16 months old

Today is Taylor’s 16-month birthday, which in itself is pretty cool, but not as significant as if she was turning 16 YEARS old today. Which, other than letting her ride a roller coaster by herself and moving her into her college dorm, her driving a car without us will be the scariest thing ever. And before I always looked at the whole growing up process from the kid’s point of view, meaning it was justified, liberating and, pretty much, just awesome. But now, thinking of Taylor reaching these far away milestones keeps Chris and I awake with the FEAR at night. You mean, one day she’s going to go to school all day? Or, she’s not going to want to hang out with us nonstop? And, Chris’s future heart attack, there’s a boy on the phone for our daughter? Deep breath, babe. We still have, say, 25 years or so before we’ll let her talk to boys.

And I don’t know if it’s the fact that several of our friends have their first-borns starting kindergarten this year, but all the sudden I look down at my baby girl and realize that she’s a full-blown toddler. And that we only get a few more years before we’re buying her a book bag and pencils and sending her off to school. So right now I need to spend as much time as possible kissing her cheeks, squeezing her belly and holding, holding, holding her. And while during the first few months of her life, the shock of being totally chained to and responsible for this one little person was a bit jarring, the thought of NOT having her with me all the time sends pains through my chest. I just love her that much.

So she’s now this little 16-month old person. NOT A BABY. Even my baby doesn’t recognize that she’s a baby, because every time we say, Taylor, who’s Momma? She’ll run over to me. And then we’ll say, Taylor, who’s Daddy? And she’ll run over to Chris. She’ll even shout a ferocious, RUUUUBE, when she sees Ruby. But ask her, Taylor, who’s the baby? And she’ll run to her toy box and grab the first baby doll she can find.

Her talking to us has been the most significant change this past month. She’s averaging one new word a day, and whether or not anyone else other than Chris and I can understand her, or that Bubble and Bottle sound the same, she’s turning into a bit of a jabber-jaws. She’s got the B-words down - Baby, Belly, Bye-Bye, Bubble, Bottle, Banana, which she just calls Nana, and Ball. She L-O-V-E-S to give Ruby her tennis ball. The other day T just stood over Rubes while she was trying to sleep for a good ten minutes, holding out the ball, going, Ball? Ball? Ball? Ball? BALL?

Two other words she knows are Elmo and Big Bird. It’s amazing how much my daughter LOVES Sesame Street. Almost as much as her Momma loves bacon. She can only hear the first few notes of the theme song, and if she’s somewhere away from the television, she sprints to it, throws her head back and lets out a scream that sounds like, AH! This is the BEST SHOW EVER! She dances with the music, and points and laughs at Elmo. Which, to me, is a major disappointment because Elmo is about as annoying a puppet as you can get. Where’s Kermit? Where’s Miss Piggy? Give me a puppet with some character! Her other favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba, which for you non-parents out there is a trippy, children’s show on Noggin that showcases a jumpsuit-wearing DJ, several humans dancing around in mascot-like costumes and lots of catchy tunes such as, Don’t Bite Your Friends and I Like Bugs. SERIOUSLY? Where’s the Rainbow Connection, and Gonzo and Fonzie? I have to watch this stuff too, you know.

And other than her expanding vocabulary and obsession with puppets on the tube, month 15 was filled with lots of new and exciting foods for Taylor to eat. And I know that right now many of you are groaning, rolling your eyes and saying, Wow, Brooke. ANOTHER post about all the food you feed your daughter. Do you guys do anything else other than watch her eat her food? Well, yes. We also watch her roll around in them.

AND melt them all over her face.

AND eat them like a ninja.