18 months and counting

Since we're coming up on the big 18th (month) birthday, I thought I'd capture Calla's latest developmental milestones, as I see them.

Calla as Naturalist
Loves those birds. Loves the squirrels. Since she hasn't actually seen the deer who bed down in our cypress needles late at night, that's about the extent of Calla's nature encounters. She has recently branched out into new animal sound territories, however. For a long time, she thought the animal kingdom was divided into those who barked (or, "Foof!" as we say at our house) and those who meowed ("Mow" as in Chairman). Recently, though, she's allowed for horses to neigh and cows to moo. Hasn't actually witnessed a neighing horse or a mooing cow, so perhaps we'll have to try to make that happen when it's warmer.

Calla as Theologian
Calla loves her Little Lutheran magazine. Loves it. The July/August 08 issue gets read 2-3 times a night. The Christmas issue, now tucked away, had a poem about Christmas bells with the last two lines "Christ is born - Hooray! Hooray!" We read that poem six, seven, eight times in a row on the ride to Lexington. For a while afterwards, all I had to say was "Christ is born!" And Calla would throw up her hands and say "Hooray! Hooray!"

Tonight, lifting up all Calla's 26 pounds, I groaned "oh man." Calla answered, reverently, "Amen." As Joe would say, the indoctrination has started.

Calla as Anatomist
Nose. Mouth. Ears. Belly Button. Teeth. Eyes. You got 'em, Calla wants to point at them. The latest is "knees," which can range from hip to ankle on Calla. I've occasionally walked into Calla's room in the morning and after making sure I know her diaper is wet, she'll start in on the anatomy lesson. Nose. Ears. Teeth. The advice at our house is if you hear "EYES, " it's time to duck and cover because you've got a pointer coming straight to your corneas.

Calla the Gourmand
"Is she a picky eater?" asked the pediatrician at our last visit. Well. Not exactly. Pasta, tomatoes, avocados, applesauce are among her favorites, but if those aren't dominant on her plate, she'll really eat anything. Broccoli, peas, green beans, spinach (if chopped and mixed with pasta and tomatoes). Last night, she gobbled down couscous, broccoli and broiled salmon. At a play group last week, I served pasta salad. Other moms served small platefuls to their children who quietly ate a little and then got up to play. Calla got a huge bowl-ful, and sitting at her tot-sized table and chair, started scarfing away. 10 minutes later, all the other kids were playing. Calla's still sitting there, with a firm grip on her bowl, eating away. Hardly blinking and not taking her hand off her bowl lest a rambunctious child or Chloe knock it over. Nope, not a picky eater.

Calla the Nurturer
Loves those babies. Three dolls now, four if we include the "night night" doll. They need to be blanketed, strollered, fed, night-nighted, and occasionally scolded. The other baby who is a continual focus of loving is cousin Baby Julia. See, we made the mistake months ago of showing Calla how we can look at pictures on the web, including those of Baby Julia. Now, that's a popular past-time for Calla. She no longer wants to look at pictures of anyone else (except for maybe cousin Josh) and now only videos suffice. Baby Julia eating applesauce is the absolute favorite. Unfortunately, the Gormans don't post new videos all that frequently. Why? You got me. I think it has to do with a lack of family loyalty. I mean, for the love of pete, please, please Carrie and Brian... just turn on that camera and stick Julia in front of it. Even Bob might do the trick. If it could go on for 3 or 4 or 12 minutes, I might be able to fold some laundry.

Calla the Talker
Too many words to count and it grows daily. New words include "sit" and "fall." Sit, because she loves to sit in chairs and will frequently request being positioned in places she can't climb. Fall, because if I forget to remind Calla to sit carefully and not fall, she will repeat "fall, fall, fall" until I remind her about gravity and its implications. Not entirely sure it helps, but it's important to her that I say it apparently.

That's the snapshot. 26 pounds, 33 3/4 inches tall. 11 teeth and still not really enough hair for barrettes. She's a hoot, a stinker, one smart cookie, and our beautiful girl. It keeps getting better and better!