Almost 19 months...

Dear Lauren,

I'm sorry that the busyness of this season of our lives has kept me from updating & documenting much of what you are doing. May you never question how much of a joy you are to me! I love the little sparkle in your eyes! Both adorable and dangerous! We are constantly remarking that you are "something else". At almost 19 months you are talking up a storm. The last month has brought this on, and while we might not always understand what you are saying, you try to mimic most everything we say. Some of your favorites and cute things right now are "tank chew" or "sheet shoo" which you say when you give us something or if we give something to you. It's the cutest. You still sign for please when you say please. You say "Zachie" and "T-T" for your brother and sister. You call me" Mommy" & your Dad, " Daddy". You affectionately call your paci, "pabci" and your blanket "naanee". One of your favorite foods is bologna, and you called this "bownee". There isn't much you can't say... so I am probably going to forget some of the cute ones.. Some of the regulars for the list include, ball, bye-bye, nigh-nigh, baybee, doggie, horsey, book, read, eat, ba-ba, cracker, you can say- I want.. and throw a word on the end.. which isn't too much fun for us.. because you can be pretty demanding! You say No, and the wonderful word "mine"! You say "Oh no", and you hold your hands out as if to say "Oh no".. "where did it go?" You seem to be growing up right before our eyes! You love to rock your "babies" and you enjoy sitting in your rocking chair with them, or taking them out of Taylor's cradle and making her upset in the process! You can hang in there with your brother and sister, and you don't appreciate it when they try to direct you in ANY way... You like to do things your own way! You remind me a lot of Taylor at this age... very quick to understand things, and very smart. You LOVE reading. I think you would sit and read books and bring them to me all day long if I let you. You love to color, and you love the My First Leap pad. You have always been a great eater, but you are suddenly deciding what you do and don't like.. and you refuse to eat what you don't want to. You have all of your teeth except for your 2 year molars. You sleep for 11-12 hours each night and take one 3 hour nap each afternoon. You love to put clothes & shoes on, and one of your favorite past times is to put on everything you can from the laundry basket while I am folding laundry. It would not be unusual to find you with a pair of underwear dangling from your wrist like a purse, and one of your dad's shirts on for a dress. You are suddenly obsessed with "pobee" (potty), and you want to sit on it all the time to go "poopee". So far this hasn't happened.. but you have tooted a few times and you started cracking up every time! While we were on vacation you really tested us. You hated every minute we spent at a restaurant, and you screamed the entire way through our meals.. there was no appeasing you in the high chair.. and you would fight and thrash and not be calmed until you were taken out of the store. When you set your mind on something there is no stopping you.. which to be honest freaks me out a little bit! You have always been a Momma's girl, but on vacation you wanted nothing to do with me, and would not be without your Daddy! I thought for a minute I had lost my Momma's girl, but once we returned home you are back to being mine :).. but you are SO excited when Daddy comes home, and you ask where he is every morning when you wake up! Lauren Elisabeth, I'm thankful that you have made me a more relaxed Momma. That you are my little spitfire and the 2nd girl I wanted with all my heart. My prayer is that God will use your dynamic little personality and mold it into something he can use in a great way. I love you so much!

Love always,
Mommy