14 Months

To My Sweet Genevieve,

It's hard to believe that you are 14 months old now.  I think that this year of your life might be passing us by even faster than your first year!  You have held up your tradition of reaching milestones on holidays this month--on February 2nd, Groundhog's Day, you really started walking (your first steps were Christmas morning) and on Valentine's Day you joined Daddy and me and toasted your glass (okay, plastic straw cup) for the first time at our "fancy" home-cooked dinner (it's one of your favorite things to do now and is so cute).

Your favorite activities are opening and closing the doors, walking in the hallway of our building, playing in the pantry, and reading books.  You also love to go to the park and are dying to go down the tunnel slide by yourself (headfirst!).  The swings are still fun for a little while, but you are much more interested in the rivets on the playground equipment and holding court in the tunnel so the bigger kids have to ask if they can go through, and you usually let them squeeze by.

You love being with other kids and we are a part of a playgroup that meets once-a-week and attend Baby Time at the library weekly. Sharing is something that's difficult to understand, but if someone's playing with a toy you want you usually try to trade them for something else.  You also like to play independently and you've started to play in your room by yourself (with Daddy or me around the corner).  The first time you played in your room alone I heard you chattering and peeked in on you to find you reading a book to yourself.  One of the other things you like to do in your room is to look out the window onto the cars below.

You have become an expert at opening and closing containers, which keeps us on our toes.  You can unzip zippers, take chip clips and binder clips of off pantry items, unscrew and screw on the tops of many containers and put on and take off tupperware container lids.  You've even managed to open a factory sealed package.  I know it won't be long until you figure out how ziplock bags work too!

You still love music, and I think all of our rounds of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" are sinking in because you will (sometimes) show us where your nose, toes and mouth are.

Some of your favorite foods are blueberries, bananas, yogurt, eggs, bread, hummus, ham, chicken sausages, tortillas and cheese.  To our surprise (well, sort of), you also like the flavor of curry and are starting to like milk more.  You've tried a few new foods this month too, including: kiwi, clementines (quickly becoming a favorite), peanut butter and shrimp.

You are saying more and more words everyday.  Daw-g, Da-dee, mamamamama and hi are the most popular words these days.  You said "mine" for the first time recently and shake your head when you don't want or don't like something.  You're communicating with sign language too more often now and will sign more, all done, eat and milk.

"You are a happy, active toddler, but there are a few things that you really don't like.  You don't mind getting out of the bathtub, but you don't like getting dressed for bed.  You don't like when the refrigerator or dishwasher are closed because they are so interesting.  And sometimes you really don't want to get in your car seat or stroller.

Vivie, your Daddy and I love you very much, and we can't wait to see what you'll learn next!

Love,
Mommy