Dear Emilia

Dear Emilia,

I feel like you are growing up overnight. You are becoming such a wonderful little girl, full of spirit -- and absorbing knowledge like a sponge.

Somewhere in the past few weeks you have learned how to climb down the stairs (pretty much the way you go up the stairs but moving in the opposite directin), get on and off your rocking giraffe, sit down on a chair or step, put together and pull apart Legos, and use crayons with intensity like I have never seen!

And polite! Oh my, you say "thank you" in such a kind, sweet way. Whenever you are done with your milk, you hand the cup to me and say, "Tat-too." Or if you want to climb the stairs, you will hand me your Elmo and your blanket and say, "Tat-too." If you are done eating dinner: "Tat-too."

Your vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, too. You say "nose" and "whale" and "car" but even more impressive is the number of vocabulary words that you comprehend: keys, giraffe, rocking chair, fox, pig, breakfast, dinner, outside, crayon -- a whole host of words. If I ask you where something is, you are so proud to point it out to me.

I love how passionate you are about everything, Emilia. You light up my life.

Love,

Mom