Fifteen Months Old

My dearest daughter,

Oh how you tear at my heartstrings.  There is so much love that pours into you, sometimes I can almost feel my heart pulsing and tugging in my chest.

When I watch you discover something new, I’m in awe.  When we went to visit Grandpa and Nana this weekend, you spent most of the time on the beautiful day playing with golf balls.  You would dump them out of the container and then go grab them to put them back.  Sure, that may seem boring, but it was the thoughts going on behind those beautiful brown eyes of yours that were so intriguing.  You were concentrating so hard on those golf balls.  Plotting how best to approach where they had rolled to.  Several rolled under Grandpa’s outdoor sink (their lifesaver when they were remodeling their kitchen).  You were going to get those, by golly.  The little shuffle you do to get your feet into the right place is just so adorable.  Watching you figure out how to grab two golf balls into one hand was just priceless.  Even your Uncle Matt, one of your favorite people in the whole world, said that watching you figure these things out was worth all the hours of crying and whining you do at his house during the week.  Good job, kid.

Distraction from the golf balls came in the form of music to dance to.  I have yet to get you dancing on video, but someday….someday I WILL SUCCEED.  You definitely let us know if you are hearing a song you like.  You will head bang, tap dance, move your arms and spin in circles.  You’ll even wake up from a nap if you hear a new song you enjoy:

(Please ignore the mis-matched outfit. You helped pick out what pieces you wanted to wear and none of them really went together. But that’s okay.)

I could watch you dance for hours.  It is for sure one of the cutest things you do.

You love food now, most of the time.  At least, you love the food if we can get you to taste it.  Then, you will want to eat all of ours.  There are a few things you will beg for and they include: crackers, ramen, oreos, ice cream, bread of any kind, oranges and mandarins, most any meat and fruit loops.  Oh man, the fruit loops.  Fruit loops are what we give you to distract you for about 10 minutes.  It’s wonderful.  The dogs love it too, since you share so nicely with them.

Speaking of the dogs, you are doing so well with them!  You know that you have to be extra gentle with Angel, because she can get grumpy.  But ever since you started sharing your fruit loops, she’ll put up with more.  Darius on the other hand, will take anything you give him and keep on licking your face.  You’ve grabbed at him and almost rolled off the bed holding onto him and he still would come over, lick you and sit on you to snuggle.  I love watching your friendship grow.

I love waking up with your smiling face in mine, ready to go, during the weekends.  It’s one of the best parts of the day, sitting and snuggling and tickling and playing with you and your daddy.  Although, now that it’s getting warmer, I am ready to have you sleep in your own bed too.

Being able to see this, in your crib, instead of next to me will be sad, but also lovely.  Especially as you move on to the toddler bed and can climb in and out of it on your own.  You are quickly becoming such a big girl.  I’m so proud of the little lady you are becoming.

Love always,

Your mommy