At nearly 18 months old:

1. She woke me up this morning by trying to feed me one of her bottles. Very nice of her. Good sharing.
2. She speaks in two and three word sentences now. At least once I heard a four word sentence.
3. She uses pronouns. “I sit!” “I want more!”
4. She stands at the window on her little stepping stool and says, “Dad-DEE! [syllable emphasis hers] Dad-DEE! Bye-bye.” She misses him all day.
5. She unpacks things — diaper wipes, diaper pails, dresser drawers.
6. She throws things away in the trash and in her diaper pail. Sometimes these things include sippy cups, shoes, and books.
7. She already has opinions on what she should wear.
8. She enjoys draping her clothes all over her body and sometimes wants me to put two or three shirts on her at a time.
9. She loves to have her hair combed in the morning. “Hair! Hair!” she’ll say as she leads me to the rocking chair. “Comb!”
10. She also likes to spray herself with the water bottle afterwards and soak her clothes so she needs a change.
11. When she hears the phone ring she makes a surprised face and says, “Run!” and then we run for it.
12. She calls Noah “bruh-her,” “No-no,” and “beddy-butt,” which is also her word for bellybutton so that one we don’t really understand.
13. Her favorite toys are her babies. She carries them around, feeds them, checks their “beddy-butts” (she has two cabbage patch preemies with belly buttons and tushies) and puts them in the rocking chair. “Baby sit,” she says. “Rock-rock.”
14. She likes to read, she likes to be read to. “I read!” she says. “Read books!” she orders Noah.
15. Her favorite things are shoes. Especially other people’s shoes. If she could read blogs, her favorite blog would be Manuela’s for the shoes.
and one extra: She is happy all day long. She is happy on her walk. She is happy digging in dirt. She is happy swinging on the gate eating an apple. If she’s sad, it’s because she’s tired or hurt but general cheer is her default emotion. Noah says, “I’m really glad that she’s my sister!” We are, too.
I have two kids and a delightfully odd husband, Brett. My children are Noah (born to us in 1997) and Madison (born to her first mom, Pennie, in 2004 and brought to our family through a domestic, open adoption). They are my inspiration and also the reason I don't get more done around here.
I'm a writer and sometimes I get published, which is a nice thing. I write for joy, I write for money and when I'm very lucky, both things happen at the same time. My work appears in national publications including Yoga Journal, Disney's Family.com, Utne, Wondertime, Brain Child and Salon. Currently I am working on a book about my daughter's adoption and seeking representation for the proposal. I also own Smart Cookie Communications with my husband.
Daisy
August 25th, 2005 at 11:42 am
What a girl! She reminds me of my oldest son–at eighteen months he was talking like that and picking out his clothes.
He has names for all his favorite clothes–the robot shirt, the regular pants, the foot shirt, etc.
He’s only into the clothes that don’t bind or rub. He loves to spray and then comb his hair and tells me, “Mommy, I look piffy!” (his word for spiffy)
ebonyblue
August 25th, 2005 at 11:44 am
You forgot number 16: She’s just about the cutest thing any of us have ever seen!
Kath
August 25th, 2005 at 12:14 pm
Damn.
How am I supposed to stay all pointlessly grumpy after that?
Kristin
August 25th, 2005 at 3:53 pm
Precious, precious! Thanks for sharing that. What a girl!
shannon
August 25th, 2005 at 8:15 pm
Sounds like baby temperament kharma has swung back in your direction!
And what a beauty she is! Stunning, really!
Bacchus
August 26th, 2005 at 1:13 am
She is adoreable. That face would brighten up anyone’s day.
Hope things are better.
Kay
August 26th, 2005 at 2:02 am
Wow, what a cutee. I can’t believe her language. At that age Liam hadn’t even started saying Mummy (or any other name for me) yet. He had maybe 30 or 40 words, but they were all naming words. Nothing even approaching a sentence.
rob
August 26th, 2005 at 10:37 am
Okay, okay. It is obvious you’re selling, right? How much for that beautiful baby?
Corrie
August 26th, 2005 at 12:31 pm
Got sucked into a conversation about domestic/interracial adoption today. They asked me how I was so well informed, and I have you and Shannon over at Peter’s Cross Station to thank, so THANK YOU.
Kelly
August 26th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
My Maude, she’s wonderful. What a great post, I may have to gank the idea for my blog…
cluttergirl
August 29th, 2005 at 3:06 am
Totally adorable.