letter to a friend: 17 months

Sunday, 17 August 2008

17 months

Dear Lily

On Thursday you turned 17 months old.

As usual you are amazing us with just how quickly you are growing up. In the last couple of weeks you grew so fast that suddenly all of your pants were too short. Your language is also getting more and more sophisticated. You are now able to communicate very clearly with us - to tell us what you want, how you are feeling and (most often) inform us as to what you are planning to do next. You will often announce: "sitting" "dancing" or "stomping" just prior to launching into that exact action.

You seem to have taken a little more interest in food lately too, which is probably a good thing. Often around 4pm you will look at me and say "Mum dinner" and when I ask you what you want your usual answer will be "Broccoli", although every now and then it is "Mushroom", "Pasta" or "Rice". Earlier in the day you are more likely to demand "'matoes", "Bissies" (corn thins, rice crackers...), "Blueberries" (sometimes: "Blueblues"), "Strawberries", "Toast with 'mite" (vegemite), "Tofu", "Tempeh" or "Soym" (soy milk). In a somewhat poor reflection on us as parents you have also started to demand "Coffee" in the morning. Fortunately an empty cup appears to satisfy this demand.

You have also taken to asking us for foot rubs, which I think is hilarious. Your usual method is to say "Foot: hurts: rubbing", but "Foot: rubbing" is becoming more common since you have realised that you apparently don't need to provide pain as an excuse. My favourite demand at the moment, however, is when you ask for a "snuddle". Fortunately this is a fairly frequent occurrence, but it still makes my heart swell every time you ask for one.

Last month we went on a family holiday to Brunswick Heads on the NSW north coast. Unfortunately you got very ill with a middle-ear infection for part of our time there, but other than that we all had a wonderful time. Your grandma (my Mum) came to stay with us for a week and you really enjoyed having her around. In fact, you now ask (hopefully) for "Grandma" whenever you see a woman with glasses on and got quite excited when you thought that you had found her in the pages of a magazine.

While on holidays, we were staying just near a wonderful little cafe designed for parents and children and you made good friends with the resident little boy; Charlie. Every day you would ask to visit Charlie - which was just as well for mama and papa, because it allowed us to get a coffee fix while we were there. We were also across the road from a gorgeous park that was set right on the river. First thing in the morning you would look out the window, see the park and demand that we go out. Your favourite part of this park was the slide. It was a tall twisty one and on our first morning there you figured out how to climb up all the stairs, turn around and go down backwards (on your tummy) all by yourself. I was very impressed and you were in heaven.

Once you got over your ear infection we also had lots of fun trips to the beach. We would dig a big hole in the sand to play in and when we got it just right it would fill up with water which was excellent fun to splash around in. Even though it was the middle of winter, the weather was still warm enough for us to actually have a couple of swims too. I was so impressed by how brave you were in the water. You marched out until it was above your waist and even got back on to your feet after being knocked over by a wave.

On the way to and from our holiday we stayed overnight with your grandparents in Sydney. You love being at their house because they have a dog (Midnight) and a cat (Freya). You chased poor Freya around the house saying "Pat, pat" and every now and then she condescends to actually letting you touch her. Unfortunately Midnight is still a bit young and a bit big for you to really pat him yet, but you both love each other dearly from a distance and are no doubt plotting all sorts of adventures together for when you are both older and calmer.

When we got home you picked up every phone (toy and otherwise) in the house, saying "Hello? Grandma? Grandpa?", so it may be that you love their house for more than just the animals. It made me sad to think that we live so far away from them, but at least you cheered up considerably when your other grandparents came over for a visit and when we were able to get over to your cousins' house for a nice long play. I am so happy that you are growing into such a happy little social being and it is so much fun to watch you form relationships with other people (especially the special people in my life).