The Scarlett Letters #12: 16 months

My silly, silly goose...

Sixteen months! Wow! Such a big girl now. Growing more every single second. Taller, stronger, smarter.

You've really come into your own over the past few weeks. Your personality is sparkling. Your laugh, infectious. Your silliness is overwhelmingly awesome. I forgot how fun it is to be silly. Even when we are cracking skulls in your play tunnel (your fault) we are laughing wholeheartedly.

The main focus of our time together is play play play! We play as much as possible. We've given you safe spaces where you can run around like a little maniac with many books, toys, pillows, stuffed animal and blankets to keep you happy. Your attention span is short and you're much like a tornado, moving from one toy to another in just seconds. One of your favorite things to do is to take down your books from your bookcase, one by one, giving each a few quick page turns before tossing them aside. A few of your favorites at the moment are: Baby Happy Baby Sad, Big Little, No No Yes Yes and Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli.

We love to build you tall towers that you promptly destroy. You're not big into your blocks just yet and not quite as fond of stacking objects as you are of demolishing them.

You are a little roughneck. Just like Mama was. When we are chasing you screaming down the hallway only to grab you and throw you down on some pillows you are in your glory. Rolling around on the floor or inside your tunnel - that belly laugh can be heard all over the house. You love to be scared. We love the thrill of scaring you. I often hide in the corner of your room so you'll come barreling toward me with that giant grin that I love so much...

 

Or I'll surprise the crap out of you when you aren't expecting it ... 

 

We definitely have our share of fun that's for sure. There is no shortage of happiness in this home. 

Mealtimes can be challenging. I like to give you enough freedom to play with your food so that you'll learn about textures and things but I am kind of a neat freak - so freedom comes with a stopwatch. Your sippy cups are quite possibly causing the gray hairs I've recently found around my temples. I hate them, Scarlett. I hate them all. If they don't leak they overflow. They're too thick or too tall. They have too many frigging pieces for a cup! I can't properly clean them. Tonight you couldn't even get any milk out of yours. After ten minutes of trying to fix them I threw two cups into the garbage can. Game over. We are evolving tomorrow. 

And that's what we do every day. We evolve. Together. You have taught me so many things and continue to do so every single day. You've taught me more about myself in just over a year than I'd learned in thirty years. I'm so happy. I'm now the person I've always wanted to be but never knew it until I met you. I was confused for a long, long time about what happiness meant. But I get it now. I definitely get it. 

"Rest your head close to my heart, never to part, baby of mine..." 

 

The Scarlett Letters: #11: we've taken a turn

Oh Scarlett. Sweet, little, innocent Scarlett. My, what a turn we've taken.

Apparently at age thirteen months, along with your molars, you found your inner deviant. Now, at fifteen months, you are nurturing the crap out of said deviant.

Don't get me wrong, there is still way more good than bad. You aren't a "bad girl" you are just a little fresh. We are working very hard to make sure that you don't become that cute little girl who appears to be a spoiled brat. Because you aren't spoiled. In fact, you almost never get your way these days. Mostly because your way means: touching the television, grabbing handfuls of dog-food, pulling your clothes out of your dresser drawers, taking diapers from the trash, standing on anything unstable, throwing food and sippy cups, throwing toys at the dog, playing with the humidifiers, occasionally hitting and most recently - and the most unacceptable of them all - biting.

We got our first glimpse at your darling, little temper on our trip to the Christmas tree farm. Sure, you loved strolling around the fields in the cold, fresh air but when we attempted to get you back into the Jeep you flipped your switch. The back-arching, the stiff body, the scream-crying. The whole shebang. Through it all, we crammed your flailing and livid body into that car seat, strapped you in and continued on our way. Once defeated, you sniveled up your last whimpers and got over it. So, that scenario revealed our previously unknown method and motto - it's going to happen, so get over it.

That has been your only full-blown tantrum to date. You've since resorted to lots of, "no-no-no-noooo"s, tears and your tricky piranha moves. The biting is actually pissing me off. I can deal with the food-flinging and the crying and the jelly legs but the biting is officially my least favorite. We are dealing with it, however, and it's not going to last long, Missy!! You hear me?! (wink wink)

No matter the mood, you are always the most amazing part of every day and night for me and for your Dada. Your laugh is so stinkin' cute we will do anything to hear it. That mouthful of teeth - while dangerous as hell - is just the most darling jack-o-lanterny display I've ever seen. I continue to take an insane amount of pictures of you every day maybe just because you look so cute in your pants or because your eyes look an even brighter shade of blue in that pink sweater then they did yesterday in the gray one. We had a blast playing with you in the snow for the very first time this past weekend. You couldn't get enough of being pulled around in your sled or the mouth-numbing bites of snow you kept taking. Thank God for video and photographs. We'll never forget that day.

You aren't a good napper but you sleep like an angel all night. Your mealtimes are messy but you always eat your vegetables. Your attention span is super short but you learn an immense amount every day. You sometimes try to bite me when you're angry but you always kiss me goodnight. You're my sweetheart.

Love forever,
Mama xo