To Vivian, 22 months

This has been a monumental month. We have been marveling at the fact that you are basically a complete person. I mean you lack experience but you can basically do everything now and I can't believe all of the things that a 22 month old is capable of. You are so much fun -- so verbal and conversant and connected. It is really fun to play with you and so easy to make you laugh. Tonight I was singing one of your favorite songs -- the alphabet -- which you call "ABCD". You like me to say things like "C is for Carolyn" "D is for David" "S is for Stella" "V is for Vivian" as I sing it. Tonight, for some reason, I said "P is for peepee" and it made you laugh hysterically. You started singing it too. Your version went something like "Abcdlmnopp" and then you would laugh so hard. You laughed so much you got the hiccups.

You are extremely polite. When you ask for something, you often say "Please". When you receive it, you almost always say "tanks" and when someone else thanks you, you often say "welcome". When you need to pass by someone in the playground or somewhere, you will say "scuse me." And when you do something wrong, you almost always say "sorry" or "sorry 'bout dat." One night, you accidently hit Stella and she started crying. You aplogized many times, "Sorry Tella Win. Sorry Tella Win." Eventually you got up on our coffee table and started dancing as you said it and you ended up making Stella and Daddy laugh so hard. Speaking of Stella Win, you have interestingly started to call your sister by her first and middle name. For a long time, you called her "Lala" -- you still sometimes do, although more often, these days, she is Tella. And then one day, I brought her home from camp and you said, "Hi Mama. Hi Tella Win" and from then on, that is what you called her. We aren't sure where you got this from but we all think it is pretty cute.

You are as attached as ever to Mr. Monkey. And along with him, you sleep with an ever-growing host of other friends including Elmo, Elmo Jr., Mr. Pickles and Pink Bunny. The latter was Stella's and even though she has not looked at it in years, she is a little reluctant to allow you to appropriate it. She has also reclaimed George. You seem okay with that but you really like to have your little crib filled with animal friends. You put them all in a pile and rest your head on them like a pillow. Now when we put you in your crib, you also demand, "Ting Tong" which translates in English to "Sing songs". When it is time for me to leave you so you can fall asleep, you will say, "One more. It." which is your version of "One more and that's it." -- a phrase we use with some frequency around here.

You have developed some pretty profound separation anxiety, or really sadness around having to say goodbye or having people leave. For a long time now you have cried whenever I have to leave you. But now you cry when we say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and sometimes when Ranny leaves. I am working a lot right now so I am really happy that you are feeling attached to Ranny but it still breaks my heart if you cry when she leaves. Seeing your little face looking sad about anything is hard to take.

We have been having a great time in your swimming class. You are really good about going under the water. A lot of the kids don't go under yet, or they cry a lot after their parents dunk them. You always get this super shocked look on your face, but you never cry and always say that it was fun afterwards. And in the locker room, you love to hide in the lockers. You fit in them perfectly and you are fearless about the dark when you shut yourself in. You've always been a big fan of hiding and that continues. Speaking of hiding, the other day we were drawing together. You love to ask others to draw different shapes and figures (including Elmo, Cookie Monster, Mommy, Tella, Heart, Apple, etc.). I was doing this with you recently and then you took a marker and scribbed all over my Elmo. You then looked up at me and said, "Elmo hiding" and, indeed, he was. Now you love to make any of my drawings hide. You are also a really good artist yourself. Your drawings are very careful and you already have a proper grip on your markers.

You do a lot of repeating. This is one of the ways your vocabulary seems to be exploding. The other night we went to Balthazar for dinner. I ordered ravioli for you and Stella and asked for it to come as quickly as possible because I knew you were both extremely hungry. Stella was dying for them to bring us some bread and you started to wine. I took you out of your highchair and onto my lap. You started saying something that sounded like "Need roly roly". I was trying hard to understand what that meant and was asking you "What's roly roly" when I realized you were saying, "need ravioli". It is always so fun to try to decode what you are saying. Once we do, it always makes perfect sense. You are also a really big help. You love to help set the table or bring food from the kitchen to the table. You love to count. In your version, numbers go something like "1 2 3 4 9 10 11". You also love to sing. Whenever you are in your stroller, you sing "Happy Birthday" to all of the people you love. Or you sing "Tomorrow" or "Baby Beluga" or any number of other songs. You recently learned to play "Ring Around the Rosy" and I think you would do that again and again as many times as the grownups you are playing with would allow. It makes you so happy when everyone falls down.

