Dear Finley,

Sometimes we say to you: "Fin, say 'turd'" and you smile and indulge us and in your sweet little voice you say "tud". Then you laugh and we laugh and then Piper tries to get you to say a whole slew of other "bathroom" words. I am amazed sometimes at how your sense of humor is so developed as well as your language. You repeat everything, and I mean everything we say and recently have been speaking in complete sentences, in context. I think that you quite possibly could be a genius, but then again, I am your mother but even if I wasn't your mother I would think that you are well above average and most likely a future member of MENSA (but yes, I am your mom).



You have reached many milestones in the past 6 months. You started walking, you weaned from breastfeeding, you feed yourself (if you call screaming at us until you get a fork and then throwing your food on the floor feeding yourself), and you have started telling me when you poop. You are a climber which is something I never faced with your big sister, and actually you are very different from Piper. It has been moving way too fast for me and sometimes I want to just stop and freeze your funny cheesy smile and squeeze you and never let you grow up, but growing up is also something that I don't want to miss, so grow, little bird, grow strong and true.



When I found out that I was pregnant with you and then that you were a girl, I thought that you would probably be much like your sister. I am astonished at how different you actually are from Piper. You are not so concerned with cuddling, but when you do you do it full throttle. We often get "body-slammed" over and over while you give your full belly laugh. I love that laugh, it's new and so geniune. It is like vocal joy.

Today I had to fish a frog out of the pool and I kept it in a bucket with a bit of water so that you and Piper could examine the frog. What I didn't take into account was that your natural curiosity would take over and you would bend over and pick up that frog and at that precise moment i would realize my irrational heeby-jeebies about frogs and let out a shriek and scare you so that you drop the frog and start to cry. I'm sorry for that because that is somehing I adore about you, your curiosity. You are so observant and inquisitive and unblemished and without the hang-ups that plague us as grown-ups. Never lose that, examine and explore anything and everything.



You favorite word at the moment is "NO!" You say "NO!" to everything even when it is something that you want. I tried doing the baby signs with you, but you started talking instead. I love your little face and your soft skin and your fuzzy head. I love that when you hear music you start shaking your booty. I love to watch your mind working whe you are trying to figure something out. And I love that when your point to your nose and you scream "NOOOOSE!" to stick your little finger all the way up that little button nose.



I was once worried that having a second child would mean that I would divide my love bewteen the two, but in reality, my love for you has multiplied exponentially. Happy half Birthday, love. You are 18 months old now and you have made each day of the last 18 months a joy to be your mama.