Addison Sophia: 21 Months

Dear Addie::

If there is one thing you are good at, it's keeping me on my toes. You keep me guessing from day to day. I guess that's what makes life interesting. But you sure are at a fun stage. It also means you are at an exhausting stage and a stage where you are in trouble a lot. But like I said, we have a lot more fun than not.

There are so many things that you're interested in. Last time I brought out play dough, all you wanted to do was eat it and watch me throw it into the air, but now you are more interested in playing with it. You'll even touch it which is big in your little world since you hate touching things. I pull out the cookie cutters and we make shapes in the play dough. But to be honest, your favorite thing to do is to put the play dough back into the container and close the lid. You just like cleaning up. You have also developed an interest in coloring, which I love. It's fun to sit with you and color together. You get pretty proud when I praise you on your good coloring.

You would easily spend all day outside if I let you. You just love the fresh air. We do just about everything we can outside. We swing, play in the water and sand table, splash in your pool, blow bubbles, color with sidewalk chalk, go for walks. But your favorite thing about being outside is that you can see airplanes. I've been thinking about taking you to the airport just to watch the planes. As soon as you hear one, you stop whatever you are doing and start pointing to the sky. I ask you if you see it and you exclaim, "yeah!" loudly and happily. Then you watch it as long as you can. Luckily there's a little airport not too far from our house so we see quite a few planes overhead. Airplanes are definitely your favorite right now. You even dig the plane cookie cutter out of your 101 cookie cutters for me to fly around above you.

Inside you love to gather up all your stuffed animals on the couch then get yourself under them and peek over the top. They are all pretty much dogs and monkeys with a couple bears and a Olaf mixed in. You have started to do more pretend play. I hold my phone up to my ear and say hello and you do the same with your play phone and chat to me. You like to drink out of your tea cups and sometimes straight out of the teapot. And you love to help. Whenever you can you are right there. You hand me laundry to fold. You put things in the cart at the grocery store. You put silverware and sometimes puppy into the dishwasher. You take the broom from me if I don't get your little one out. You pick up my little vacuum to help out. And you put things back, like you take out all of your dad's shirts from his drawer and then you try to put them all back. You are definitely in a helpful stage.

You love to dance. We listen to music all the time and you like to groove back and forth however you can. Lately when you get really excited, you clinch your hands into fists, close your eyes, yell, and shake with excitement. It is probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen. You are very into Tinker Bell right now. You still love the old standbys of Frozen, 101 Dalmatians, and The Princess and the Frog, but Tinker Bell is a favorite currently.

You are three months from turning two and you still aren't walking. You are so stable and in control when you do walk but we just can't get you to do it. It's frustrating, but everyday we are getting you closer to walking. Your MRI results were thankfully good, even though there was a spot. There is nothing we have to do about it so that's a relief. I never want to do something like that again, that's for sure. And I'm sure you would be glad not to do it again either, since you didn't seem to like the drugs in your system. We are still trying to figure out the mystery of why you aren't walking, and we are now getting help from not just doctors but other services as well. Those same services are going to help us with your language skills too. Although you understand and follow directions, you aren't saying a lot of words. So we are just going to get some help to get you on the right track. But just because you are a little behind, doesn't mean that you aren't an awesome, smart little girl.

And that smartness sometimes gets you in trouble. You watch everything and try to do everything, and that's not necessarily a good thing. But you are definitely learning. There are still more temper tantrums than I would like, but they are less and farther in-between. I haven't had to put you in time-out in a week or so now, which is always a good thing in my book. You at least listen and seem to pay attention to what gets you in trouble. If only we could just get you past the hitting stage. You seem to think it's funny. I, however, do not and that gets you in trouble. You also hit and throw things when you are upset and frustrated, which only makes the whole situation worst. But you are only 21 months and are still learning how to handle your emotions and such.

We have had some rough days but there are so many more good days. You are in a really fun stage right now. You play all day. You bring me books to read. We talk. We spend our time outside. It's fun to see the world through your eyes. In fact I love the way the world looks through your eyes. You keep being interested in everything, you keep learning, you keep that innocence. Just keep being you. I love you, sweet girl.

Love, Mama