All of a sudden everything is 100x more fun. I LOVE this phase. Instead of caring for a baby 24/7, I now have this independent, communicative buddy! Lydia understands things. I'll say, "Lydia, are you hungry?" And she'll either shake her head or walk over to her high chair and start pulling it to the kitchen. I'll tell her to get her shoes because we're going bye-bye and she'll run into her room and grab her white converse and meet me at the back door. It seriously blows my mind how seemingly overnight the level of comprehension skyrockets! Which makes everything a blast.
Those grocery store trips that were pretty dreadful a month ago (see here) now are fun adventures, where she picks things off the shelves "for me" and carries around a jar of peanut butter the entire time :). She loves pointing out the characters on cereal boxes and yogurt containers and she looooves getting stickers at the end (even if she mainly just licks them?).
The other day I was finally getting around to planting tulip bulbs that have sat in a box for way longer than I'd like to admit. I put Lydia down for a nap and thought I'd have at least an hour to myself to bust it out. But... she had a different plan. I could hear her screaming in her crib all the way from outside! So finally after like 20 minutes I brought her outside with me and she was in heaven. Without really much instruction she just started bringing me bulbs, one by one, as I planted them into the ground. So grown up! I had a huge grin on my face and was so proud of my little helper. Then to top it all off, at the very end when all the bulbs were planted, Lydia walked up to me with her arms stretched out and got about an inch from my nose. Then she leaned in with her mouth open for a kiss!!!! My heart just about exploded. That tiny little newborn has grown into a beautiful, curious, happy girl.
There are still the occasional meltdowns, there's a new found rebellion (i.e. looking right at me and throwing food on the ground), and her napping is gradually fading out (yiiiiikes! any tips on getting toddlers to nap longer??), but I'll gladly take these hard moments for for all the hilarious and adorable new milestones that come with them.
