18 months of goodness!

My Maddie Kate,
You are one and a half years old. 18 months of pure goodness. You light up our lives and it is simply impossible to imagine what life on this earth would be like without you here. You are tender and sweet one moment and a loud, on-the-go toddler the next! The older that I get, the more I realize how little I actually know. One thing that I do know, I am immensely blessed by your presence in my life. 

I adore you. Even the you that doesn't always mind. Daddy and I are having to kick our parenting skills in to high gear lately with all the testing you have been doing.  We have learned to stand our ground and you have learned that it's much easier to comply. Sometimes it's hard not to laugh at your "grown up" outbursts. Today we had our first stand-off. You wanted milk. I wanted you to have your milk. You did not want to say please. I think in the end I was more proud of myself for not giving it to you until you asked politely than I was of you for eventually saying please! Some day you will know what I mean when you have a precious face pitifully staring up at you demanding milk.

I'm convinced that your favorite thing to do is smile. You are always grinning. You wake up smiling. You share your smiles freely with others. That is a gift, sweet girl. You have a bright, beautiful smile that radiates a joy unspeakable. When I was pregnant with you I prayed constantly that you would be a person full of joy. Constantly I begged the Lord to give you a joy that would be a reflection of Him in you. I am so thankful that He saw fit to knit you together in such a way.

Each month that I sit down to write these letters to you, I feel like I could say (and probably do) some of the very same things each time. I just want you to know how blessed we are to know you.

There are many things that I do not want to forget about this age. One of my favorites is your love for baby dolls. You are so nurturing and sweet. You love to feed your baby milk and often try to change her diaper. Just the other day you lined three babies up on the couch and went up and down the row giving them kisses. It reminded me of when I was a little girl. Your grandpa used to buy us LOTS of stuffed animals and each night before I went to bed I had to kiss them all. If I thought I had missed one, I would go back and start over so that no one felt left out. 

Lately you think that everything that is liquid is milk. Even the lakes. Even juice. Even the pool water. Yup! No matter how many times I say water, you will always respond with milk. It's quite comical really. You insist that it's milk. The funny thing is, when you actually want milk to drink you will NOT drink water. Suddenly there is a difference! Ha. Such a ham, Maddie Kate. Such a ham.

Your hair is growing like crazy and looks pretty wild most days. Every time we change your diaper or your clothes in your room you request a new bow. I'm glad because without one your hair is w.i.l.d.

Your hand is in your mouth most of the time right now with all the teeth that you have breaking through. It's slowed you down a little with your words but you are still saying new things every day. You repeat new things all the time and still jabber nonstop.

Coloring, bubbles, bath time, reading, cooking and just being outside top your list of favorite things to do. You sing and dance more than anyone I have ever known. When you do, that joy that I told you about is so infectious. I have never seen someone watch you dance or sing and not smile. We are still praying that you get Daddy's musical genes rather than mine. If you do end up with mine, I'm sorry. However, I don't think that will happen. You already tap your foot to the beat which is more than I can say.

Another highlight of the month has been your desire to go to the potty. You have successfully used the potty more times than we can count on both our hands but you only seem to be interested when someone else is already in there. We have a little potty seat on that we put on the toilet so you don't fall in and I almost passed out the first time you wanted to sit on it. You pooped! Who knew pooping could be so fun???? I am not sure that I am ready for all this potty training business but you have definitely figured out that you do not like to have a poopy diaper! We shall see what the months to come hold!

Sweet daughter of mine, you truly a delight. A precious girl with a bright future. My prayer is that you know you are loved, grow in knowledge and truth and love others well. We thank God for you daily and cherish each moment.

Love you,
Mommy