Livia + Mirrors + Balls = Lots of Fun.

And no, this photo was not staged.

One year ago she looked like this…

And now she looks like this…

Happy year and a half to my big girl Livia! We’re having so much fun with you these days. You are growing and changing so quickly, and yet you’re still our sweet baby girl. We love you!

We have been friends together,
In sunshine and in shade;
Since first beneath the chestnut-trees
In infancy we played…

We Have Been Friends Together, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton (1808–77)

Livia: Ma-Ma.

Jeremy: I’m Daddy.

Livia: Ma-Ma! Ma-Ma!

Jeremy: Da-Dee.

Livia: Ma-Ma!

Jeremy: Da-Dee. [pause] Can you say “Daddy?”

Livia: Daddy.

I awoke with hunger pains this morning and, instead of feeding Livia first, I shut the baby in the bathroom with Jeremy and ran downstairs for bowl of cereal. Halfway through the Grapenut O’s, I heard, “Rebecca, come up here, please!” Something about Jeremy’s tone of voice, and the fact he was using my full name to address me, made me run for the stairs.

What I found in the bathroom was hysterical. My husband, only partially bathed (our old house doesn’t have a shower), standing and holding on to a dripping wet, fully-clothed Livia. My mind needed a few seconds to decipher this picture: Baby still dressed, sopping wet… Okaaaay.

Apparently Livia’s love of walking along the bath’s edge while patting Mommy or Daddy with soapy hands resulted in a full-on bathtub dive. Jeremy tried to stay calm as he described what she looked like under water, eyes and mouth closed, hair waving about her head. All I can say is that I’m glad I wasn’t on duty when the Diving Baby Act took place!

Some of you may be wondering what happened to my monthly letters to Livia. Well, I decided that these updates were too personal to be posted on the wonderful world of the internet every month. I started feeling like Livia deserves something to call her own someday, some memento that friends and strangers alike haven’t seen. Posting them on the blog was a nice way to keep myself accountable to writing on a monthly basis, but all good things come to an end right? I’ll continue to post pictures and writings about Punkins, I’m sure. But for now the letters themselves are treasures to hold a little closer to our hearts.

As for the present comings and goings of our beloved 17 month old? As you can see in the picture, she’s a toothy one. She’s now the proud owner of four molars and one canine. I can tell you from personal experience that her teeth are very sharp. Baby Vamp laid one on my neck yesterday, and boy, was I NOT a happy mama. The need for discipline has quickly entered our universe and Jeremy and I are talking about it on a regular basis now… How do we best discipline her when she bites and hits? How long do we leave her on her naughty mat? What if she scoots off of it? When is a spanking called for? And so on. The great thing about the whole need for discipline is that it simply means Livia is becoming more independent. And a natural byproduct of that is her increased interest in movement. Right now she’s cruising the furniture and taking more risks. She also does a mean butt-scootch around the house—a habit our early intervention team sternly looks down upon. I’m not sweating it anymore though. This child is going to walk when she wants to and not a moment before. When the walking finally comes, I’m in big trouble. Right now she can only reach yea high from a seated position, so I can’t imagine what life will be like when her sticky fingers can reach up and over the computer desk and up and into high drawers. Ah, motherhood! As my dad said yesterday, there’s a reason why people become parents when they’re young.

Our girl is now quite capable of sitting up in her crib (she can stand up, too, but has only done it a few times). Though she easily slides down to her tummy when playing on the floor, I don’t think she’s figured out that she can do it in her crib as well. Thus during any given nap I’ll hear “Ma-Ma!” over and over and oftentimes this means she’s sitting up in her crib and has no intentions of sleeping. The other day I heard her dresser drawers opening and closing—and this is the sight I found.

Guess it’s time to move the dresser!