever there is a crowd in the house you use the middle of the living room as your stage and put on a lovely show (by running in circles and falling to the ground laughing over and over again), you go up to adults (people you know or complete strangers) and say "hiiieeee" and wave to them. You wave to people on my cell phone and cars on the road, sing the ABC song (just la la la-again priceless), you are trying to eat with a spoon or a spork with every meal but you ALWAYS stick your finger in and lick it FIRST (as to test to make sure what I have given you is actual food) before you decide that using the utensil may be appropriate, you know where your eyes, ears, nose, mouth and toes are...and you kind of know where your elbow is but most of the time when I ask you that question you just point to Elmo, and when daddy comes home from work you give me this shock and awe look on your face as you hear his car pull into the garage and run to the gate to greet him with a big smile and a "DA!"

I am sure this will not be the ONLY letter I will ever write to you but mostly you will get a lot of talking out of me. I guess the letter(s) will be few and far between so that you actually pay attention to the words instead of tuning me out (I am only assuming here...because I talk a lot and am sure you will get lots of earfuls that will warrant some tuning me out).

There is so much to say about you I could fill the entire Internet. You are such an amazing young toddler in every way. Your laugh is contagious, your smile warms hearts (especially dads and mine) and your pure will to do everything you do is inspiring. I think Dad and I are sometimes surprised at how amazing you are and that somehow we made you. Then the reality that everything we are currently doing is molding you hits us and we freak out for a second, then come back to reality and go back to doing our best at being your parents. You make us better people and we are thankful for you everyday. We always will be.

Love,
Mom