I find the second year so enchanting--even the third time around . . . or, maybe especially the third time around. Watching a child acquire language is miraculous. I'm even mesmerized by something as simple as walking. I catch myself watching Lauren toddle around, transfixed by the fact that's my baby moving around the world like a little person.
I love the polka dot pants Lauren's wearing above. They're 18-month size so, of course, she's been wearing them since she was about nine months old. But I suspect she'll be wearing them into the spring too as her growth numbers are continuing to come down from the upper limits of the percentile ranges. At the doctor last week, she weighed 26 lbs. 4 oz. (75-90th) and measured 31.5" long (50-75th). Her head circumference remains prodigious at 19.5" (above 95th). Her doctor has been monitoring her head measurements closely since her 12-month appointment since she's so high on the growth chart and she was a "late" walker. That's why her recent well-checks have been a little early--e.g., 14 and 17 months instead of 15 and 18. But since she's talking and walking as expected--and because late walking and large noggins seem to run in the family--everything checks out fine.
Lauren suddenly has six teeth. Her bottom two teeth came in around 10 months. Then sometime around her birthday her first top tooth started coming in very slowly. Then it seems just in the last month her second top tooth and her bottom lateral incisors cut through. She's hardly complained about these rapid arrivals. She does enjoy being able to bite into a full slice of pizza and likes showing me her "teeeeeth" when her brothers are brushing theirs.
One of the sweetest things you'll ever hear is Lauren's "thank you." She uses it properly when you give her something but she'll also say it when she gives you something, like a handful of rocks. Lately, she loves to give her brothers their water bottles. Each of the kids has a water bottle that they use all day long, take along in the car and, in the boys' cases, carry to bed with them. Lauren used to love to sneakily drink from her brothers' bottles. She'd cry in protest when I'd take away one of theirs and replace it with her own purple one. Eventually, she came to understand that I'd prefer she use her own bottle and now she's quick to grab a bottle lying around and deliver it to its proper owner. She knows the green one is Tobin's and the blue one is Evan's. Besides, she's moved on to stealing the boys' juice or milk cups (with straws!) that they sometimes leave too close to the edge of the dining table after meals.
Another fun aspect of Lauren's verbosity these days is that she uses the word "poop" with aplomb. It's a multipurpose word. She uses it to tell me that she's pooped in her diaper or when she poots, which she likes to do on purpose and then giggle. She also calls diapers, whether soiled in the trash can or clean out of the box, "poop." She also uses "poop" to refer to the general area of her anatomy she can grab while undiapered. She even used "poop" one night to tell us that she peed on the living room floor while we wisely let her run around naked after her bath.
Lauren likes her routines. Every Sunday morning, she finishes her morning nap while I take the boys to the 11:15 service at church. When she wakes up, Matt takes her on a walk around the neighborhood. They're often finishing their walk just as we get home and wave at us when we drive by and honk the horn. She's still taking two naps a day--although the afternoon nap is getting a bit iffy. I often entice her to head to the room for a nap by telling her "It's time for milk." She reaches for me and when I pick her up, she pats my chest and asks "Nurse?" Each night after I put her in her pajamas, I tell her to go kiss her boys goodnight and she runs through the house to deliver big sloppy baby kisses to Daddy, Tobin and Evan. Lately, she's even started letting me read Goodnight Moon to her before bed. For a while, her idea of "reading" was pointing and yelling at a few pages of her choosing and then closing the book emphatically. So it's a nice treat to read that sweet book in its entirety to her each night. Of course, I think about how I read it to her brothers too and I find myself thinking about how quickly time is moving. I'm resolved to treasure as much of these simple baby routines as I can as I think about a time ahead when I will miss very much the familiar cadence of "In the great green room, there was a telephone, and a red balloon, and a picture of--the cow jumping over the moon."
On a lighter note, my girl playing soccer! And then doing what toddlers do so especially well.
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