Livia just said, “Ay-ai! Mama?” (rough translation: “I’m in a bit of a pickle. Help, please, Mom?”). I agree with you, Michelle… That word from a baby’s mouth definitely makes a mom’s heart go pitter-pat.

Livia and I don’t move too quickly in the mornings. It’s kind of our time to greet the day and get things sorted out. We breakfast with the paper and baby oatmeal. We build toy towers and ride bikes around the house (oh wait, Livia does the bike riding on her own). I surf the internet, she attempts to bang the life out of my keyboard. Life is good when your mornings look like this.

This morning I pulled out the full length mirror for a little extra fun while Livia apparently found the lid to an old Avent pacifier. There in front of the mirror, we basked in the morning light and entertained ourselves for a few minutes. Really, life is good.

Thank you, God, for your many blessings.

Sunday was an extraordinary day. The sky was blue, the sun was shining brilliantly and the high temp was around 77 degrees. In short, it was a perfect day for a family trip to the zoo.

We have a lovely children’s zoo in Lincoln. It’s small but beautiful, and the zookeepers do a great job of keeping the grounds well-manicured and the animals in great shape. That being said, Jeremy and I were reminded of it being a zoo (a.k.a. a place where animals live, eat and have their being) when we rounded the front walk and were affronted by raw animal odors. Ah well. Livia, who hasn’t yet exhibited displeasure at her own nasty odors, didn’t seem to care a bit. We spent over an hour wandering by exhibits. Livia mooed and woofed her heart out at reindeer, goats and ponies—and even squawked back at the macaws. I was shocked to learn that bald eagles’ nests can sometimes equal 10 feet in diameter and can weight several tons, and Jeremy found out that the difference between monkeys and apes is that monkeys have tails. So there you go, education and fun rolled up into one tidy package on a Sunday afternoon.

Dear Livia,

Ack! How did you get to be a big 15 month old KID already??! I remember talking with other moms months ago and I was all like, “I love babies at 6 months old best. They’re so cute and so interactive.” Secretly I was thinking that it was you who was the best and illogically I was thinking that their babies were too old already. And here you are now, 15 months “old”, and I keep saying that I love this stage the best. If you haven’t learned it already, know that your mother can be way silly sometimes.

This past month you’ve turned into a toddler. All of a sudden you have this uncanny ability to explore every nook and cranny that we’d rather you didn’t explore. You seem to know when you’ve come upon something “illegal” and you’ll turn towards me with ______ (pointy pencil, shiny quarter, small happy face sticker) squeezed tightly in your little fist. I end up wrestling the object away and then you holler for a few minutes. Diversion is the best tactic I can find at this moment, but it doesn’t always prove helpful. A few days ago you discovered the wide, button-filled, black world of media equipment—dials and LEDs on low-shelving, oh my! Could anything possibly be more exciting? I think not! Simply moving you away from the entertainment center wasn’t enough… In fact, I’ve never seen you move so quickly in your short life. You went from sitting to lying down in one smooth seal-like motion and in less than a second later you had rolled your toddler self right back to square one. Even my “no-no, Livia,” accompanied by pointing, did no good. You simply said “nah-nah” over and over while pressing buttons with your toes. Welcome, toddlerhood!

It won’t be long now until you’re walking on your own. Within the past week, since Sue the PT came, you’ve started cruising around the furniture. You’re a careful cruiser, cautious in all movements and mostly in control at every turn. You don’t like to feel wobbly and will cry if you even feel like you could fall. But that’s okay. I think your observant, sensitive personality is a strength and it’ll be interesting to see how it benefits you in the future. Back to the business of walking… Yesterday I plopped you on the bathroom floor while I, uh, used the restroom, and you PULLED YOURSELF UP on the tub! Woohoo!!!! I didn’t want to freak you out with my best impersonation of a cheerleader, but boy was I excited. This is huge, Livia, so huge. Your daddy and I couldn’t be more proud. Apparently your skinny arm and chest muscles have gained strength in recent weeks, at least enough to haul your own body weight. Your newfound strength combined with your toddler curiosity are going to do wonders for your skills. I never knew child development was so exciting. You, my dear girl, have opened a whole new world for us.

