Dear Lucy,

Today you turn 16 months old. It’s that time of year again where you get that permanent crust of snot around your nose. And in the beginning of the month you where sick sick sick and oh how I forgot how much this sucks – because kid you are a HANDFUL when you don’t feel well. You transform from happy easy baby into a constant whining machine who wants to be picked up and put down constantly – you won’t eat, you won’t drink you just mope around the house and refuse to do anything.

On a positive note you have stopped biting – this month it’s all about hitting – your favorite thing is to hit your Dad and I in the face. I think you might think that you are patting us but you’re not – it’s hitting and it hurts, especially when you have things in your hands like board books…

This month more than any other time you very cognizant of what’s going on, you understand when we are trying to be funny, you listen when I’m talking to you like you’re taking notes. You will see an animal on TV and then run to your hoard of books and find a picture of it in one of them.  You know how to talk to elephants and understand what cows say. I don’t think it’s going out on a limb to say you are a total genius.

You and I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together this month, you are still going to daycare but more often than not we are together. We have spent a lot of time at the playground because it’s been unseasonably warm. We went to the Elmwood Park zoo on Black Friday and we had the whole place to ourselves because everyone else was at the mall.

We  spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home with your Dad and you LOVED it – you love turkey and potatoes and green been casserole but mostly you love cranberry sauce and even more pumpkin pie.  We also where able to go for a bike ride before dinner.

We tried to have pictures taken with Santa, but Santa was VERY scary this year and you had two complete and horrible breakdowns due to our efforts. But despite Santa you are in LOVE with Christmas decorations – we have lights on the porch and on the railing, every time you see them your eyes light up and you laugh. Walking around the neighborhood and seeing other people’s lights is also a lot of fun for you.

You helped your Dad celebrate his 30-something birthday and got to eat several cupcakes, which was AWESOME.

You like to store food in your mouth for inordinate amounts of time – it often makes you look like this:

You are, as always, amazing.

Love, Mama