15 Months

Dear Annie,

Once again, I think this last month has been the most fun yet with you! You are still doing quite a bit of the same stuff I mentioned in my 14 month letter to you, so I won't repeat myself, but will only mention a few changes that have happened this month.

The biggest change seems to be that you actually like us now. While we always knew you liked seeing us and having us around, now you willingly give us hugs and kisses, even when we don't ask for them! You hug your stuffed animals and baby doll, and will hug other people too. I NEVER thought this would happen with how independent you've been your whole life, but you've almost turned into a snuggler! When we get you from daycare, you come over to me and give me a hug and a kiss - it is seriously the best part of my day. You've moved on from open mouth kisses to pursing your lips and making a "smooch" noise, and then leaning in. Oh my, it's adorable. Also, while you are playing, you'll frequently come over to me or your dad, lean in for a kiss, and then be on your merry way. I love your little check ins with us!

You still are great about playing by yourself. The vast majority of your waking time is spent playing however you chose to - your favorite this month has been playing with your baby doll. You love to feed her, rock, and wrap her up. The accessories she came with are still a hit, especially the spoon and bowl. You stir your pretend food up, feed it to your doll, yourself, and us. You also do a lot of climbing into and out of your chair, or climbing the stairs, and have just figured out (sometimes) how to get into our big chairs on the porch. You don't have much fear either, it seems, so we still need to remind you the safest way to get down from the places you get to! You've started throwing things once and awhile, like your shoes, blocks, and balls. You certainly don't have much force or aim, but you seem to be quite proud of yourself when you throw something!

Since you were about 13 months old, you will "help" us dress you by holding out your foot for a sock, or putting your arms in your sleeves. You love buttons, zippers, and buckles and are always trying to put them together. You also love to try to dress your baby doll.

While we've been telling you about your body parts pretty much since birth, the only one you seem to care about is your BELLY BUTTON. You do have quite the belly, so it sticks out and you love to touch it when it's not covered with a onesie. You are entranced with it, and with anyone else's belly button. You can identify it when we ask, but don't seem to care at all about any of the other body parts we ask you about :)

You can feed yourself with a spoon very well now - you still need some help sometimes stabbing things with a fork, but you can hold your own. You are fine with your fingers still, as well. You've also learned more to bite things into manageable pieces now, so we can give you a whole piece of toast without you trying to shove the whole thing in your mouth at once! You continue to be a great eater, almost always willing to at least try something. If not, oh well, you'll eat at the next meal. You may be slightly crankier if you don't eat much at a meal, but thankfully it doesn't effect your sleep or mood too much!

Sometimes it seems like you say some words, sometimes not. Who the heck knows! The only semi-reliable ones are hi and bye bye. Sometimes you say down, cheese (when taking a pic, of course) what's that, and woof woof when you see a dog, but that might just be coincidence. You say Daddy alllll the time, to everything. Still not much more than that, so you do get quite frustrated when you are trying to tell us what you want but we don't understand that this time, daddy means "I want my water." If you can see something, you just point or reach for it so that's not hard, it's when you can't that it gets a little tougher! You rarely sign anymore, but we haven't been too consistent about it.

Now, the big question everyone ALWAYS asks about you is if you're walking yet. I have to say, I feel a little bad about the pressure that's already on you to do this, and you're just a toddler. You CAN walk, and we've seen you do it many times, but you just don't care to, at all. We now can put you down standing on the ground and you're fine with that. Sometimes you'll take a few steps but usually you drop right down and crawl to whatever you want. You are reluctant to let go but will walk holding on to something or pushing something, and have taken 10-15 steps on your own on multiple occasions. It's really a guessing game as to when you'll make the choice to walk. You stand yourself up with ease quite frequently, but it just hasn't clicked with you that walking is a more efficient means of transportation for you! Crawling and your butt scoot when you're holding something are working just fine for you right now, clearly.

My little bunk, you really are such a joy to your dad and I and all your friends. You're turning into a little ham and love to make faces and noises at people to get a reaction. Our friend Janelle stopped by today and caught a few on camera (as if I don't already have enough photos of you, but it's always good to get a different perspective!). You're turning into such a little girl now, especially with your longer hair - you look so different than you did when you were a baby, and I already am getting nostalgic looking at photos of you when you were small and bald with a huge gummy grin. I can't wait to see what the next month brings with you!

Love you always,

Mom

A few other photos from our day today!

You suck your thumb when you go to sleep, and apparently are quite violent with it! I put some cream on it and hope that it heals up for you.

You love being in the burley, even when it isn't moving

Same with the stroller - in fact, if you see it and AREN'T immediately put in it, you get quite angry!

Another one of your random favorite things to do is every laundry day, or upstairs in our bedroom, you find my (CLEAN!) underwear, and put it over your head, one by one. It is pretty much the strangest thing I've ever seen, but also pretty cute :)

Some new bracelets for you

You ended the day by walking around the house with your basket and sunglasses