Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,

You are 18 months old! You are no longer a little baby, but an active, excitable toddler!! You are on the move all the time..there is always something for you to see, someone you want to talk to, or something you want to get into. You love to climb. Climbing up on chairs, climbing into your highchair, onto the counter, on the couch...and even out of your pack n play and crib. I was laying on the couch and you were in your pack n play, "napping" in the guest bedroom. All of the sudden I heard giggling, little feet running down the hall, and you showed up in the living room! I put you back in, only to have you escape again. So, up to your crib we went. I should have known you could escape that too! We tried putting you in the toddler bed for three nights. You hated it. You climbed out and ran to the door screaming as soon as we walked out. You destroyed your room (see pictures below!), you slept on the floor, it was terrible. So we now put you back in the crib in a sleep sack when you are in your crib, so that you can't get your legs separated enough to climb over! We also bought a crib tent just incase we need to use it! The lady at the store asked if we were trying to keep a cat out of the crib...I told her no, we were just trying to keep you in it :) I blame your crazy acrobatics on your long legs! You are in the 97% for height at 34.5 inches long, and you are in the 70% for weight, 25 lbs. and 11 ounces. You wear size 24 month clothes.

You are talking all the time. We are very impressed with all the words you can say! Some of them are: bye bye, go go, mama, dada, booky (book), strawberry, bubble, bath, apple, hairbow, eyes (which you then poke at my eyes), teeth, eat, cookie, more, all done, amen, night night (which you call your blankie, and you use to tell us you are tired), bubba (paci), yucky, uh oh, nack (snack), drink, up, no (your very favorite word), hi, shoe..

And best of all, you can say your name! You only say it on occasion but the other day I heard you say "uh oh worwi."

You don't really like playing in your playroom by yourself, but your favorite toys are your music set, puzzle pieces (for banging together of course), books, dolls and stuffed animals, push toys, pretending to talk on the phone, crawl tunnel, wagon, cozy coupe car. You also love coloring, blowing bubbles, playing outside, and climbing up the chair at my desk and pretending to type at the computer.

You go with me to preschool two days a week while I teach first grade, and the other days of the week you go to a babysitter or go to Mothers Day Out at our church, like you had been doing in the Fall. I miss staying home with you everyday. Even though every day was exhausting, it was so much fun to spend the day playing with you. You take usually just one good nap a day and still go to bed between 7-7:30 at night. If we didn't have to get up for work each morning, you would sleep until 7:30-8:30. But, I have to wake you up much earlier and you like to lay back down in your crib and tell me "night night."

In the past few months, you had your baby dedication at church, had your first snow day (didn't care for the snow too much), and got your first haircut!

Sweet girl, you are so much fun. You are happy going to anyone, have tons of energy, and are very sweet. We love you!!

Momma and Daddy