DC Melchers: Letters to Layla

Dear Layla,

You are 18 months old today, happy half birthday! It's been half a year since I last wrote you and it seems like there has been a world of change in you. When I last wrote you were just barely taking a few steps and now you are running, jumping and climbing on everything. You have absolutely no fear, which is both a blessing and a curse. You will literally try running down slides at the park, climb on chairs just to jump off and are always the first at gymnastics class to dive into any new activity. You are my adventurous and inquisitive little girl, exploring everything you can. You love, love, love to dance and can't hear music without stopping what you are doing to break it down a little.

You talk so much that I've lost count of all the words you say, over 100 for sure. You put words together to make mini-sentences and will ask questions like "Where's Cash?" You know the difference between big and small and like to point out "Big Ellie" whenever we see a big Elmo somewhere. When you see multiple of an item you go through and count them all by saying, for example, "A duck. Oh another duck. Oh another duck." And so on and so on until you get through all of what your counting. You can only count to two but know you should get to three so before you do something, like jump, you say "one, two, twoooo!" And if what you just did is fun and you want to do it again you say "More two?" You try to sing your abc's, but haven't quite mastered them yet. When you sing along you say "A, B, blahblahblahblahblah" It's so funny I haven't bothered teaching you the rest of the letters. You are very polite and will say "thank you" without being prompted and "please" if I remind you. Whenever anyone sneezes you get a kick out of saying "bless you!" You love when people are being silly and will cover you mouth with your hand and say "oh he silly!" For some reason you find Donald Duck to be very silly. All you have to do is see a picture of him and you go on and on about him being silly. But the very, very best thing you have learned to say is "I love you!" It melts my heart every time you say it especially if it is accompanied by a hug or kiss.

You are very social and love kids and babies of all ages. You are probably the best sharer I've come across and I hope it sticks. If you have a toy or a snack that you enjoy you literally want everyone around you to share it and will bring it to each person you see.

You are very opinionated and let us know exactly what you want, even if it's totally off the wall like wearing your bike helmet all day or having to try on every pair of shoes you own at once. You are testing your boundaries right now. If you're doing something you know you shouldn't be you will look at me while doing it and say "no, no, no."

I could write a whole novel about how awesome you are and all the cool things you are doing right now. Even though some days are a challenge, I'm really enjoying this phase you are in. You are silly, funny, happy, playful, adventurous, affectionate and so so kind. You are my very best friend and my greatest joy. I can't wait to see what the next six months have in store for us.

I love you,

Momma

Here are a few pics from today