California Stars: My bumblebee is 18 months

Dear Lily,

Yesterday, you turned 18 months old. You are an astounding 33 ¼ inches long, but only 22 ½ pounds, which your pediatrician says is long, lanky and totally perfect. (It’s true, I swear! It’s right on our Kaiser Permanente printout!)

At 18 months, you are a full-fledged TODDLER! And that is what we call you these days: TODDLER! In all capital letters, with an exclamation point, and possible with heart palpitations and hair loss thrown in. I believe you officially became a full-fledged TODDLER! when you learned to shimmy up the legs of the dining room table, but nevertheless living with a TODDLER! is like cohabitating with a cyclone: you never know what will hit you next.

Over the past six months we’ve have so many cool adventures. We’ve spent hours wading barefoot through mud. We’ve visited library story time, children’s museums, art centers, nature conservatories, splash pads, national and state parks. We’ve been whale watching. We’ve skipped rocks at the beach and played for hours in the water at a river. We’ve planted vegetable seeds, made chalk pictures on the driveway and watched a ladybug crawl up sister’s arm. We’ve gone hiking, started a Mommy & Me gymnastics class and jumped into a cold pool on a hot day. We’ve learned how to summersault. We’ve pretended to go fishing with willow tree branches, watched tree trimmers and have whizzed down at least ten thousand slides. We’ve had all sorts of messy, thrilling escapades – and you always have a blast.

The thing is, bumblebee, the older you get, the more I see how much you and your personality fit into our little family. You are silly to your sister’s seriousness. You are the loud to your father’s quietness. You crave adventure to my cautiousness. You challenge me every single day. You live big, little bumblebee, but you love even bigger. We love having you in our life, teaching you, and watching you develop that iconic toddler sense of wonder.