Dear Livia,

Happy nineteen months! What a big girl you seem to be now. I just got done bathing you and your body is so long and lean these days. You still have baby fat, and a delightfully round tummy, but it’s obvious to me that you’ve turned into a toddler. We used to think you’d have stick-straight hair, but no… You’ve got gorgeous blond-streaked brown curls at the back of your head. I’m so proud to have such a beautiful baby girl. God has blessed me far more than I imagined with you!

You’ve done at least two very endearing things today that I’d like to record for memory’s sake. The first involves sign language and the alphabet. It was my guess, early on, that if I sang the Alphabet Song to you and accompanied it with sign language, you’d someday learn to both sing and sign the alphabet. It’s true that I’m a big word person—I love the English language—so of course I want to expose you early on to the building blocks of our language. I haven’t seen any indication from you that you’ve been paying attention to all the singing and signing… until today. After pressing a button on your Leapfrog Learning Table, and hearing the Alphabet Song, you turned to me and started making signs with your hands! Ah, so cute!!! My heart melted a little bit right then.

The other sweet moment of the day came about when we were reading library books before naptime. While looking for a book to read to you about potty training, I came across books entitled Feet Are Not for Kicking and Hands Are Not for Hitting. Considering your penchant these days for all out whacking when you’re frustrated, I decided it’s never to early to read helpful primers like these. We read all the way through the kicking book and learned that kicking hurts and that feet are better used for jumping, running and kicking balls, not people. After we were done you immediately turned the pages back to a picture of a sad little boy (receiver of a swift kick, no doubt) and said, “OW!” Ha. It was a funny moment. I love it that you recognize owies and yet wonder when you’re going to quit inflicting them. Something tells me it’ll take lots of positive reinforcement and consistency in discipline before we see that day.

You are still the same sweet baby girl that you were the day we adopted you. I love your cuddly, cautious personality… In many many ways you remind me of your Daddy. You are both homebodies; I can see the tension roll off your shoulders when you get back home after being gone for awhile. You both love love love to hug and kiss. On Saturday mornings you have the pleasure of cuddling together for an extended amount of time, usually while watching some cartoon Mommy wouldn’t ever watch. You also are both very observant and like to survey the scene before getting overly involved. And yet, you both love people very much; family and friends are continually on the receiving end of your affections.

Livia Raine, I love hugging you. I love being kissed by you. Very honestly, your undying baby love has made me a better woman.

Forever,
Mama