To Vivian, 16 months

 

This month we worked really hard to make sure you were eating enough food and getting enough calories and now I am no longer so worried about all of that. You have definitely surpassed 20 pounds -- you are almost a little heavy when I lift you now and I know you are still on the chart. For a while there, I thought you might have dropped below the 3% for weight and I was a little freaked out. I know in my rational mind that there is nothing to worry about, that you are the healthiest most perfect little 16 month old in the world, but somehow a bit of worry snuck in anyway. Welcome to Parenthood.

 

You are also walking a lot better and though there is still a wee bit of the Frankenstein there, I'm pretty confident that your legs are straightening out nicely.

 

Regardless of how steady you are or are not on your feet, you are an unbelievable daredevil. You are happy to jump off of Grandma and Grandpa's (very high) headboard onto their mattress. You also love to jump into the ball pit at Chelsea Piers. I am pretty sure we have Stella to thank for teaching you these reckless moves. But we are also happy to see that you have so much courage and confidence and so little fear.

This month, after a sleep-over with Grandma and Grandpa, you accompanied Stella to the nail salon where she was getting a manicure and pedicure. Apparently you were hanging out with Grandpa who painted one of your nails for you. You liked it a lot so one of the women in the salon re-did it for you. It was bright pink. It made you so happy. You LOVED to show off your nail and got very excited when we would make a big deal about your "fancy" nail. You also love to have hand cream put on your hands. I think that you will be a very good spa date for me in the future. This is a good thing.
Some of the very cutest things you do right now include the following:

 

When we ask you to say "Grandpa", you respond, "Paaauuuuooooww" which sounds like you are saying "Paul" and which, I think, is what you are, indeed, saying.
In addition to knowing the sounds that a cow, a pig, a horse, and a sheep make, you do a "sssss" for the sound of a snake.
You are obsessed with noses and point out everyone's all the time. I think you are slightly surprised and happy that everyone has a nose that they bring around with them at all times.
You continue to love dogs beyond all measure.
You call "Goodnight Moon" 'Hot' because of the fireplace that is on so many pages. You point out the balloon on almost every page of "Goodnight Gorilla". Same for the banana.
You have full-on discovered the power of 'no' and answer with it to nearly every question. Stella gets a kick out of this so she sometimes asks, "Vivian, are you breathing?" to which you faithfully respond, "No" causing your big sister to laugh knowingly.
You call Stella "lala" and walk around the house asking for her and looking for her when she is not here.

Remember how we tried desperately to get you to take a bottle back when you were new and you were having none of that nonsense? Well, now that you kind of are not supposed to be having a bottle anymore, you LOVE 'em! Because your weight is pretty low, we are not making any attempt to curtail this twice daily habit. And anyway, I think Daddy kind of likes them as much as you do.

 

You have a favorite chair in our apartment and sometimes if we give you a snack, you will take it into the living room and climb up into your chair to eat it. Or I will just peak from the kitchen to see what you are doing in the other room and I find you happily hanging out in your favorite spot.
You almost always pull out any barrette we put in your hair saying "bra, bra". Then you will spend the next little while pushing your hair out of your eyes. But if we ask you if you want a barrette you will answer, "No!"

The biggest tragedy of the month was the loss of your dear friend Mr. Monkey. I packed Mr. Monkey for our trip to Atlanta but then he was not with us when we arrived. Stella told me she saw you playing with him in the apartment, that you had taken him out of the suitcase. But when we returned home, he was nowhere to be found. The good, though surprising, part of all of this is that you never asked for him or really seemed to miss him at all. The bad part is that I missed him a lot! We finally replaced him after a couple days home but you are not as attached to the new, bright pink, clean monkey as you were to your old mangy one.

We had a really fun time in Atlanta.

 

You were a great traveler and helped to make the trip pretty easy. I was a bit apprehensive about traveling alone with two kids but it really wasn't so bad. You seemed to have a pretty good time on the airplane. The cutest part was walking up the aisle with you. You stopped at every single row to say "hi" to the person sitting on the aisle. Everyone was pretty friendly back and many people commented on how incredibly adorable you are. I knew that already, of course, but it is still nice to hear. You loved to visit Daddy at work not because you got to watch the makings of a hit new musical but because it was lots of fun to walk up and down the steps in the theater. We also did a lot of other fun things while we were there -- going to the children's museum and the World of Coke and the aquarium.

 

You seem to pretty much enjoy whatever we are doing and it was fun to have you along.

 

You are starting to get a little tough with Stella. If she picks you up and you don't want her to, you definitely fight back by hitting her in the face or pinching her arm or scratching her. You guys still mostly get along very well and Daddy and I are happy that you don't seem to be the kind of kid who is going to take crap from anyone. You are really good at sharing and still so sweet and friendly with people but you definitely stand up for yourself.

No matter what else happens during the day, every night I get to put you to sleep. We read a few books, you drink your bottle and I breastfeed you for awhile. It is such a very special time. I feel so lucky to get to hold you. You are cuddly and sweet and you smell so delicious. I wish I could just burn into my brain what it feels like when I hold you and you put your head on my shoulder. Love.

 

I love you so much.
Love,
Mama

Annie and David

Stella is kind of obsessed with ANNIE at the moment. There was a part in what she calls "the new Annie" (Rob Ashford/Disney version) that she could not understand, something that Miss Hannigan said that apparently sounded like "Annie get your loftinsef out here." She kept asking me what "loftinsef" meant and I told her I had no idea, that she must have misheard it and that I would watch with her soon so I could tell her. Tonight she decided to watch while I put Vivian to bed and I told her to pause it when it got to the part that she couldn't understand. After about fiftenn minutes, as I was breastfeeding Vivian (the final step to her bedtime routine), I heard Stella call me. I did not respond because I did not want to disturb the little nursing girl. After a minute, Stella came into the bedroom with a sad face and said, "Mom, I'm already at that part and now I'm not going to be able to see any more of the movie because I'm just going to be waiting for you." I told her to just remember where it was and we could rewind when I was finished with Vivian. She happily left the room. There was something just so adorable about Stella with a sad face in her striped pajamas having just paused the movie but wanting to be able to keep watching. When I came out, I was able to clarify that Miss Hannigan was saying, "Annie, get your orphan self out here." Next she told me she wanted to watch one more part, "The seal will pick out all your clothes" (instead of Cecile). Five year olds don't say as many cute things as four year olds but there is still plenty of preciousness to go around...

Tonight we were skyping with David and then I said it was bathtime and Stella said, "I'm not taking a bath. I want to stay here and look at Dad." We all miss him so much! Vivian walks around the apartment going "Dada. Dada" looking for him.

Somehow older

Morning. Breakfast. Mom and daughter sit at the dining room table.
Baby is in her high chair. Dad is puttering around the apartment.

Mom (noticing that her older daughter looks especially grown-up):
Stella, you look different to me. It is like I hardly recognize you.

Stella: That is because you are used to me sick and I'm not sick anymore.

Thankfully, the flu that felled Stella for the second week of winter break
has been destroyed. It was brutal. High fevers, bad headaches, a cough,
some nausea and zero appetite.