15 months

Dear Lilah,

I figured in your second year of life, I'd aim for a post every quarter instead of every month.  So here it is.  You are continuing to grow and change like crazy.  I suppose you've begun the transition into a toddler, although I still totally think of you as my baby. :-)

You still choose crawling over walking these days, but you are taking more and more steps.  You are wobbly and don't make it too far yet, but it's fun to see you on your feet!  I actually missed your first steps.  We all did.  I had just finished changing you and went down the hall to wash my hands.  When I came back around the corner, there you were walking out of your room!  Caleb had been in your room with you, but wasn't paying attention.  And nobody else was around.  It was a little strange to see you just walking out of your room as if it was no thing. :-) But for a while after that, we couldn't really get you to do it again.  It's only been recently that you've been challenging yourself some more and trying out the walking thing here and there.

You may not be too into walking, but you're definitely into climbing!  You love to climb up on things, especially chairs, and sit down.  And you seem pretty proud of yourself when you do.  You also like to stand up on things like chairs.  I have to keep a close eye on you sometimes.  But you're a pretty good little monkey.  You've figured out how to get down off of chairs, couches, etc. properly as well.  So I don't feel like I need to be constantly watching your every move.

This is your new favorite toy:

 Recently you started kissing dada goodbye when he leaves for work in the morning.  As soon as you realize that he's about to leave, you tip your head back, tuck your lips in (kind of the opposite of puckering up), and say, "mmmmm..."  And when you kiss him, you say, "...mwah!"  Then you do it several times more before he makes it out the door.  It's super cute. 

You're slowly building your vocabulary as well.  Hi was your first word and seems to be your favorite.  When we're at the grocery store, you'll sit in the cart and say hi to everyone who passes by.  If they say hi back, you will continue saying hi to them.  Over and over.  Fortunately, you're so adorable that nobody could possibly find you annoying. ;-) Other favorite words are dada and bubba.  You use mama occasionally, but not nearly as often and dada and bubba.

You seem to love animals, especially dogs.  You always perk up when you hear a dog barking and often start barking along.  You get super excited when you see a dog.  The other day we were at home depot and there was a dog in the store.  You got all excited and starting saying, "woof! woof!" at the dog.  We ended up in line behind the dog and you continually barked at him as if you were trying to get him to talk to you.  It was pretty funny.

You love books with animals in them as well.  

 And you've learned some animal noises.  So far, you know the sounds for: dog, cat, cow, monkey, lion, owl, bear, and sometimes duck.

You definitely know how to bring on the tears, but fortunately for us you also get over things pretty easily.

 It's so much fun to watch you grow and change.  I love you so much, my sweet baby girl.  

Love, Mama