Johnson Household

Dear Dagny,

Today you are 14 months old. I can’t believe how fast time seems to be going. In the month that you have been home you have changed so much. You have grown physically, mentally and emotionally.

You are getting so big. You’re starting to grow out of your 12 month old clothes. You seem to want to walk more and more every day. You seem to crave us to hold your hands so you can walk. I just can see you are going to take off one of these days.

You love to eat. You will not eat anything out of a jar, it has to be all homemade. It seems you’re not a fan of sour things. You love your organic milk every morning with breakfast. It seems like you drink it all in one breath. I keep telling you to slow down but you love your milk.

You are still sleeping 16 hours a day. You still are craving your morning and afternoon nap. When I see your thumb in your mouth I know nap time is coming soon. When I go into your room to get you from your nap we play while you’re in your crib. You hand me almost all your stuff animals and you point for me to kiss them and when I hand them back you laugh and hand them back to me. We do this until you’re ready to get out of your crib, you let me know by asking me to pick you up. You are so sweet.

You are so smart. Whenever we show you something new, I can see you processing it in your head and trying to duplicate it. It is so wonderful to witness. You like to mimic us both with sounds and gestures. When you play with your toys you look it over and it seems like you’re trying to figure out how the toy was put together. You love music. Whenever you hear something that you like you start to dance and laugh out loud. Maybe you will have a double major at college and become both an Engineer and Prima ballerina. Just be happy.

You love to be held by us. When your Daddy comes home from work you can hardly contain yourself. You start to shake with your arms in the air for Daddy to pick you up all the while laughing. It melts my heart when I see the love you have for your Daddy. You now sit in our laps for minutes at a time and you put your head on our chest and just listen to our heartbeat. I can cry every time you do this.

You are starting to get more independence. You can now play by yourself for longer periods of times. We still need to be near you but we don’t have to be engaged with you. It’s wonderful to see how you’re feeling so much comfortable in your home.

You are fascinated with your cat, Maxie, and she has been wonderful with you. She allows you to go up to her and pat her. Your dog, Lily, is becoming more your buddy. Your getting use to having her in your face all the time. You try to share your toys with her, even though that might not be the best idea. In the past couple of days you have started to share your food with her. Lily is making out like a bandit.

There isn’t a day that we don’t laugh with you. You are such a fun child. You seem to be happy with us, which is great because we are the happiest we have ever been. I can’t wait to see what the next month brings.

I love you.

Mom