WGL, 18 (-20) Months

Dear William George,

You turned 18 months old on January 12, 2013. (Technically, ok accurately, you turned 20 months old yesterday.) Since then, I have been attempting to photograph you, and this has been a big challenge.  First, there are the bruises.  With all of your running, jumping and climbing, you lead with your head, meaning you constantly have bumps and bruises. While those boo-boo's give you a sense of character, they do not always photograph well.  Second, there is the challenge of your speed.  Manually focusing the camera is out.  There's simply no time to frame and focus.  Even with auto setting, even with the auto setting for moving children, even with the sports setting, you are often a blur of activity.  You are even out of focus in the above photo because the camera decided to focus on the flag instead of your lovely eyes.  After almost two months of attempts, this was the best photo we could get.

We had your 18 month well visit in January.  Dr. W says you are perfect, and he is surprised by your agility and balance.  Your allergies are well controlled, although you will have to be tested again within the next year. You do have a hemangioma that I haven't mentioned here yet -- a birthmark of sorts.  We are told yours is in the involution phase and that it may fade away altogether.  If not, we will explore a pediatric plastics evaluation.  Maybe we can have some work done together!  Oh, I kid! These are very common.  In fact, wherever we go, people tell us about their experience with hemangioma, and about 95% of the people we meet tell us they resolve naturally without treatment. I haven't mentioned it here because I airbrush the mark out of your photos during editing, and I didn't want any close inspection of my work (rank amateur, right here!).

Your vocabulary is taking off. You talk constantly, and you're very social.  You rattle off a lot of sentences now.  Some of your favorites include:

"What's next?"
"Mama fix it?"
"Daddy's at work."
"Daddy's on 'pone.'"
"Mama's asleep."
"Let's find it."

And your all-time favorite: "Go bye-bye."

You insist on being included in anything your sisters or peers are doing, and you absolutely will not be excluded from anything.  You love story time at the library, your Sunday school class, and playing with your sisters.  You continue to have a bit of a temper, and you often throw things when you get mad.  Not surprisingly, you do not like to be told "no".

You are also exceptionally sweet and good-natured.  You give us all kisses and hugs, and you carry around your Snoopy, as if he were your beloved child. Your attachment objects are burp clothes (really cloth diapers), and you have about 20 of them.  We find them everywhere, and I finally had to put them on the top shelf of your closet so that you wouldn't drag them all out.  You only share them with Snoopy, always making sure he has one, too.  We joke and say that you will go away to school with a suitcase full of your cloths -- or, as you say, "clouffs" or "cloffie".

We anticipate that your activity will explode this spring when you finally get to go outside on a regular basis. Your sisters still adore you and love when they get to show you the swing set.  They can't wait to see you run wild this summer, and we can't either!

We love you, William George!

-Mommy