Dear Rachel,
Today you turn fifteen months old. This has been quite a month for you, so let's get started.
I'll mention the worst first. You have starting throwing huge, two-year-old-style temper tantrums. You are becoming very opinionated about what you want and don't want, and by God if you don't want something, you're going to let everyone within a 1/2 mile know about it. You'll start flailing your hands and arms, kicking your feet, and the other day, you even threw a toy at Miss Judy. She wasn't about to take any of that, and you got put in your first time out, ever, during which your promptly fell asleep. Your fits, we think, are still tied to being tired, hungry, poopy, etc. and aren't just because you're being a defiant little stinker...we hope.
The walking is getting better by the day. You're all over the place all by yourself now, and in fact there are times when you prefer walking to being carried, if only that would last forever...but I know it won't. Since you started standing up on your own, the progress has been amazing. You still look like a little drunkard every now and then, but you're not falling down quite as much, and you're not holding your hands over your head for balance as much anymore. You even looked like you wanted to run the other day, and I had to slow you down for fear you'd crack your chin. Again.
Your chatter is incredible, and I know there are words in there just dying to come out, but we still don't understand 95% of what you say. Every morning when I go into your room, you say the same thing to me, and I have yet to figure out what it is you're trying to tell me. You and I do play this little game, where I'll say "Rachel" and you'll respond with "Da-Da" or "Papa." It drives you mother crazy that you still won't say Mama, despite her spending 9 months hosting you in her womb.
You've also started saying your own name, we think, but it comes out sounding like "WEE shull" most of the time. There are times where you'll say it two or three times in a row before I realize what you're saying, and then when I say it back to you, so stop and say "Da-Da."
In addition to talking, you are signing things to us. You understand when we ask you to say more, please, and finished, what to sign so that you'll get what you want. It's really cool, and I don't quite understand why it is that you can say certain words, and imitate how some of our words sound (albeit without saying the actual word) but "more" and "please" are still just signs in your vocabulary. At least you know what they mean. I'm sure you understand a lot more than you actually let on, and some day soon, we're going to hear our own voices coming out of your mouth, and we're probably not going to like what we hear.
Love
Daddy
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