16 Month Update

Dear Lana,

You turn 16 months old today, just days after celebrating your second Christmas. You thoroughly enjoyed the preparations leading up to Christmas this year, including the decorations around the house and in our neighborhood. I am still amazed that you left our Christmas tree and the presents beneath it intact. That tree must have looked like a shiny beacon of toddler temptation standing in the corner of our living room, but after we told you not to remove the ornaments you actually listened to us. You were even kind enough to pass along our instructions to holiday visitors – walking over to the tree, tapping on an ornament or two, and then giving a pointed look and a stern “No, No!”

As much as you enjoyed our holiday décor, it didn’t hold a candle to the large, inflatable snowman in our neighbor’s yard across the street. I spent a good portion of the month chasing you down the driveway as you went to visit the snowman – to talk to him, admire him, ask for his sage advice. In an attempt to keep you out of the neighbor’s yard we purchased our own snow family and slapped them down on the front lawn. Alas, they were no substitute for the original snowman, and the chase across the street continued.

Christmas day proved to be a lot of fun, although you showed only a passing interest in opening presents. After watching Rico tear into his package, you obliged us by opening a gift or two. You took a look at the shoes and the stacking blocks we lovingly selected for you and gave a disinterested, “Meh” before shuffling off to retrieve a favorite book. It wasn’t until we came upon a present filled with new books that we managed to draw your attention back to us. Your face lit up in a “Now that’s more like it!” expression and we spent the remainder of the morning reading dog-themed books like What Do You Say, I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words, and the aptly named title, Dog.

The gift-opening ritual was repeated twice more on Christmas day at the homes of your grandparents, where you delighted all with warm Christmas hugs (including my parent’s dog, Josie, pictured at right). You received a lot of loot from the grandparents, of course. Your immediate favorites were a book (surprise!) of baby words, a toothbrush, and a Dora the Explorer phone that addresses you personally: “HOLA, LANA!!!”

Your enthusiasm for oral hygiene makes you a proud part of the Mayes family tradition, from your never-had-a-cavity Dad to your stocking-full-of-dental-floss Grandma. When I began brushing my teeth the morning after Christmas, you came barreling into the bathroom yelling “Teeth, teeth, TEETH!” I was so surprised to hear you saying a completely new word that it took me a minute to realize you were asking for your new Elmo toothbrush.

There have been a lot of episodes like that in the past month, where you shock me by transitioning from baby gibberish to perfectly formed and applied words. Your vocabulary now includes the words Dog, Teeth, Hey, Bye, Shoes, Juice, Mom, Dad, Baby, Bad (you hear that in reference to the dog, not you), No (said frequently to both the dog and you), Man (as in snowman), and Stack. Note that I’m only counting your “real” words – words that are clear and discernable even to strangers. I’ve noticed that a lot of parents have a tendency to label every consonant or fuzzy utterance as a word and then brag about how their babies are speaking in complete sentences. Not that I’m any stranger to bragging, but I’m not bold enough to try and pass off the string of gibberish that comes out of your mouth after you poot and laugh about it as a meaningful dialogue on the wonders of the digestive process.

All in all, it was another wonderful month and a Christmas made extra special by observing it through your eyes. Thanks for keeping us in the holiday spirit all month long. And also, good call on the Wal-Mart Santa. That guy was totally creepy.

Love,

Mom