Dear Addy

Dear Addy,
Today you are 15 months old. I can barely believe it. You are truly the sweetest baby girl, though you're not much of a baby anymore!

You started walking, with some gentle prodding, just days after your first birthday. There's been no slowing you down since then! You're now mastering your running, walking backwards, and sometimes just spinning in circles when it seems you have so much energy and you just can't use it fast enough! You are starting to climb into small chairs, onto your toys, etc. but are mostly staying low.

You still love your crib and sleeptime. Sometimes walking into your room to nap or night night after just being asked if you're ready to sleep. It's too cute. And when we come to get you up, you love to play and run back in forth in your crib-not quite ready to get out yet.

You're using words-spoken and with your hands. You love "dada", "mama", "chi", "more", "milk", "no" (I have a feeling the use on this word will be on the rise soon), "thanks", "yes", and a handful of others. You are also a master animal imitator. My favorite is elephant (taught to you by your Boo Boo), but you also do a mean monkey, cat (which is a dead on imitation of Chiefy), cow, dog, and more. You love to sing the ABC's and count. And you love "Twinkle Twinkle", asking for "more" over and over. You're still dancing like crazy and every once in a while, we'll turn on some music and really watch you boogie down.

As independent as you want to be, you also LOVE to be held and carried. You prefer to have one of us by your side to play when you're at home. And we don't mind. Makes it challenging to cook dinner--but all that can wait.

You love Chief and give him a kiss before your night night and help feed him. You also like to help us discipline him in getting off the table. You also like to play ribbon with him and bring him his toys. Chief is warming up to you :) Your dad and I laughed for hours (and still laugh thinking about it) when you went back and forth meowing with Chiefy.

You're still a pretty good eater--your favorites being blueberries (or really any fruit). But it's getting trickier to keep you in your highchair for any length of time as you've got so much to check out, pulling one of us behind you while you do it.

You love to go on walks and giggle in your stroller, you have fun swimming in the pool, you bring us the Tickle Monster gloves to tickle you (and you tickle us back), you love to walk your stroller around, carry your purse (in the most dainty pose ever) and play with your kitchen.

You are amazing. You take my breath away every time I look at you. Your dad and I are in love with you. And, somehow, our love for you grows every single day.

Happy 15 months sweet baby girl.

We love you!

I see London, I see France...

This picture is totally unrelated to the post, but what's a good post without a picture?

Another funny story from school:
Miss Patsy laid Addy down for her afternoon nap the other day. Addy really likes being in her bed, playing, laughing, etc. It's not uncommon for most naps to have an "intermission" where she wakes up, babbles, laughs, chats, etc. and then goes back to sleep. And this day was no exception. Miss Patsy, at some point when the chatting had gone on particularly long and it seemed Addy must be "done" sleeping, went in to check on her. What I left out, so far, is that Addison had been put down in just a shirt and diaper because it was a little warm out. So what did Miss Patsy see when she walked into the room? Addy was laying there, bare-bottomed, waving around her diaper like a lasso and having a grand time. Luckily, it wasn't a messy diap diap! In other news, somewhat related, she's also learned to take off her socks. I see a trend developing...

Eat your greens!

Addison started solid foods around five months. She didn't "love" the cereal. She'd keep her mouth closed, not make eye contact, etc. Then, she finally started to get a little more interested. A few weeks into it, we started introducing veggies and fruits. Green beans, apples, peas - and now carrots. In the last week or so, she's gotten way into eating her big girl food. And to really prove it, she pulled the funniest stunt at "school" the other day.

She typically eats some cereal and fruit in the morning at school. A couple hours later, she'll take a bottle. Well, on her six month birthday, when it was bottle time...she totally refused it. She looked at the other kids, eating big kid food, looked at the high chair, and flat out refused her bottle. So, Miss Patsy gave her some green beans! And that's totally what she wanted. She had a little bit, then drank her bottle. She's a big girl now! At least she likes her greens!