Dear baby - sixteen months

Dear baby,

You're 16 months old today, and I'm 16 weeks pregnant with your baby brother or sister. What a team we make!

We got you that haircut, and everyone is starting to notice your toddler-ish-ness. It seems that just by even-ing out (or crookedly even-ing out) those wispy strands of hair, everything you do seems older. Your running, your packing and unpacking things, the way you lay and look around while we change your pants.

Your favourite thing is still being outdoors. Daddy and I did some gardening over the weekend and you were happy to just potter around in the shade, helping put leaves in the bag, unhelping by pulling leaves out of the bag, and moving the smooth stones from the side garden bed on the pavers or the outdoor setting or the steps by the back door.

You're a min Makka-Pakka, one of the characters from your favourite show 'In the Night Garden'. I'm hoping Santa is paying attention because he'd be a cruel, cruel man not to gift you something from that show. When we turn the tv on, you say 'Gah gah!' which is how you talk about the show. You have a few ITNG books, that you point at and carry around and say 'Gah gah!' and want us to read to you. You know to say 'mi mi mi mi' in a high voice for the Pontipines, and I swear you said Makka Pakka and Upsy Daisy when we were looking at that book again this morning (I always wondered how people could say they got sick of reading the same books over and Over and OVER again, but now I know).

Your language is building again. You said 'turtle' last night while we were looking at one of your bath books and it was so freaking adorable I think I made a high pitched noise. You are trying to imitate more and more words and I can't wait until you start using them more.

You love to be picked up in the kitchen (something Pa pointed out to me), to have a look around. Your daddy bought me some flowers a few weeks ago so we would sniff them a few times a day. And now, when we go outside, you stop and sniff the flowers with a little snort and a scrunched up face. You do also often pick them and put them in the basked with the clean washing or try to eat them. But you almost always sniff them first.

Your comprehension is up and running. When I say it's time to make the bed in the morning, you know it means we're going to mine and daddies room. When I ask where your shoes are you, you say 'shoes?' and go hunting for them. You know that when I say it's time to hang out or bring in the washing that we'll get your shoes and then you run to the back door so we can go outside. You stand and wait at the steps with your arm in the air so I can hold your hand as you climb up and down (and you're getting so good at it). You know when we're going to the car, ('car?') and going to check the mail. When we get back from a drive you pause for a second and then give a big shy grin - I don't know why, but you do it every time and it's adorable. When we start the day and the dogs come to greet you, you rush towards me and squeal and hide in my legs.

Of course, it's not all just you being freaking adorable. You  like to eat the dogs dry food, so a few times a day I have to pull you out of the laundry. You like to pull the wipes out from under your change table (and show me you pretend to blow your nose on them), you like to unroll the toilet paper in the ensuite, and you like to bang your toys around. When you're frustrated, you swish your arms around to knock food off your highchair or to move the toys away from you. You also reach out to scratch, which hurts my feelings. We're working on how to stop this, but I know it's because you're too little to understand how to manage those feelings.

You've continued having long naps, which is great, because I've needed them more often too.

And on that note, I'm off to lay on the couch.

I can't believe you'll be one and a half in 8 weeks time...

I love you, baby girl!