Dear Rachel,
Today you turn nineteen months old. I was almost sure you'd start talking in complete sentences to us this past month, but you're not quite there yet. You have, however, been learning a bunch of new words.
You're still stubborn as ever about saying what you want to say, and not saying what
we want you to say. A good example is when you want to get up on the sofa or chair with one of us. You'll pat the cushion over and over again, giving us a pleading look. When we ask, "Do you want up?" you'll respond with vigorous nodding of your head and "uhn uh" (because you still haven't learned the difference between the sounds for yes and no.)
"Can you say 'up'?"
"uhn uh" (still nodding your head).
"Can you say 'yes please'?"
"Es! Es!"
"Please?"
"(you sign please)"
You've also learned to say "good boy" when you pet Sparky, but it comes out more like "boo boy," you've learned the sound that a horse makes (along with already knowing snake, chicken, dog, cat, and lion), you say "wheeee" when you want to swing, and the other day you started saying "cold" when you spilled some water on yourself. You know "on" in it's various contexts, like when you want the light turned on in your room, or when you want to put your shoes on to go "ow-siiiiiide" which is probably your favorite word. I'm sure there are more words that I'm forgetting because it seems like every week you come up with something new.
You've also started stringing two words that you learned individually together to form small sentences. A couple of times this past month you said "Hi Dada" or when you were trying to tell me where your mother was the other night: "Mama nigh nigh," (even though she just wasn't home yet). You're also stringing together a bunch of Rachel words to explain things, but we still don't quite understand those. In conjunction with all this talking, you've started telling us what you want when you wake up, which also tells us that your little internal clock is working well. A few times over the past month you've woken up crying in the middle of the night. When I go in and pick you up, you'll lay your head on my shoulder and whisper, "nigh nigh" telling me that you're ready to go back to sleep. In the morning, you'll either whisper "papa" which is short for
papita, or food, or you'll whisper "da" which is your way of saying you want me to put you down.
Your have started eating more on your own with utensils. In fact, if we try to hold your plate still or help you with a fork or spoon, you'll push our hands away because you want to do it on your own. You're really getting down the scooping and keeping the spoon facing the right direction so that everything stays on it all the way to your mouth. You're still trying to figure out if you're left or right handed, and you do pretty well with both.
You absolutely love reading, and you actually have a couple of favorite books now. The one you bring us most often is "
The Eye Book." You have a bunch of small cardboard books, which are great for you because you can't tear the pages, and you love to read those on your own. You can recognize animals in your books, even if the drawings don't look exactly like the real live animal. Sometimes you'll bring us "
Are You My Mother" howling "ow, ow" in a high pitch, with the book opened to the page that has the picture of the cat on it. Also, any time you see animals on TV you'll try to classify them by making the sound you think fits.
You've started recognizing letters, or at least that there are letters somewhere, like on a shirt. You'll point to a random letter and proclaim "A! A! A!" Sometimes you'll copy what we tell you, like when there's a letter 's,' we'll point to it and say "S," then you'll start pointing to all the other letters saying "S! S! S!" So you're not quite there yet, but it's still cool.
Grandpa Rick and Grandma Connie came down again for Christmas, and you saw your Aunt Sarah for the first time in a year, too. We also all got to meet your soon-to-be Uncle Britton. They had a great time playing with you and we really enjoyed having them all here for the holiday. Grandma and Grandpa brought you a swing that now hangs off an oak branch over the deck that you try to get into as much as possible.
You made out like a bandit at Christmas again, with all kinds of new toys and clothes. We can't wait until next year when you understand a little better what it's all about, and we can start hanging the threat of Santa Claus and naughty little girls over your head.
As always, we love you very much.
Love,
Daddy
