14 months

Dear Maggie,

Oh my goodness you are growing up so fast. It's insane. Part of me wants you to slow down but the bigger you get the more fun we have together. It's bittersweet.

You are so big. At your 12 month check-up you weighed about 16.5 pounds. Grandpa and Grandmo took you to get the second half of your flu shot a few weeks ago and you weighed 19.5 pounds. You are quite tall and have a big belly and chubby little legs.

You are finally walking around. Now that you realize it's easier to hold on to things (which you love to do) while walking you've decided that's what you'll do. You look so proud when you walk. You lean back like a cowboy and kinda saunter around. It's so precious.

You can feed yourself with your fingers. It took a while but you finally did it. I knew you could since you had all the prerequisite skills (picking small things up, bringing your hand to your mouth), you just wouldn't. So I consulted the trusty Dr. Spock and left you alone with your food for five minutes at the beginning of each meal. You fed yourself the second time we did that. Now we are starting to work on using a spoon.

You have lots of little tricks you do. You still do 'so big,' although you only put up one hand. Perhaps you are trying to say,"Well, I'm not THAT big." You show us your pretty hair, ears, eyes and nose. You can point out those same things on most pictures of animals. You recognize pictures of dogs and cats. When the cats walk by you you say, "Meow." You know Gogo's name and say, "Gooo. . . go."

You know lots of words: Mama, Dada, Mommy, choo-choo, meow, puppy, dog, kitty, ear, eye, nose, good girl, big girl, NO, uh oh. You love to jabber away. It's so cute.

Basically you are the sweetest baby ever. And you are a great thinker. You listen, examine, remember. You work hard to learn more and more. You are so sweet and beautiful.

I had to bring you up to my work last week and you had so much fun playing with my students. They loved you and wanted nothing more than to play with you. They gave you their toys and markers and anything else you might want. They hugged you and wanted to pick you up but I said no way. It was so cute watching you play. You are the happiest, friendliest baby. You love kids and babies. It's almost Thanksgiving and we'll be going to College Station and I think you'll have a blast with all the other kids there (not to mention all the adults that will be vying to hold and cuddle you--good luck, you are too busy to cuddle).

Love,
Mama