Mad skills

I had a moment the other day as we were driving home in the car from somewhere. I looked at you in your car seat at this TODDLER that was clapping along as I sang "If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops...," and I couldn't remember the baby that you used to be. Carrying you in my belly seemed like forever ago, and I had to struggle to remember what it felt like to have you do a slow somersault under my heart. The memory of you as tiny as a loaf of bread seemed so distant.

True, you weren't exactly the most interactive when you were a newborn, but I can remember a lot of the little things that, when they happened or I noticed them, that I wanted to keep in my mind and heart forever. So, here you are, almost one year and a half old, and I absolutely LOVE the stage of life in which we are now. The world is new and exciting, and watching you grow and explore thrills me. I want to remember everything about you and everything you do and "say" at this moment, so here's this post of things about you and the things that you can currently do so that way we can always have them.

* As of now, you STILL have four teeth, but I can see numbers five and six, so I know it wont be long before they make an appearance.
* You give hugs and kisses, although now you first say "no" (your new favorite word) before you do so.
* You can CLIMB!! The other day you climbed up three stairs on our staircase (with supervision of course!), and you can almost get up on the sofa.
* You dance whenever you hear music. :) It's more like a bob, you bounce up and down, and move side to side but it's funny and cute to watch. And you like watching those around you dance as well.
* You can clap your hands and stomp your feet.
* Linguistically, you are expanding your vocabulary. Some words you can say: "papá" and "mamá" of course, "Ka" for Kathy, "Co" for Nico, "Jo" for Jose, "Aul" for Raul, "Abu" for grandma and both grandpas, "papapa" for your great grandpa and "mamama" for your great grandma, "da" for objects you want or anything else that needs a name, "Baba" for Mara, "ñam, ñam" for food, "ugo" for juice, "gur" for yogurt, "agua" for water (you say that one pretty well), "ba-ba" for bye bye and some other words I can´t think of right now.
* You love the car, specially if you think you are driving it! and when you want to go somewhere by car you say "brmm, brmm." Really cute :)
* Animals make your day. All of them!

* You can roll and kick a ball, play doctor, scribble, build small towers with your legos, turn on and off the TV, turn on and off the DVD player, turn on and off your CD player, among other fascinating things.
* Your independence is growing, too. You much prefer to feed yourself than have someone feed you.
* Food preferences are also starting to emerge. You like all kinds of fruit but are not a big vegetable lover yet (and I say yet because I really expect for this to change!), you like lentils and beans, pesto spaghetti and you love nuggets. You like your food to have texture and seasoning. Thankfully, and so far, you like Mommy's cooking.
* You can stack one thing on top of another, and you can put toys or blocks in boxes.

For now, those are the things that stick out in my mind the most about you at the present moment. Every day you do something new or different. It simply amazes me how fast you learn and change. I wish I could remember it all, and I'm sure I would get harassed if I carried a notebook with me all of the time so I could write things down, but it would be worth it. Your grandma always tells me that kids are like little sponges, absorbing anything and everything around them, and this is exactly right. I can only hope that I can keep up and keep giving you good things to absorb. ;)