There’s so much more to say… Like how beautiful your huge, blue-gray eyes are and how long your dark lashes look. Like how funny you are and how you like to imitate us laughing. How you copy me when I stretch in the morning, complete with grunting noises, and how you point to your cow and then “moo” almost every time I get you from your crib. You can say lots of words now—Mama and Dada, Woof, Moo, Thank You, something of an Amen, All Done, Bear, Uhfly (for butterfly), Quilt, No-No and sometimes Nana and Papa. Granted, you say it all in your delightfully garbled Baby English, but we know what you mean. We’re preparing your for the upcoming football season by raising one arm for “Go, Huskers!” and both arms for “Touchdown!” You are a sweet, cuddly babe who loves to give tight neck hugs and puckers up beautifully for kisses, complete with smacking sounds. And even though you haven’t mastered walking quite yet, I can see in your eyes that you are so ready to join older kids in their play. Soon you’ll be running with them, shrieking the way they do, and hanging onto your toys fiercely when they try to steal them from you. But always, always, you’ll be our sweet girl, Livia who loves her family and brings us all much joy.

You are the apple of our eyes—it’s an expression I used to consider cheesy, but it has never been more true than it is today.

Love always,
Mama

We started off teaching Livia a few signs because we heard it was a good idea. You figure, the baby can’t communicate verbally so why not teach them non-verbal expressions? But really, there’s a reason why it’s a good idea… You teach a child sign language to prevent them from screaming and screeching unnecessarily.

Now that Livia is 15 months she seems to be hitting toddlerhood, the stage full of activity, hustle and bustle, and unmet desires. We’ve hit this point where our sweet, darling, beautiful Livia (okay, now prepare yourself) arches her back, screams and cries if she doesn’t get what she wants — truly shocking, isn’t it? ; ) It’s not like baby sign language is a cure for that. Afterall, even if she signed that she wanted that sharpened pencil, I still wouldn’t give it to her. Rather, the signs help because they reduce the sheer amount of back-arching and crocodile tears. Instead of needlessly frustrating her by removing the milk from her highchair, she can sign “more” and we’ll simply give it back to her. Fussiness solved. And when she’s finished with a meal we don’t have to wait for her to make a huge mess or drop food off the edge of her tray; instead she signs “all done” in response to our questions.

Granted, I feel like a moron when I repeatedly touch my chin and say “thank you” in public in order to teach my kiddo, but overall, the effort is worth it.

Signs Livia knows at 15 months: all done, more, thank you, milk
Signs we’re working on: please, no

Dear Livia,

You are now 14 months old and you’re looking more like a toddler than ever. A very pudgy bald little boy sat behind us on the airplane a week ago—he, too, was 13 months old and looked the part of a baby. I think you actually look a bit older now simply because you have lots of hair and you’re a slender little thing. You’re gaining weight now, I can see it around your face, and your muscles are getting stronger everyday. While we were on vacation you started taking multiple steps in a row while clinging on to my fingertips. Now, look out world because Livia no longer wants to sit down; she’d rather be walking! My theory is that you love walking so much because it lets you explore the world with your feet. If there’s a knothole in our wood floors, your toes have to touch it. If there’s a crack in the concrete sidewalk out front, that’s where you’re headed. Even when you’re playing on your back and want a toy, why let your fingers do all the work? Just stretch out those baby feet and get the job done! And I thought my toes were talented…

In the beginning of June we had a few tests done on you. You thought you were just playing with toys and then being oh-so-cruelly manhandled on the floor, but really we were having your skills evaluated. To make an hour long evaluation story shorter, let me just tell you that you’re the first 13 month old I know to have to take summer school! Turns out that summer school isn’t such a bad gig. It involves a very kind and gentle physical therapist coming to our living room and playing with us on a biweekly basis. And guess what you’ve proven in the past four week, at least in my thinking… You don’t need summer school after all. You’ve caught up, in your own sweet timing, and you’ve made significant progress from that day in early June. We pretty much think that you’re going to skip crawling and go straight to walking now. Still, we’re learning a lot from our PT and I’m glad to have her come point out how tremendously you’re getting along.

