17 Months Old!

Dear Evie,

   You are 17 months old today! Life is so busy with you around. You keep us on your toes.  Each day you are changing and the baby girl is almost gone. You weigh 24 pounds which puts you in a size 4 diaper, a size 5 shoe and 18-24 month clothes most of the time. You are still a really great sleeper. Bedtime is at 7 and you sleep until 7 most of the time. Mommy and Daddy take turns putting you to sleep. We read you a few books, sing you a song and then rock you for a few minutes. I love to rock you and am so glad you let me do it for a minute or two. Then you got into your crib and go right to sleep. Sometimes, if you are really tired, you point at your crib so we will get you in there faster. You still love napping for about 3 hours a day. You love your Raffi and have gotten really attached to your blankie too. It's so funny to get you out of your crib in the morning because you have to gather everything up before you will get out. Sometimes you throw Raffi out and you point furiously at him until we rescue him for you. Raffi goes everywhere with us still and sometimes blankie does too. I have tried telling you that blankets are not necessary on days with a high of 90 degrees but you insist! Daddy and I have learned to pick our battles with you so blankie comes too.

    You LOVE to eat! Some of your new favorites are hummus, carrots with ranch and you even had your first brownie.  You are really good at using your spoon and you eat several bowls of yogurt or applesauce each day. Then, the bowl goes in the air to let us know, that you need a refill. Some days you are a bottomless pit and other days you stick with small portions.

    You love us so much! We love your kisses and hugs. You look for Daddy every morning and get really sad if you cannot find him. He went to work this morning before you woke up and you even looked under the covers to see if he was hiding. You still hold your little hands up so we will hold you. It works like a charm. We love to hold you but it's getting harder since you are getting heavier. Don't worry Evie, we want to hold you as long as you want us to hold you. One day, way before we are ready, you will not want to be held. You crinkle your nose when something makes you happy and it's just so cute! We love all of your expressions.

    You are already showing us that you are a big girl. Sometimes, you even put your own shoes on and you love to wear my shoes around the house. You walk out to the garage all by yourself and wait for me to put you in the car. You climb onto the couch and chair all by yourself. Sometimes you even read a book while snuggling your Raffi. You love to throw away trash for me even stinky diapers. That might come in handy one day when you are a Big Sister. Mommy has an old camera and you use it to take pictures. You have captured a few interesting shots.

    We went to She She and Poppy's house for Memorial Day. You had a great Memorial Day weekend and loved hanging out on the porch. It gave you the perfect view of the boats passing by. We did not take you on the boat but we plan to try it soon.  You were sick for the first time. I knew something was wrong because you slept a long time and woke up with a fever. It was so sad to see you not feeling so good. We are so glad that you are better.

    You are starting to talk a lot. Your favorite words are Mama, Dada, cracker, car, girl, ow, wow, ball and bye bye. Lots of words are mimiced as we say them. We think it's cute now but it will not be so cute when  you are 10. You love balls so much and can spy them across the room or even in someone else's yard. Daddy has watched the World Cup with you and we watch while you point out all the balls. It's so funny to hear you say ball because it comes out quite Southern.  Parents have a funny way of hearing what we want to hear so sometimes it sounds like you are saying things but it's probably only apparent to us since we love you more than antyhing else in this world! Balloons are one of your new fascinations. You pick them out in stores and find them in your books especially in Good Night Moon. You also love big girls. You always find the big girls in every store, park and restaurant. Sometimes they are not as happy to see you as you are to see them but that does not seem to bother you at all.

   Taking you places is really fun because you love to be in the middle of the action. You do better in public than at home. Sometimes at home, you cry to get your way which drives us a little crazy. I am sure it's frustrating to have so much to say with so few words to get your point across so we are patient most of the time.  Daddy and Mommy have learned a lot about patience by being your parents.. Everything happens much slower. It's easier for us to take our time with you than to hurry you along. Everything is so interesting to you that it takes us awhile to get to our destination. That's okay Evie,we know this will not last forever. Time goes by fast and you will be all grown up before we know it.

    You are our beautiful daughter and we love you more than words can express. Everyday we have with you is special even the hard ones where I tell your dad that you are going to be an only child. We just love being your parents and feel so honored to have been chosen to fulfill such a special role. It's our most important job and we take it very seriously. Evie, you make us so happy and bring so much joy to everyone you meet. We look forward to each new day with you! We love you so much! Love, Mommy and Daddy