18 months feels like such a huge milestone and certainly marks the end of your babyhood which, I must confess, is a bit hard for me to accept. It is, however, made easier by the fact that you are off-the-charts fun, adorable and sweet and truly getting more so with each passing day.
You love to give kisses and hugs and there is nothing that makes my heart explode out of my chest like receiving a spontaneous and unrequested kiss from you. The other day you kissed my cheek and then reached around with your face and kissed my other cheek. Then you proudly declared "cheek!"
If we are with a group of people, say Grandma and Grandpa and Steven and Clara, you will walk around and give everyone a kiss, making sure that each person feels good and loved. Then you beam with pride. Same thing with hugs. You also frequently kiss the photos of people you love. And your baby dolls. And monkey. And George. You are all about spreading the love.
You also greet just about everyone you encounter with a "hi". And when they leave, they do so with a "bye" from you in their wake. This includes people on the train, on the bus, on the street, in the elevator. And also plenty of inanimate objects. When you put something in a drawer, you tell it "bye" before shutting it away.
You obsession with my iPhone continues, I must confess, slightly abetted by me. I downloaded an Elmo app in which you get to choose eyes and a nose for your very own monster. You do love Elmo so! We also have about 5 Elmo youtube clips that we watch and you ask for them by name: Ducks (Elmo Had Four Ducks), La La (Elmo's Song), AB (Elmo singing the alphabet with Indi.Arie, etc.) You also love looking through the pictures and videos on my phone. You know how to find them, open them, scroll through, play videos, etc. It is pretty incredible, how adept you are with a smart phone. Harmless entertainment or radioactive braincell destroyer? Since the jury is still out, I really don't like you to play with it too much. Then why did I download apps for you? Good fucking question! Anyway, whenever you see the damn thing lying around, you cry out "Wote, wote" which is your word for 'phone'. You will cry your eyes out if we don't give it to you. Fortunately, you are pretty easy to distract. For example, we can just say, "Vivian have you had your vitamins today?" and you will immediately be off "Have-oo-wuh. Have-oo-wuh" heading to the kitchen cabinet where your beloved vitamins are stashed. You can go from seemingly so sad to completely fine with zero transition.
You still love monkey as much as ever. You also sleep with George, Elmo and baby Elmo. I think that you love to surround yourself with so many friends when you are asleep is emblamatic of who you are. You love people and are remarkably connected. You will start to cry if another baby is crying. Recently Stella was with Grandpa and you were out to lunch with Grandma. Stella hurt her neck which Grandma found out about on the phone. She told you about it and when you and Grandma got home, I was there. You came in and didn't even give me your usual extremely happy to see you, Mama, greeting. You just came right up to me and said "Lala? Neck?" You were so concerned. You are always willing to kiss a booboo-- your own or someone else's. I think you have magic kisses. You love bandaids. You also love getting a "tamp" at the end of gym class. You always ask the coach to give me one too. That is one on each hand. And you like to get one on each hand and one on each foot. You seem to really love your gym class and your very favorite thing continues to be the big ball pit and demonstrating your fearlessness as you jump into it.
You are a really good sharer and seem to truly love having others enjoy what you are enjoying -- be it a toy or a treat. You will always give a lick or a bite or a turn with no hesitation. Stella has become a better sharer because of you. You set a really good example.
You love the playground and can climb the steps, walk over to the slide and go down the slide and say "gen" and do it again over and over and over.
You are also a big fan of the swing.
This month you got dressed in a princess costume (really one of Stella's old leotards with a tutu attached) for the first time.
I know that there is probably a lot of dressing up in your future and this was more my idea for you to do since Stella was putting on a costume. But you did seem to be pretty happy about it and had a great time jumping around in the living room, climbing onto the chairs and then jumping to the floor whilst dressed (sort of) like a "princess". You do love to climb on our living room chairs and to hurl yourself from one to another.
We are constantly amazed by the stunts you perform as you seem to have no real sense of your capabilities but just know what you want to do.
I had a great time with you one day at the Children's Museum where I was not surprised to see that your most favorite things were anything that involved a computer or a screen of some kind. But I was pleasantly surprised to round a corner to find you and see you dressed in your firefighter gear.
You really did find and put that hat on all by yourself.
Stella continues to be a rockin' big sister. One night she put on her Hanukkah crown and she didn't want you to feel left out so she made you a crown of your own.
The kindness and generosity you both show each other, coupled with the amount of laughter and fun you have together is the greatest thing for parents to witness.
Thanks for being such a cuddly, happy and wonderful little girl. I'm so happy you are mine.
I love you. Happy Half Birthday!
Love,
Mama
