Dear Noah,

Today, you are 19 months old. You’re officially more than a year and a half old! It’s hard for us to believe how big and mature you’re getting.

During the last week or so, you have been so sweet and affectionate, covering us with hugs and kisses. It might be my favorite phase so far!

We’ve also gotten into some new routines together. You fall asleep earlier, closer to 8 or 8:15 pm, and sleeping until 5:45  - 6:15 am. You don’t nurse in the mornings any more. Instead, we get up and play with choo-choos while we have apple juice.

A little later, you have some toast or a banana, and we watch “airplane!” and “car!” on TV. Sometimes you’d rather watch “choo-choo!” as well as play with them.

You continue to talk and sing and dance, constantly surprising us with the new things you can say and do. You love to be held upside-down (”down!”) and will dance to any music you hear. But you’d rather that we don’t sing along, interrupting us when we try with an urgent and reproachful “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”

You’re becoming more independent, too. You easily spend 10 minutes at a time playing with your trains on the floor, paying no attention to your mommies. At the same time, you’re still very clear about when you want to be with us — climbing into a lap, coming over to say “up! up!” or “bounce?”

Bounce is your favorite game right now. It involves sitting on my legs on the couch, and having me bounce you up and down. If I’m lucky, when I get too tired to keep bouncing, you fling yourself on top of me and give me kisses.

Today, we also took the first definitive step towards making you a big brother. I hope it works, because you love babies — not quite as much as you love things with engines, but still enthusiastically. And I think you will love being a big brother.

But even if it doesn’t work, know that your Mommy and I love you. You make us so happy, you make us laugh, and you make us love even more than we ever thought we could.

love,

Mommy