Love Letter. Month 14

That's right! I'm actually doing this a day early instead of three days late! The truth is that since my post last month wasn't very long, and since we went on vacation and I've got a million pictures now I've been waiting to post this month for a long time. And now, here it is. I think this will be a long one with a bunch of pictures and so much mushy lovey dovey talk that we may lose even our faithful readers before the end, but I'm doing it anyway. Mostly because I'm your mom, and bragging about you comes so easy.The first thing that I have to admit is that we've gotten even further into the part of your life I know nothing about. It may seem strange, but when I thought about having a baby I could imagine the first year or so, and I taught myself the milestones at the certain ages and I would have some sense about what was coming next. Now, I have no idea. Jay has looked to me to know what's normal and what's not, and if something surprises him he will check to see if I'm surprised, too, or if I knew it was coming all along. Now, we're to the point that he looks to me, and I have to shrug. I don't know what's coming next, I'm not sure what the "norm" is for kids your age, and the simple truth is that there are a lot of perks to having it this way. I get to completely wrap myself in your achievements more than I did before, instead of checking it off my list and waiting for the next one. Now, everything you learn and every way you grow gets to be unique.You've gotten even more fun this last month. You're so good at walking that tonight you got down and started crawling and it threw me for a loop, it seemed like it had been so long since I had seen it. At the beginning of the month you learned another solid word, one that you have put to use well since figuring it out. You say "Ba" meaning bottle, you just dropped off the second "Ba" because only having to say it once seemed more practical. Once while we were on our trip sleeping in the trailer, you woke up in the middle of the night and when I looked over you said, "Ba" in a way that was slightly panicked, slightly pleading, and as soon as I gave it to you you settled down and went right to sleep. I mention it because it was one of the first times that you've verbally been able to tell me what you want, and it was so stange but also so endearing. I can't believe how fast you're growing.I was worried about how you would handle our trip, especially all the time in the car, but for the most part you were patient and happy. After we got there you were so happy to walk around with all of us and also to explore things like pinecones and you would point at birds as they went by. I hope there's some part of it that you remember, but even if you don't it was more fun than it would've been without you. You kept all of us on our toes. If I could guess, I would say that your favorite part was when we went to a chuck-wagon dinner one night and listened to the Fort Hayes Wranglers afterward. I was afraid you would be put off by how loud the music was, but you LOVED IT. We have a video of you dancing, and the whole time you were laughing and clapping. And not clapping because everyone else was, though you did that too, you were clapping because you loved it so much. That was the best part.Your Dad told me today that he can't wait for you to be an older sister, he thinks you'll be a natural. Sometimes I disagree. You like to have things your way, and you're not too keen on sharing yet. The thing that makes me think he's right is how you are with Isaac. Even still you love to play with him and kiss him. You get so excited that you squeal anytime you see him. I've also seen how concerned you get when he's over and he's crying. I wait for you to get jealous when I'm holding him and not you, but most of the time I'm pleasantly surprised by how you handle it. He really is your best friend.You love to have fun and you love to laugh. One of my favorite things is when something will happen that strikes you as funny, something unintentional, and you will burst out laughing. We'll do things over and over to hear it. What I've noticed this last month is that you do the same thing. Anythime you do something that we laugh at, you do it over and over and laugh harder each time while watching us laugh. I love being with you, special times when we're sitting on the bed or something, and you and I will make each other laugh. You love to play and we play together a lot, and my heart delights in it every time.Your second tooth came through on our trip. As it grows it's obvious that they're crooked, but I love it. The other morning we saw that you have a third tooth coming through on top, your top left. They still bother you, but thankfully not as badly as the first one. Your getting better at eating, and you like to use them to bite pieces off of what we give you. Now we need to work on the swallowing part, because most of the time you still suck on it until it's soft and spit it out.As you get older you just get more and more beautiful. We still are consistantly stopped by people who tell us how cute you are, or just want to talk to you. People wave at you all the time. Lately when they talk to you you cuddle up with whoever is holding you, pretending to be shy, but we know you really like it because if they look away after you do that, you're full attention is on getting them to look at you again. I'm still astounded by what a beautiful girl you are, and I love your eyes. You have such beautiful eyes.

You're also astounding me with how smart you are. The other night we were sitting on the bed and you heard a dog barking outside the window, and you started to copy him. And we'd say "Yeah, Kami, good job, that's the dog you hear." Today we were in the Hallmark store and they were selling dog stuffed animals. They were big, almost as big as a real dog, and you loved it. You'd come up to it and pet it which would make you laugh, and then you started doing the same barking imitation you had done the other night. I don't know if that's normal for a kid your age or not, but I was taken aback and so proud of you!I love you so much. I love to be with you, and I love to play with you. I'm so lucky because there are so many times when you and I are together that you'll put your head up against mine, or hug me so tight, or kiss me, or put our noses together and just hold the position. We cuddle for awhile and it honestly breaks my heart. It's the best feeling. Being a mom, even with it's frustrations, is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I know how lucky I am to have such an amazing daughter and husband. I love coming home to both of you.

You are so easy to love.