her world {19 months and counting!}

I'm currently sitting with this wee girl of mine at the breakfast table.  She just handed me her bowl of Cheerios and thieved mine.  Because clearly they taste better from my bowl! (We pretty much all eat our cereal dry around here.  We're weird like that.)

::  We call her our little Cindy Lou Who (Dr. Suess) or Lila-boo or little Lila or destructo baby.  The last being the most accurately ascribed nickname.

::  Our favorite face is the one she makes with her nose all squished up and her little top lip puckered up, her eyes twinkling and staring intently at you.

::  She will not be left behind or left out.  She has no problem plopping herself into the middle (or onto) the little Calico Critters that the big girls love to play with; moving those little legs just as fast as they will go to keep up at the park; and when all else fails, yelling at the top of her lungs for her sisters to come back for her.

::  There's no one she's more willing to give out kisses and hugs to than her sisters (well, maybe Dada). And, of course, it's the cutest thing ever when she leans her little face close to yours, trying with great focus to aim for your mouth, a little smile creeping around her puckered lips to kiss you.

::  And speaking of her smile, oh this wee girl has a love for life.  She's full of spunk and spit fire and smiles.  She climbs on the table and dances with her silly little arms rotating in the air to make her sisters laugh hysterically.  She throws herself full force onto the climbing bridge thingy at the 'green park' (despite being way too little to actually climb it… and she gets to the second or third bar every time.)  She waves and smiles and says 'hi' or 'bye' (with a drawl) to every other person we pass at stores.  And when you pick her up and she doesn't want to be put down, she clings to you like glue.

::  Just like her big/middle sister before her, she loves her blankie (actually, the one she loves was originally Maria's… it's giant!) and her 'gingkies'.

::  She's a chatter box.  I will be curious to see if she can out chatter Camilly!

::  She's full of little sentences, not just baby-talk, which surprises the dickens out of random people at the park.

::  She adores her 'ki ki' (Mookie), loves her 'puh puh' (Audrey), and calls every little girl 'Wee-ah' (Ria).

::  When the front door opens in the evening, she squeals "DA-YAH!" with her whole being and is the first to be in his arms.

::  She's my only babe to let me snuggle her at night well past the swaddling months.  Each night we read a story or 2 or 3 (she sometimes has an opinion about which and how many stories we read!) Then with her blankie over my shoulder I sing to her.  If there's time (translated = the big girls aren't fussing over some injustice) we just rock and rock with her head on my shoulder, snuggled with her blankie.  Some nights she even still falls asleep on me.  (Her big sisters used to reach out for the crib as soon as stories were finished.)

Last time, in her world.