Besides the walking, you’ve learned to do all sorts of fun things this past month. You show much self-control by not pointing out facial parts anymore. On a rare occasion you’ll bless us with a point to a nose or ear when asked, but mostly you seem like you’re bored with that tired old game. You can also moo like a cow (when you want to, of course) and eagerly point to the stuffed cow hanging on your nursery wall. You can also point out butterflies in your bedroom. You kiss and snuggle in the most beautiful baby fashion, sometimes patting my shoulder as your burrow your head into my neck. Sometimes the kisses are close-mouthed accompanied by lip-smacking noises, other times they involve a little more saliva, say, with the tongue. But you know what? Though I’m grossed out by open-mouthed slobbery kisses from other kids, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ones you give me. Nothing touches my heart like a Livia-generated smooch.

You have a very sharp mind behind those big blue-grey eyes. You watch everything Daddy and I do and, more often than not, you imitate our actions. (Yep, uh-oh for us.) You wave, blow kisses, try to snap your fingers, open and close your mouth and “talk” with us on a daily basis. You are now learning the art of the fake cry and sometimes will make pathetic whimpers and boo-hoos to get our attention. But guess what, kiddo? Your mama is a champion crier/manipulator, so good luck with that one. What may work with Daddy will probably not work with me! So far you’ve chosen to use your powers for good, not evil, so even though your mind is quick, I’m glad to see that you’re still our beautiful, sweet Livia. Every night I thank God for blessing us with such an amazing girl and every night that sentiment is absolutely honest. We pray that God grants us wisdom to raise you in a righteous manner, that He forgives the many mistakes we make, and that He makes us stronger role models for you. May you glorify Him today in your own baby way.

Love,
Mama

Last night we were in the middle of doing the cross-crawl with Livia (a crawling exercise recommended by Brook) and singing songs like Frere Jacques and Happy Birthday when Renae burst out, “Oh yeah! TODAY IS LIVIA DAY!” And we all recognized with joy that indeed today was Livia Day and we promptly cheered and celebrated our smiley 13 month old with much enthusiasm.

One year ago, on June 26, a beautiful seven week old baby girl was placed into our arms. The moment was filled with expectation, great joy, a surprising amount of anxiety, and empathetic sadness for the birthfamily which had loved her (and still loves her) greatly. It was definitely one of the most beautiful, most profound days of our lives and we’re still overwhelmed sometimes by the fact that God has given us such an amazing child to be our daughter.

Livia Day this year was celebrated by kiss-blowing, belly button-pointing, a lot of wiggling and squiggling, and plenty of hugs and snuggles. I wonder what this child will be doing next year on her day?

Dear Livia,

I love your sense of humor. Sometimes I’m completely amazed how God has created this little baby wrapping with a startling sense of funny inside. Actually, your daddy and I often are in awe of you—that you’re a living, breathing little person with your own custom-made personality! You are completely, 100% Livia—no one else is just like you. And as your own little being, you have unique and quirky sense of humor, which I adore.

You think the America’s Best Eyeglasses commercial is funny. Personally, I think it’s a bit bizarre with its photographed human heads that bobble on animated bodies. But for whatever reason, it tickles your funny bone and never fails to elicit a smirky laugh.

You also like to look at yourself in mirrors, throw up your arms and legs and laugh intensely. You continue to giggle at Daddy, whether he’s being intentionally silly or not, and if I dance around the room with enough vim and vigor you’ll laugh at me, too. You like to make silly faces and you’ve nailed the Silly Bottom Wiggle dance with perfect rhythm. You clap, you shriek, you scream with baby glee.

Thanks for keeping us laughing, Livia. We’re having lots of fun at 13 months.

Much love,
Mama

My love for my daughter is such that, after putting her down to bed and seeing an oddly-shaped shadow beside her, I picked up the darkened object without hesitation or second thought as to it possibly being a spider, piece of poop, or other item of an unseemingly nature.

Tonight, to my relief, it was a piece of cheese.