Dear Kavya, I can’t…

I can't quite believe it's eighteen months already. Almost a week past, actually -- you keep us busy enough that it's tough remembering to mark and celebrate the milestones as they rush by. It's only because you're napping now that I have time to write this at all, and I'd better be quick, since this is also when I get to clean up, feed myself, answer all my e-mail, write stories...

It's not really as bad as all that. These days, you can entertain yourself pretty well for an hour or two at a time, especially if we break down and put the tv on. You're not so enthralled by actual shows, but you do love your theme songs. The look of delight on your face when Bob the Builder comes on is quite adorable, and your sheer enthusiasm as you holler out, "Yes, we can!" (or rather, "ess ee an!!!") is so damn cute that we both end up singing you the theme song several times a day. Your dad has seriously weakened on his reluctance to sing, because you love it so much when we do. You're particularly fond of songs where you can come in on a chorus -- when we sing "Pop Goes the Weasel" you love singing "pop!" -- sometimes jumping as you do it. You did that for Venu when she came over for Friday night poker, and she almost fell down, she was so startled and delighted.

You're pretty much delighting everyone these days, your parents included. After a brief bobble around sixteen months, you're back to sleeping through the night, reliably going down at 7:30 and most days, sleeping until 7:30. *Plus* a 1 - 3 afternoon nap. This makes your parents so much happier than they were, I can't tell you. It's not that we don't enjoy your company, munchkin -- we just enjoy it so much more when we, and you, are well rested. Nowadays you wake up smiling and chattering, and while we can't quite understand most of your conversations yet, you're still perfectly happy to keep up a steady stream of what is clearly intended to be language. We're going to get there, baby, I swear.

So far, here are the words we understand: hi, bye, mama, papa, ai-yee (Ellie), nigh-nigh (night-night), owl, doggy, ruff-ruff (what the doggy says), ook-ook (what the monkey says), nana (from banana, for food), wa-wa (water), eeze (cheese), baba (your favorite bear)...and probably quite a few more I'm forgetting. We're trying to get you to say chalk, because chalk is your new absolute favorite toy, and you get quite distressed when you want it but we are slow in figuring that out and getting it to you. Your artwork is very creative, but perhaps you could confine it to the chalkboard instead of decorating our furniture, clothes, aquarium, toys, safety gate, stroller...and, well, pretty much everything at Kavi-height? Let's work on that. (Yes, I know Daddy encourages you (note blue chalk on toenails). I'm working on him too.)

I'm not really complaining, cutie-pie. Because here's a secret -- at around fifteen months, you started being really fun. Making us laugh all the time, smiling and giggling and singing and dancing. Your mood improved dramatically (maybe finishing up the teething?), and you often go through an entire day now as a cheerful angel baby. Especially if we're willing to help you do some of your favorite things, like splashing water in the sink, or going outside, or jumping on the couch. You still make it hard to get work done, but now it's because it's so tempting to just sit on the floor and play with you, which is a vast improvement over all the frantic-trying-to-soothe-fussy-babyness of earlier months. We love it. Keep it up, kiddo, okay?

And now here I am, knowing I ought to get work done while you're sleeping, but a bit of me is just looking forward to when you wake up from your nap, so we can play again.

love,
Mama