Oh my sweet baby, you have changed! You are in the middle of a beautiful phase of growth in which you're shedding that baby skin and growing into a busy toddler. I love this part. You still do lots of baby things, but you try new toddler things every day.
The biggest toddler task of all is walking! You are a full-fledged walker and you are FAST! It seems like you went from crawling to running in about two weeks. You sort of skipped that part where you cruise along the furniture and instead you just stood up and walked for a few days, then took off in a full sprint. One minute you'll be sitting on the floor, legs stretched in front of you, just like a baby. The next minute, you've pulled your legs up underneath you and assumed the "sumo squat" as we like to call it. You don't use your hands, you just push your way up to standing from a perfect SQUAT and it's quite remarkable to watch! Once you're up, you wobble for a second, get your balance, and then it's pitter-patter-pitter-patter all over the house! Now I can just drop you to the ground when you get tired of being held and you stand right up like a real person. It's amazing, Margot. Just amazing!
But you're still my snuggle bunny baby, too. You're learning how to communicate better every day, but you still get very annoyed when we can't interpret your grunts and squeaks. You have this adorable gut laugh that only Sylvia can coax out of you. When you're tired or scared or when you meet new people you like to curl your back against me and bury your head in my shoulder, peeking out from the side of your face to make sure everyone is still where they're supposed to be. You haven't given up your pacifier yet, but we're working on making it just a night time thing. You are extremely and hopelessly attached to your dou-dou bears and you can't survive a day or night if they are not within arm's length. You love to clap and yell "Yaayyy!!!!" when you're happy. You rub your eyes and shake your head when you're tired. You figured out how to use sidewalk chalk to make pretty pictures, but if I'm not careful, I can still catch you trying to eat it every once in a while.
All of these things give an almost perfect picture of your sweet sixteen month self, but there is one more important obsession I need to mention - animals. You love anything that has ears or fur or makes noise! You are obsessed with dogs, cats, goats, and bunnies. On our nightly strolls through the neighborhood, you point and squeal when we see a dog. Sylvia usually asks the owners if we can pet it and they always say yes. Then you walk over to them and pet the dog gently and sweetly, unlike any other sixteen month old child I've ever seen. You don't grab fistfuls of fur or poke them in the eyes (usually). You just open your little palm until it's flat and stroke that doggie's fur from top to bottom like it's the greatest gift anyone has ever put in front of you, and you giggle and laugh like a maniac! Daddy says you should ask Santa for a new kitty for Christmas. Mommy says he probably doesn't have any in the North Pole. Besides, there are plenty of cats and dogs in the neighborhood for you to go nuts over!
We love you, sweet Margot, and we're so glad you're ours. You and Sylvia have become quite a pair and I just can't imagine what our world would be like if God hadn't sent you to us exactly when he did. I'll tell you the same thing I tell your big sister all the time: If God lined up all the baby sisters in the whole wide world and told us we could have any one we wanted....
we'd still pick you.
Love you forever and ever for a million years forever,
Mama
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