You have become pretty interested in all things bathroom related and you enjoy visiting anyone who is on the toilet. You are frequently the toilet paper dispenser asking, "need paper" and supplying it then saying, "'nuff?" or "more?" and responding accordingly. You have also peed on the toilet several times. One night you were in the bath with Stella and you suddenly climbed out. I started to wrap you in a towel and you said "No. Pee." I brought you over to the toilet and put your elmo seat on. You climbed up and peed and then got down and went back into the bath. You have peed and pooped on your potty and your Elmo seat several times. I think you are really eager to do things the way Stella does them and that accounts for some of your early success in this (and other) areas.

A very huge and welcome development this month is that you now say "I love you" which comes out sounding like "I dove you" and which is the most amazing thing to hear. I am so happy that you do seem to love me so much but as Big Nutbrown Hare would say, "I love you more."

Love,
Mama

To Vivian, 21 months

In the land of no new news, you are still THE cutest, sweetest, most loving and affectionate little girl. Your spontaneous kisses and hugs are among my most favorite things in the world. You will be in the middle of playing and, out of nowhere, suddenly come up to me and kiss my cheek or my arm or my leg and then give a big hug too. It makes me -- or whomever is the recipient -- feel so special. when Stella is on the receiving end of one of these spontaneous displays of affection, she will sometimes report the event beaming, "Vivian just kissed me for no reason!" But there is a reason. You are just filled with so much love and happiness. One time Daddy was tickling you and you suddenly blurted out, "Too happy!"

I am started sometimes these days because you look so old, no longer a baby at all, toddler through and through. I do still remember you clearly as a newborn in a way that I can't really remmeber Stella so well. I love the memory and feel a little sad to think it might fade away. Of course it will, that is life. But I can remember so clearly the warm wonderful feeling of carrying your tiny sleeping body in the sling, or of just watching you breathe as you slept, your tiny fists resting up by your ears in that classic baby pose. I also remmeber how hard it was to get you to sleep for wahile, having to bounce you and shush you and try to sneak out of your room without the squeaky door alerting you to my attempted exit. And I remember, which I shomehow think I forgot to write about in here, the time we got home from a vacation (was it to Jamaica?) and I was trying to get you to sleep and you were crying and I left you for a few minutes and Grandma Helaine was over and we were standing outside your door and I was freaking out about what to do and we suddenly heard a thud and opened the door and you were lying on the ground having somehow hurled yourself over the edge of your crib. That was horrible! But enough about the past. I am working so hard these days to stay in the present as much as I can, to really enjoy and appreciate this time I have with little you and with Stella so that I never feel like it went to quickly and I didn't enjoy it. I'm here to tell you and to tell me in the future that I AM enjoying it, I did enjoy it, it is THE GREATEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD being the mommy to two wonderful little girls.

This month you mastered the art of jumping. You LOVE the trampoline in our apartment and can just stay on it and jump for ages. You also love to perform crazy stunts that freak me out. The other day you were on my bed and I was getting dressed. I turned around to see you in mid-air jumping from our bed onto Stella's mattress (which is on our floor again since you tend to wake her up at night). It scared the hell out of me but you just laughed and said, "gen" and got up to do it again. You also learned how to do a forward roll which seems to take all the momentum you can possibly muster. Basically, you copy Stella in whatever she is doing. So while she practices her cartwheels, you get right in there to practice your forward rolls. You are pretty good at taking turns although not so much on the trampoline. You obviously love Stella so much -- you ask about her whenever she is not around and you guys mostly play together so well. But then sometimes you lose your mind when she wants a turn at something like the trampoline. It is hard to learn to share with your sister.

You are also experiencing a language explosion that is unbelievable. You are basically a fluent English speaker with many new words every day. Shortly after you wake up in the morning you announce, "Bottle time" as you are very much unwilling to give up your beloved bottle yet.

This month I was cooking dinner one night and I cut my finger pretty badly. I ran from the kitchen and was sitting on the couch holding a paper towel around my finger not wanting to see how much blood there was. You, Daddy and Stella were gathered around me and Daddy was trying to get me to show him the cut. You disappeared and a few minutes later Daddy went to look for you. He found you in the bathroom rifling through the cabinet looking for a bandaid for me.

You are a lover of animals -- especially doggies -- and of books. You will happily sit and have a grown up read books to you for hours on end. You have names for most of your books and you don't like ones with scary pages like "Llama Llama Red Pajama". The page where he is screaming for his Mommy makes you too sad. Your current favorite book is "Face Painting" which is a book with lots of pictures of kids with face painting and instructions on how to do it.

Sometimes you won't eat your dinner and if I ask you what you want, you will look at me with excited eyes and answer, "Tic tac." This seems to be the benefit (?) of being a younger child. You are all too familiar with all sorts of junk food. One day you came into the kitchen and looked at me with the cutest little face and said, "Piece candy?" It was so adorable even though I did not give you a piece of candy. You also sometimes ask for "Tak-oo-ah" (chocolate).