month sixteen.

dear janie girl,

you are sixteen months old! how i have loved and cherished these last 16 months of getting to know each other. i cannot imagine my life without my happy, smiley, sweet, little evie jane.

at sixteen months old, you are still a feather of a baby, who isn't even on the charts when it comes to weight. you are skinny and long and, surprisingly, a great little eater 99% of the time. you like cheese and ham and veggies and fruit and you love milk, especially with carnation instant breakfast in it.

at sixteen months old, you still aren't walking. part of me knows that you are just stubborn, like i am, and you don't want to do it until you can do it right. for the past few months even walking with mom and dad's help frustrates you to death and i think you don't like to try it because you aren't good at it yet. we will keep trying to encourage you even though you seem to be content to just crawl forever. you are teaching me patience as i try to deal with a toddler who wants to be a toddler, but still has the gross motor skills of a baby. we'll get there.

at sixteen months old, you are a talker! you mimic every word i say and are getting really good at repeating words after carefully watching my mouth say them. you regularly say mama, dada, nana, jack, hi, okay, no, yes, and your newest word is baby. i love listening to you talk up a storm all day long and respond to the questions i ask you. "did you have a good nap, evie?" "ya!" "do you want to go bye bye?" "no!". you crawl around the house all day yelling "jack!!!" (which sounds like "aaaaccckkk!") until jack comes to wherever you are. you also love to talk about animals and make animal sounds. you can moo like a cow, neigh like a horse, bark like a dog and quack, quack, quack like a duck.

at sixteen months old, you are social. you are the friendliest little girl who loves to wave and smile at strangers, laugh along at people's jokes and be the center of attention. you are so animated and just watching you play by yourself is hilarious at times. you are still very independent and you don't seem to mind who is with you as long as you get to play. i shouldn't say this, but i kind of cherish the moments when you aren't feeling well, or when you fall down and get hurt because those are some of the only times you are really clingy to your mama. in those moments, i love holding you and rubbing your back and knowing that you need me, because other than that, i can barely catch you and scoop you up for a quick hug and kiss before you're off to the next thing. you have your own little agenda each day and you are so busy.

at sixteen months old, you love to kiss everyone goodbye (on the lips!), wave, give high-fives, touch pointed fingers together and play hide and seek. you laugh hysterically any time i startle you and you live to go outside and play on the front lawn or dig in the rocks.

you love your dad and you talk about him all day long. anytime my phone rings, your face lights up and you say "dadda!", if you hear a car pull into the driveway or our iron gate open and shut you shout out "dadda!". yesterday, i took you home in the middle of church for a quick nap and then brought you back for sacrament meeting. it had only been an hour since you'd seen him, but when we slid into the bench next to dad, it was like you couldn't believe you got to be together again. you hugged and kissed him and hugged and kissed him right on the lips over and over again until your little heart was content.

evie, you are so special. that is what i tell you each night before i put you to bed. you can never know how happy you have made us or how much we adore you. you are so full of life and enthusiasm and happiness and you just light up everything around you. life is so good with my very own sunshine baby by my side.

i love you so much.

love,
mama