My Growing Baby

The house is quiet right now, so I thought it would be a good time to sneak in a blog and gush about my adorable daughter.

In a week and a half my sweet little baby will be 18 months old - that's one and a half! Where has the time gone?!

Michelle is getting smarter, braver, and tougher every single day. She amazes me with the words she knows, the actions she makes, and the cute things she shows us. Today she looped a purse strap around Charlie and walked him around the house. She's also started saying please and thank you, which sounds like "peas" and "teeek ooo". So polite!

We should just buy Charlie a saddle!

She's obsessed with books, animals, and climbing everything! But nothing more than babies and dolls.
For the past month or so, we can't go anywhere without Michelle bringing along her baby doll. It is an old hand-me-down Target brand doll from her cousin, and it's pretty beat up (more now than it was when she inherited it, that's for sure!). "Baby" comes in all of the stores, sits in Mish's highchair and stroller with her, and goes on adventures from Y back to the Bay Area. It's so cute, and so funny because we made it a point not to push any gender stereotypical toys on her, but she loves that baby doll! 

Getting ready to ride the train with Baby at Tilden Park in Berkeley

A few days ago we went to Oregon for the day. Mish was a trouper! After being in a Fred Meyer for over an hour though, she started to lose her patience. We let her play with this silly little toy bottle because of course she had her baby doll with her, and my amazing child put the bottle right in the dolls mouth and started making soothing sounds. How did she know that the bottle was for the baby? She's never taken a bottle and she's never seen a baby with a bottle. She's very observant. And she's loving. She met the next door neighbor (who is two days older than her) for the first time last week, and gave him a big hug after getting over her initial shyness! 

Mish feeding Baby, while cheap-o $2 baby watches hungrily

I can hear Michael reading a book to Michelle right now, and every now and then she'll let out a cheer or let out a quick jumble of words in her language (that we're still trying to learn). I think she's reading alongside her daddy. <3

Already excited about "big girl" stuff like matching toe nails.

How is it that she's growing up so quickly before my eyes, but I don't feel like I've aged a bit?