15 months

My baby girl will be fifteen months old tomorrow. She is so quickly moving from baby to little girl and I am not in a hurry. Yes, there are some things about it that I enjoy; she now eats solids regularly as of the past two weeks, she has been (mostly) sleeping through the night for the past three, and she communicates more every day. Actually, I love most every thing about her moving to little girl, yet I miss my teeny tiny baby sometimes too.

Cecily is such a happy and spunky little thing. I think that it is probably a combination of different personalities and having an older sister, but she does things that Aneliese would never have done. Like today when I looked and she was standing on the little wheeled horse that we have. Or pushing a stool over to reach something on the counter. Then there are books that had slight tears even before Aneliese, they still look the same, that is until Cecily gets a hold of them. Mostly, I just have to keep a close eye on her.

She is also starting to talk and sometimes we are amazed at the words she has stored up already. Such as today when she touched Dan’s camera and said “that, cama” and repeated it multiple times. And when she finished nursing today, she looked at me and said, “tan to” (Thank you) and we love “mo pease”. When we put the phone to her ear, she very clearly says hi and answer “good” if asked how she is doing. She is also starting to sing one or two words of songs and also has a hearty “men” when we finish praying. I always plan to writing things that she says down but I seem to forget a lot and right now I can’t even remember sentences that she has said.

She is definitely a bit of a clown and purposely does things to make us laugh. And we can’t help it when she has such an irresistable twinkle in her eyes. Sometimes, though she applies this humor to Aneliese and so if I hear Aneliese protesting, I can be pretty certain that Cecily has decided to grab something or knock something or sit on it etc. They really love each other though and most pictures lately are of them playing together. They especially like pretending to make meals with their dishes and often will sit and pretend to feed each other or me. They also like to sit together and look at books; each will have their own but will tell each other about what they are “reading”.

She has always been pretty adept at letting us know what she does and does not want; that hasn’t changed any. Like today, when Daddy walked away without her and she immediately arched her little back (trying to fling herself from my arms) and let out sad (and loud) wail.  Or when some one talks to her or smiles at her and she isn’t in the mood, I have looked down to see her normally sunny little face in a fierce scowl. Surprisingly, often it only takes a couple of words from me or her daddy to make the scowl disappear or the wail stop which tells me she is aware of what she is doing. Makes me wonder and tremble a little at the teenage years.

And I love her hugs and kisses too. It absolutely melts my heart to hear her say “love you” or to watch her blow a kiss (one where she blows it right back into her hand). Oh and when I watch her so carefully tuck her baby in a blanket and rock it while saying “sh, sh, sh”, I get just another glimpse of who she will become as well as what a little sponge she is just soaking up what happens around her. It’s a lovely and sobering thought.  I think I say it often but I am so blessed to be the mama of my girls. I love knowing that I get to have such a large role in shaping these two little lives. I  just keep praying that it is one that I can do well.