18 months

Dear R,

I'm only three days behind on this one, so not too bad, compared to the three weeks I was behind on your 17 month letter!

One thing I want to talk about in this letter is something that I just think is so unbearably sweet I can hardly stand it. Often, when Daddy and I are saying goodnight to you, or just standing together and one of us is holding you, you will push our heads together indicating that you want one of us to give the other a kiss. We both give you kisses all the time, probably so many that you get sick of getting kisses, and this seems to be your reminder that we need to give each other kisses, too. It's the sweetest thing. You did it tonight when we were saying good night to you--and it's happened more often this month than it has ever before.

You've started saying two word phrases, most commonly, "more, please" and "No ____". You seem to understand everything we say to you. It's really amazing, after all these months of just talking at you, to finally feel like you're understanding all the things we're saying.

You're starting to sing! You say things in a singsongy way all the time, and you often hum or babble in a singing-like voice. We have a "Deck the Halls" board book that has the words to the song in it and we've been practicing that song a lot because I can't get the rhythm of the "Fa la la la la, la la la la"s right, so I keep doing it over and over and getting it wrong. Drives Daddy crazy, I know, and I know some of you understand how he feels (specifically, those of you who have been tortured before with my singing voice... sorry, guys!) But anyway, you've started warbling your tongue along to the "Fa la la la la, la la la la"s and it's so cute!

You continue to love music in all shapes and forms. You love to turn on and off your Snowman Christmas music thing from your Great-Aunt T and Great-Uncle D and the CD player in your room. You dance like there's no tomorrow. Sometimes you pull me and Daddy into a room just so you can march around and do what we call your "interpretive dance" moves. There's one move in particular that looks just like you're trying to do the dance Patrick Dempsey's character does in "Can't Buy Me Love"-- my friends H and D from college will know exactly what I mean by this, but because this movie predates you, here's a video.

Love,
Mama