Layla, you turned 18 months old on January 17th. This has been such a fun and amazing time for us. You are such a talker. At this point your vocabulary is too big to really name off all of the words you know, but let's just say you can definitely make yourself and your wants known! You will mimic anything we say and seem to pick up on words really quickly. You love to name animals and make their sounds, and you have the names of all of our pets, family's pets, and friends memorized! The first thing you say in the morning is "Manard? Tukee?" (Mallard and Turkey). You usually follow that up by asking for a "Faffle" (Waffle). You are great at naming colors, until you get tired of me asking you, and suddenly everything is "ye-yow". You love to draw and color, and can scribble with the best of them. You can also count to 10, but really, you just have it memorized - I don't think you really know what you are doing. It is cute to hear you counting along with Sesame Street in the mornings, though! Speaking of Sesame Street, "Mo Mo" (Elmo) is still your favorite, although Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Ernie are closing in.
You really like to sing and make the hand motions - your favorite songs are Itsy-Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, and If You're Happy and You Know It. You are also a little dancing machine and will start bopping along and waving your arms to pretty much any music you hear. We are still going to Little Gym, and are about to move up to the Birds/Beasts class. You favorite activity is to run around the class and say hi to everyone - and you love the attention you get back!
You are still a Daddy's Girl, and you two have a blast together. As soon as you hear the garage door open in the afternoon, you run to the window to watch Daddy get the mail and then run to the kitchen to greet him when he walks through the door. He makes you laugh like no one else can, and I love the special relationship you have.
You make us laugh every day, and we are so blessed to be your parents. I can't wait to see what 2012 holds for us! We love you sweetie girl!
Here are some pictures that my good friend Kate took for us in December. Check out her website here - she is an AMAZING photographer. Thank you again Kate!
