18 Months

Lyla Rose will be 18 months on Friday!  If you have had any kind of conversation with me in the past few months, you may have heard me say something along the lines of, “the toddler phase is not really my jam.”  (Is this phase anyone's jam?  If this is where you excel as a parent, please tell me your secrets!  I often end the day feeling like I was not the best version of myself.)  The truth is, though, that, very much like my little one, I am coming into my own in this toddler phase.  And what I am finding is that it’s really a case in extremes.  The hard days are really, really hard.  But the fun days are really, really, REALLY fun.

I love this little person more than my own life, even in the toughest of moments.  She surprises me nearly every day with something she has learned.  I’ve been reminded many times over the past few weeks how VERY much she absorbs without me directly telling her a thing.  She knows exactly how I put toys away after the bath.  She knows that after I unload our lunchboxes each day, I fold them up and put them in the door of the freezer.  She knows the trash bin is under the sink and somehow knows what qualifies as trash.  Like all the books and websites promised, her vocabulary seemed to explode almost overnight a few weeks ago.  Sometimes she's just being a little parrot and repeating everything we say; other times she just blurts out words and responses without an ounce of prompting.  It's as though she's just been gathering words all fall, just waiting until the right moment to speak them aloud.  I really should record her saying 'thank you.'  It's about the cutest thing I have ever heard.

She's developing quite the sense of humor and totally understands when she is doing something funny and does so to intentionally illicit a response.  She makes this hilarious series of funny faces that just totally slays us.  And then our funny little busy bee will turn right around and curl up with a book.  For all of her constant motion, Lyla will nearly always slow down for a book... or two, or three or four.  We just turned a corner of her playroom into a reading nook with a bunch of pillows and we find ourselves their often, reading stories together.  She's also recently rediscovered her Boppy and her Bumbo (which I had stored away in her closet) and she likes to pull them out to sit in and look at her books.  It is SO sweet.  

I think one of the most fun (and also challenging) things about parenting is seeing the unique seeds of your child’s personality start to develop.  Yes, genetically they are yours, but there are some things that are just innately them.  As I hear it from my mother, I was one of those mellow kids that would quietly play independently with one toy for 30 minutes at a time (do kids like this really exist??  It's hard for me to imagine).  I am fairly certain my husband was pretty laid back, too.  Our child?  Not so much.  I cannot wait for the day she is old enough to enroll in a tumbling or dance class.  (We recently joined our new YMCA--it opens next week, complete with a brand new indoor pool.  Hallelujah for a new indoor energy burning activity!)  The girl needs to move.  She is SO busy.  And active.  Oh my word.  I probably say, "Lyla, that's not very safe" at least a dozen times a day.  Last week, she mastered the art of climbing out of her crib.  This week, she hung on to the oven handle and the door fell open on top of her.  On our wood floor.  (She was totally fine; scared, but unhurt.)  She hangs on the refrigerator handles and the tray of the highchair; climbs on top of overturned boxes, totes, laundry baskets, her music table.  Nothing is safe.  I call her my little ninja, because she is so stealthy about sneaking out of my sight to try and get into things.  By some miracle, we have yet to have any major cuts, scrapes, bruises or trips to the ER.  I read this excellent article earlier this year, written by an expert in public health risk management.  She discusses how letting kids explore their physical environment and discover and set their own physical boundaries is not only healthy, but it actually keeps them safer.  I have to repeat this knowledge to myself very, very often.  (This is not to say that it's just a free-for-all at our house.  Not even close.  But I do let her test her boundaries,WITH supervision, and in the crib case, I was pretty dang impressed at how measured and careful she was, rather than totally reckless, like I was expecting.)

This type of super active, risk-taking behavior is so NOT me.  Or Jake.  It's purely Lyla.  And it gives me stress and anxiety and completely wears me out sometimes, I'll be honest.  But I also think it's awesome and I totally admire her for it.  I wish I had half her energy (don't we all??), confidence and determination.  I have several videos of her at 3 months old, obsessively trying to roll from her back to her front (she first did it at just 2 months old).  And again at 4 months, obsessively trying to crawl (which she did manage to master just shy of 5 months). Here was my teeny infant trying and trying and trying until she succeeded, without an ounce of frustration or tears.  And she does the same thing now (although, there's definitely more frustration and tears--sometimes my own).  I have no idea how this will play out later in life (Lord, help me), but she certainly keeps us on our toes.

Here are a few recent photos from our mini session with our photographer last month.  All photo credit to Charlotte Trask Photography, who somehow managed to get SO many amazing shots in such a short window of time (with a toddler, no less!).

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!  Our week of Friendsgiving followed by a weekend with family is about to commence.  (If you don't watch SNL, please, for the love of all that is good, watch their Adele Thanksgiving sketch.  It will bring great joy to those of you who have "lively" discussions around your holiday dinner table.)  I don't know about you, but the world has felt dark, weary, and heavy these past few weeks.  I am looking forward to slowing down and spending time with those I hold near and dear.  May your holiday be filled with warmth, love, and gratitude.  I'm off to start celebrating with my people!