Dear Charlotte,

I had just gotten used to saying you were 15 months old, and you go and turn another month older! I would say stop that, but in truth, I am loving the stage you are in right now and am truly embracing your toddlerness. For every moment you exasperate, overwhelm and frustrate me, there are a million more moments that you make me melt with your sweetness or crack up laughing with your hilarious antics.

There are so many things I want to remember about you at exactly this moment. To name a few:

• When I go into your room in the morning you greet me with an enthusiastic “Hi!” and immediately point to your bow holder on the wall and say “Bow, bow, bow” until I let you choose a bow. You like to hold onto whatever bow you chose for a few minutes while we change your diaper, but have no interest in putting it in your hair.
• You are walking everywhere now and it makes me sad that I don’t remember the last time you really crawled. You also quit breastfeeding almost a month ago, and I don’t remember our last nursing session either. I’m glad we ended on your terms, but it was bittersweet indeed.
• One of your favorite toys right now is an empty bubble container and wand. It took me awhile to get smart and realize you couldn’t care less about actual bubbles, you just like to put the wand in and out of the tube. “Bubbles” and their sticky mess were driving me so crazy that I finally poured out all the solution and just gave you the empty parts- you love them.
• You have discovered markers and like to use our window markers to draw. You like to do that almost as much as you like to dump out the bag of markers all over the floor (along with anything else that makes a giant mess)
• You love to eat and have recently started going to the refrigerator, pounding on the door and yelling “Mooooooore, moooooooore” until I get you a snack (you LOVE snacks). It’s both annoying and endearing. You know how to say lots of food words, but your favorites are “waffles”, “cheese” and “apple”.
• You now almost exclusively call Grayson “GG”, which is adorable, but occasionally he is “Bubba” as well. You have gotten SO MUCH better at being gentle with him, and are really becoming quite the little nurse/caregiver. If he so much as coughs, you will fetch a blanket and put it to his mouth (we use blankets to catch his throw up).
• You love going to get the mail and squeal when we open the front door to take you to the mailbox. You take your job of holding one piece of mail to “give to Daddy” very seriously.

At 16 months old you:

• Weigh 23 pounds, 6 ounces
• Wear 18 month and some 24 month clothes, and 24 month pajamas
• Wear size 4 diapers
• Still only have 4 teeth
• Eat three meals + one or two snacks a day, and 2-3 bottles of milk a day (I have NO IDEA how we are going to wean you off the bottle, as you adore it)
• Sleep 12 hours at night and take one nap

Charlotte, when I just had Grayson, I couldn’t imagine that I could love another baby as much as I love him. Then you were born and now I realize how silly those thoughts were. But the other day I was thinking those same thoughts again- how in the world would another baby measure up to you? You are so wonderfully perfect for our family and continue to bring us so much joy (and keep us busy, busy!). I love you so, so much sweet girl.

Love,
Mommy