18 month update

Dear Samantha,

Yesterday you turned 18 months old. It’s amazing to think that you’ve only been part of our family for a year and a half, because already I find it hard to remember life without you. It’s hard to recall how different our family dynamic was back when Lana played subdued games of hide and seek with the adults in the house and took splash-free baths all by herself. Or to remember how we went out to dinner and everyone remained at our table throughout the meal without getting up to make friends with all the other diners. Is it even possible that we once averaged only a couple of bodily injuries per week? You’ve brought excitement to our lives!

All kidding aside, it’s been a delight to watch your lovely personality grow and develop new dimensions with each and every passing day. You have such a kind heart and like everyone you meet as soon as you meet them. Unlike your sister at this age, you have no intrinsic fear of strangers and are more than happy to be picked up by the kindly mother in the booth behind us at dinner so you can get a better look at her baby. This obviously means I have to worry about you a bit more than Lana, but I like the way you show no fear in new situations and assume that strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.

You don’t limit your friends to humans, either. You are a natural animal lover and enjoy nothing more than encountering a dog while on a walk or at the playground. Your father has developed a new interest in fish over the past couple months, so we’ve spent a lot of time at pet stores looking around while he buys fish and then again when he returns them after they die. One day we arrived as the store employees were setting up for pet adoptions and found a couple of tiny kittens in a carrier. Lana zeroed in on the kittens immediately, but you were distracted by the fish and joined us after a few minutes. When you finally wandered over and peered down into the carrier, one of the kittens looked up at you and meowed in his tiny little kitten voice. You snapped your head back to me with a look of utter amazement and said to me, “MEOW!” in the cutest way imaginable. It was so cute that you actually out-cuted a kitten, so that’s really saying something.

It turns out that animals don’t even have to be cute for you to like them. You show just as much interest in the creepy crawly variety and don’t seem to understand why those aren’t welcome in our home. One day your Granny caught a spider in our house and transported it to the nearest toilet. You followed merrily along saying, “Hi!” to the spider and “Bye!” once it began the ride down the drain. And then the realization hit that the spider was GONE and you cried like you’d lost your best friend.

You are talking more and more every day now, and by talking I mostly mean barking out one word commands: “GO! MAMA! JUICE! CHEESE! GOLF CART! SHOES! LANA!” and the like. (That’s right, “golf cart” is one of the first things you’ve learned to say. We are SO Peachtree City.) Your favorite television show right now is a Nickelodeon program called Bubble Guppies. It’s about a bunch of singing mermaids (merkids?) that explore new things like camping, sports, space, and marching bands. When you’re in the mood to watch, you grab the remote and wave it around while yelling “BUBBLE!!!” at the top of your lungs. With your sister, we tried very hard to avoid all television until she was two years old. That’s proving to be harder with you for a couple of reasons. First off, you want to do whatever your sister is doing, and sometimes that’s watching shows like Bubble Guppies. Secondly, you spend a big part of the day careening through the house looking for the most dangerous activities you can find, so a few minutes in front of the television feels like welcome relief. Besides, Lana has learned all about the solar system and air travel from Bubble Guppies, so it can’t be that bad!

We concluded the month with a trip to your pediatrician for your 18 month checkup. Dr. Leard asked me if you were having any problems, but I didn’t mention the fact that I can’t open the dishwasher without you getting your hands on a steak knife or how you try to climb on everything in our house, including the dog. Instead I said, “Samantha is absolutely perfect and I’m totally, head-over-heals in love with her.” Because I really am, my beautiful baby girl.

Love,
Mama