Boyfriend. You are growing up faaassst. and you are SUCH a bad ass. I just want to take a minute to write a few words about your words. I want to memorialize this moment. This moment where you are constructing your reality with names. As if this were a self contained universe and all that exists is what you can verbalize. And then exist it does. Once you identify something, you make it your own. It’s too adorable for "words" to see you sauntering around the house calling out your familiars. And here, for the record, is the sixteen month Emilio list.
Mommy (my personal fave), Daddy (how you love your daddy), Up, Agua, Off, On, Door, Anu (our dog, Luna), Gigi (my mom), Tatis (JP’s mom), Luz (light), Mano (hand), Open, close, heavy, bottle, baby, pala (shovel in your spanish gardening book), auto (car), bus (bu bu bus), bye bye, hello (every time the phone rings), purse (as in where is mommy’s purse?), pool, pee pee (your penis which you know and love but can’t really see too well b/c of your tummy, and also pee), knee, please ("up please"-who can refuse?), Babo (your beloved panda), despacio (you say this as you walk around, b/c daddy told you when you first started walking running, "despacio" (slowly), and now you can often be found, walking around, maybe with your baby broom in one hand, your other hand kind of in your butt, leading with your stomach, saying ‘espacio, ‘espacio, ‘espacio . . ."), Elmo (from your toothbrush with Elmo on it), Jack ("ack" your friend), keys, helado (ice cream on your flash card, you still haven’t tasted ice cream yet), uno, doz (we have seen you on a couple of occasions counting, uno, doz, once with your cheerios and once with coasters which you count among your favorite toys,A and super nanny says she’s seen you go to tres), quack quack (for the duck), coo coo (for the bird), uff, uff (for the dog), zapatos (how could I forget, one of your tops), nano (banano), baila, Daisy (Daisley), Fifi (Frannie, you’ve only said this 3 times and i think you’re scared off b/c we laugh, but we love "Fifi" for Frannie), more, mas, este (this, you say this constantly, pointing at things, and I think this was your first word), this (when you’re in an english mood), Go see, (You got this from me, "let’s go see daddy," "let’s go see Jack," "let’s go see where mommy’s purse is." Now every time you leave the room, it’s "go see" "go see"), Heather (mommy’s friend), Coco (heather’s chiuahau), arbol (tree–sometimes it’s "treearbol"), aqui (here), cookie, pasto (grass), parque (park), Oh and funnily, you say "za zas" for both house and flowers, and you do this really consistently. Every time we pull up in the car, you say, za zas. Or if there is a picture of a house in a book , it’s "za zas." But flowers are definitely "za zas" too. You love your flowers. And your house, for that matter. (and it is yours at this point, it’s all about you!)
This is not conclusive, but I think it gets your most used. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. I think your first words were "agua" "luz" "este" "off" "arbol" "up"–I guess these started around your first birthday. I remember your gradmother Tatis was here when you busted out with "treearbol" and you were saying "luz" and "este" and "aqua" around that time. That was march.
Now for your likes and dislikes:
Likes: Anu (our 90+ pounds German Shepherd who you are constantly loving up on), pretending to blow out candles or blow on hot things like oatmeal, fake sneezing is also really funny, stacking your blocks, your drums, music-mostly spanish for now, you’re super into sorting at the moment, you like gravel a lot, EATING is just the best thing ever (bananas are probably your favorite food that you have regularly (well and those silly cheerios), but you love ALL FRUIT, quinoa, carrots, veggie burgers, sweet potatos, pancakes, oatmeal and of course, anything sweet, which we limit, but you love your mona vie acai packets), baths (thank god you’re over your 5 week fear of water when you hated the bathtub), the pool, BOOKS, flashcards (what a great gift those were), walking around, often with your hand in your pants, grass, sand, swings, cuddles, climbing up on anything from the bed to your leapfrog toy table, some of your leapfrong sound toys, being naked, your feet, twirling your hair, your pee pee, your bottle, opening and closing doors, drawers, cabinets (could be your favorite activity for some time now), mommy’s singing, the car (as long as we’re not in there too long), the lemon tree in our yard, your precious panda stuffed animal, the big red beanbag in our room, busses, firetrucks, shoes, shirts with images of dinosaurs, firetrucks, anything super fun like that, the park, you seem to like the hardware store-you’re pretty into the lineup of lawnmowers, wow!, my boobs ("bee bee’s"), brushing your teeth (must be that toddler training toothpaste or the elmo toothbrush but you are happy brushing for an hour), pillows, soft and cuddly things, the beach, BIRDS (big time), flowers, small pictorial details, mommy’s necklaces, telephones, remote controls, turning everything on and off from toys to lights to the tv and radio.
Dislikes. Too many people coming over (found that out after a couple of meltdowns at parties), being picked up by a stranger, falling down, not being able to do something like open or close a door, coming inside when you want to be outside, getting your face wiped off after you eat, water poured on your head to wash your hair (you HATE that), being in the car too long, when Luna is too close to you while you are eating, you don’t love your bib, getting your diaper changed, cheese (you did not get that from your mom), you don’t love the ball, you don’t hate it but it really doesn’t hold your interest like I’ve seen with some of your friends, clothing stores (found that out the hard way), kids monopolizing your toys, or okay, maybe even just playing with them, having poo in your diaper (but, yes, you also hate being changed, can’t win with that one), when I leave the microwave open (is that really that big of a deal, I’ve hot a lot going on), waiting for your food to be ready when you are in your high chair, and you’re not enamored with sleep. Mainly, as far as dislikes go, you are really pretty sensitive and emotional. When you are happy you are CrACking Up, when you are upset, you are screaming. I hope you get a little more sociable, sonny boy, but all in due time. For now, I think you don’t want to be thrown into too many new situations, oh and you do not like when I walk away if you are with my friends (I can’t even run inside for a second to get something without you losing it), you don’t like when I leave in the morning, but you mostly don’t notice and you adore Aminta, so you’re usually preoccupied, but sometimes, I hear you crying after I shut the door and that really makes me terribly sad. I know though from seeing it from the other end when your dad leaves that you are upset for about a minute and then onto the next thing, so i try to remind myself of that.
I love you love you love you love you love you.
It’s amazing what a personality you have already. I feel like we are already such close friends. You make me laugh all the time, real laughs. And I am learning so much from you. please don’t let us have too much rockiness ahead. Just let me keep rocking your world. I really hope you’ll just see me for the best person i’m trying to be and know how much I love you and that we will always respect one another deeply. I know we will weave in and out of closeness as all children and parents do. You will have to find your own footing, but I am just praying that you don’t stray too far, little man, because I am HOOKED.
XOXO,