Lucy,

3 days ago you turned 17 months – not yet a year and a half and I am already falling behind.

This past month was really dominated by Christmas but aside from that you learned some pretty amazing things – you learned how to whistle and how to blow your own nose.

You are talking more and more, this month started out with “Uh oh” – everything was “Uh oh!” and now you are saying more and more things, few of which we can recognize. You know what’s hot (the heater in your room, the radiators, your breakfast) and you know to blow on them to make them cool – this works less well with the radiators than with oatmeal.

We tried to visit Santa this month, but he was SCARY this year and made you nearly hysterical. You were in your first Christmas pageant at daycare and had a great time being up on stage… actually you had a great time until you spotted Santa…

You were a real trooper on the way to and the way home from North Carolina – you hung out in the back of the car and amused yourself and napped for 10 hours at a time.  This even despite your crazy car hair:

You had a wonderful time at your grandparents house, and not just because they bought you hundreds of presents and fed you chocolate and ice cream anytime you wanted. You loved the dog, and the singing light up decorations and the yard and the fact that it was in the 60’s most of the time we were there. And once your cousins and Aunt Melissa got there you had more attention than even you could handle. A good time was had by all.

For New Years we took the train downtown and attended Peg & Max’s annual open house, we didn’t make the parade but we did see the destruction it creates on Broad street.

Oh and this month, you learned how to drive:

You are awesome – Love Mama

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

Lucy,

Today you turn 15 months. I don’t even know any more ways of telling you how awesome you are. You are a sweet child, you laugh quickly and often, you love to give hugs and you are trying to learn how to kiss, although your attempts are really more  just open-mouthed drooling on the side of my face than actual kisses.

And speaking of drooling – you are the queen, you drool more than any child I have ever known – I know this must mean there are some new teeth coming in, but since I am too scared to stick my fingers in your mouth anymore, I have managed to lose count. You have enough to chew steak, that much I know. Actually this month we had our first encounter with ‘authority’ when you started biting your friends at daycare and we had to ‘talk about it’ with your teachers. This seems to be a phase that passed quickly since we haven’t had a repeat for many weeks now. I said it last month, I’ll say it this month – please stop biting.

I think that part of your frustration at daycare is that many of the kids in your class are talking and you have still not decided to start that. I know you understand what we are saying and you follow directions we give you, I also think that if you wanted to talk, you have plenty of words stored up in your head, but why talk when you communicate effectively in so many other ways? I always know what you need, you make it very clear even without words.

We have had many fun adventures and visitors this month. Your Nana and PoPo where here for about a week on their way back to Florida, your Uncle Jeff came to see you and despite is aversion to small children I believe you stole his heart a little. We had a block party where you learned that sometimes its okay to run around in the street, we stayed up late playing with our neighbors and we have had many pleasant autumn afternoons enjoying the playground. We went out to an orchard and let you pick out pumpkins for our porch, rode on a hayride and we attended at Halloween party at your daycare where you dressed up like a puppy and ate pizza and trick or treated for small toys.

You were a pumpkin for actual Halloween, and we went trick or treating to all of our friends in the neighborhood – you got TONS of candy and LOVED all the attention that your cuteness attracts.

Your favorite foods right now are peanut butter, chicken & Halloween candy. You love to sit  in my lap and watch sesame street or Yo Gabba Gabba in the morning and you have really started enjoying story time at night, your favorite book of the moment seems to be “The Kissing Hand”.

I love you so much – Mama.

Dear Lucy,

I have started playing music for you while you eat, I started out with the classics – Mozart and Gershwin with a little 1812 overture throw in from time to time.  But soon we were exploring everything my iPod has to offer and it’s become clear that you favorite is Elvis. It’s easy to tell when you like any music because you started to wiggle your butt and do a little dance, it doesn’t matter if you are strapped into your high chair you still do it anyway.

You are up to 9 teeth and can chew a remarkably wide variety of food – I still think fish is your favorite, but it’s hard to say, you get excited by many different tastes and flavors (this also makes your butt wiggle, by the way).

You had a brief visit with your Nana this month she was here and  for a week at your Aunt Beth’s house – she brought you zucchini bread, which was a big hit and spent some quality time reading books.

Your hair has grown like a weed within the last month and if we don’t do something with it, you end up looking like this:

So we generally try to pull it up, like this:

Or this:

Or this:

It’s a constant struggle.

You have decided that the best seat in the house is in your toy box – I can’t imagine it’s very comfortable but it is as close to ALL of your toys as possible – we find you in there whenever our backs are turned.

You have become such a good walker, we take trips up and down our street, and with or without shoes you keep up with me, well I guess I keep up with you at this point.

You have learned and grown in so many ways it’s hard to list them all – you point now to things you want or items you are interested in – hopefully you are starting to store up the words for things you like and soon you will be able to say them out loud.

I love you SO much – Mama

All sorts of fun & crazy things happened this month – you cut your 5th tooth, which is cute but super sharp and hurts very much when you bite us, please stop biting us.

You have decided that the cat needs to be hugged regularly, the cat is not as much of a fan of this as you are. You have been scratched multiple times but it does not seem to be acting as a deterrent.

You learned to drink through a straw, I don’t know how (probably because you are some kind of genius) but one day… presto you figured it out without any prompting from us.

We had a great party for your 1 year birthday, lots of people came including your grandparents and Aunt Jessica from North Carolina, not only did they bring you a car load or new toys and clothes but they stayed at a hotel, with a pool – a freaking POOL, it doesnt get much better than that.

It got so hot this month that you broke out in a bad heat rash that persisted for abpout 4 days and had me terribly worried until it cooled off and you were once again back to your cute adorable self.

You helped your father and I celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary by going out for Mexican food for the first time, you LOVED it.

You survived your first earthquake & hurricane completely unscathed. We had many fun adventures including a trip to the please touch museum… oh and you got this bike which you might just love more than the hotel pool – it’s a toss up.

You have stopped having a bottle (except at bed) and eat like a real person – you love fish and turkey & ham & cream of wheat.

You are amazing and wonderful and even though you won’t stay still to get a diaper on and you occasionally throw out my wallet I love you SO much.

Mama