9.02.06
13 months

Well little girl, that month sure zoomed by, didn’t it?

I tell you, Julianna Banana, you just might kill me with cuteness one of these days. I’m serious, I could eat you right up, you are that scrumptious right now. I feel like I’m drowning in irresistible, irrepressible cuteness. You’re so sweet you make my teeth hurt. You are so adorable you make my head spin. You. Are. Cute.

You’ve gone from almost exclusively crawling and cruising to taking your first tentative steps, to venturing across a room Frankenstein style (with your arms straight in front of you) falling every few feet, to now toddling everywhere around the house with your arms dangling by your side, little body wobbling back and forth. You look rather like a cross between a penguin and a gorilla. Have I mentioned that you’re cute?

You’re also quite taken with climbing, and are getting adept at getting down from high places. You’ve gotten so good at this bipedalism thing that at times you forget that crawling is still an option. We were at a mall play place the other day (that necessary evil of Arizona summers) and you got so angry when you were too tall to walk through a tunnel. I had to come and remind you how to get down and crawl through – you had seriously forgotten that that was your only mode of independent motion just a few short weeks ago.

You’ve been so focused on physical endeavors this month that you’ve all but dropped the impressive vocabulary that I listed in your birthday letter. I think you’ve added a few new words, but you’ve been much less talkative overall (that is not so say that you’ve been quiet – as that is certainly not the case). Your Daddy thinks that is because you’ve left the constant stimulation of being with our family in Canada and you’re stuck with just the three of us. This whole nuclear family thing is for the birds I tell you, you thrived being surrounded by that much love and attention.

You’ve learned to say “NNNNNNOOOO!!” with so much sass that we can’t help but cracking up and encouraging it. You’ve got a serious diva attitude going on with that word – and it is so freaking funny. I hear an echo of your spunky sister in that saucy tone, which worries me a little bit. Speaking of Bella - as is quite appropriate for an older sister, she is teaching you things like how not to share, how to yell when someone comes near your favorite toy, and how to scream with anger when you don’t get your own way. You’ve got to love that kind of influence.

There are times, when we are alone together, that I don’t think I could ever get close enough to you. I want to encircle you and absorb you and cocoon you in my heart. You are divine.

I am convinced that there is nothing I could do, no words that exist that could ever truly make you understand just how much I love you. It’s just too huge, too all-encompassing, too much to comprehend. My love for you is this awesome, spiraling, ever-increasing magical force.

You are my heart.

Oh, and have I mentioned that you’re cute?

PS:
It never fails that I think of more I wanted to include after I’ve already posted the letter…

1. Your hair has morphed into this interesting Mohawk-mullet combo. I’m not sure you’ll be setting any toddler trends with this coif – but I do think it has a certain piazaaz.

2. You like to tickle us. You say “ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka” in a sneaky little voice as you wave your hands around and grin with delight.

3. You crave outside time. Now you stand at the door multiple times during the day and say “Ot-doh, Ot-doh” over and over again with increasing frustration. You love to play outside with your sister, climbing on and off your trike and pushing it around, and going in and out of the playhouse over and over and over again. You are going to be so happy when winter comes and you can be outside for hours at end.

4. Your fascination with all things Dora grows right along with your sister’s obsession. You already recognize the theme song and like to stand right next to the TV when Bella puts on her DVD. To think that your sister didn’t even see 5 seconds of TV until she was 2 ½. Ugh.

5. Um. You’re Cute. Yeah Baby.