You started doing what I’m seeing as “telling stories” this past weekend.  As is our routine, your mother worked all weekend and I got to really be daddy.  It was a great weekend.  On Sunday we had your favorite food, pizza!  You are so cute; the doorbell rings and you yell “pizza!” and stand in awe as I accept delivery from the pizza kid. I then get a knife and cut 1 slice into tiny little pieces and put them on a plate.  The plate goes on a table in the living room…you casually eat and play and watch TV all at your leisure.  Life is good.

TV today was the Super Bowl.  You recognize 2 sports at this point: Football & hockey.  Sometimes you confuse the two but you are getting better.  I taught you how to say “touchdown” today and when the eventual losing Pittsburgh Steelers finally scored you heard the excitement in the announcer’s voice and correctly proclaimed, “Touchdown!”  Big girl.

Telling stories is your new skill.  As you near bedtime you get a little loopy.  It’s the cutest thing on earth.  You are more affectionate than ever (something that this daddy craves from his little girl) and a little goofy but almost more alert than usual.  It’s like you can’t miss anything.  You identify everything in the room (you are the only 22 month-old I’ve ever seen who can identify every little oddity in the ceiling of a house: vents, fans, lights, speakers, and your new favorite –the smoke alarms).  When you are tired enough I take you up in your darkened room to feed you a before-bed bottle.  I still hold you in my arms like a little baby; I can’t help it –I miss it already. As you finish your bottle you begin to talk.  Not just talk; you tell semi-coherent stories.

There have been 2 stories so far; both involving things you and mommy did during the past week.  The first was from early in the week when mom vacuumed your bedroom.  The “story” you tell is simply that, “Vacuum. Mommy.  Mommy vacuum floor.”  I know that doesn’t seem like much but this is the first time you have really put a sequence of events together into a coherent concept.  That said, I get the feeling there is more to this story…you just don’t have the vocabulary to tell me the rest.  At times you have been deathly afraid of vacuum cleaners (and for good reason!) so I wonder if that somehow plays into this “story”.  I suspect as much because you really, really want to tell me about what happened.  It’s obvious by your expression you are very serious about the story; and I feel helpless trying to figure it out.

The other story is obviously a much more happy experience for you.  “Mommy, Remi big girl shower!” That’s essentially the extent of the story but you tell it with such expression (and repetition) I feel like I ‘get’ why it is such a special memory for you.  You didn’t just take some little baby bath.  As if you realize you were so lucky to get to have your mommy teach you how to take a shower like a big girl.  Mommy bonding = powerful emotions even at this age.

Tonight was really special for me.  You told the vacuum story again but stopped, looked at me and said “Daddy and Remi, Daddy and Remi, Daddy and Remi…”

Shower from Camp Murphy on Vimeo.

We are training Remi to develop a resistance to water boarding.

She loves this water bottle.  If we leave it within her reach she will use it to immediately begin squirting herself in the face.  She knows it’s her duty to stand up to any form of torture she may endure in public schools.

Remi is (obviously) excited to announce she is now 18 months old!  She had her 18 month checkup today and she has some updated specs:

• Her weight is dead on average for her age: She is in the 50th percentile at 24.2 lbs
• She is quite tall for her age: In the 75% percentile at 32″ tall

I can’t belive she is approaching 1/2 my height!

Her motor skills are right in line with expectations but Dr. Beamer thinks she has a better than average vocabulary.  We keep a list of new words she has learned to use.  Words only make it on to the list if she can repeat them on different occassions.  That list is currently at 56 words (& I think that’s conservative).

Still no super powers though.  I was expecting teleportation or laser vision by now but perhaps those take longer to develop.

Unfortunately, she had to get 2 shots today but we made up for that by buying a new book & having lunch at Chick-fil-a.  That’s a fair trade for a couple needles.

Smart Remi from Camp Murphy on Vimeo.

For those of you who haven’t been able to interact with Rem-Rem this may give you some idea of her level of development.  She’s a little tired here so she’s a little less alert than usual.  Normally she will identify things much quicker and usually indepenently of my questions.

All stuffed toys are “bear” to Remi.  They may all share the same name but she definately has a favorite.  It’s her “Baby’s 1st Pooh Bear”.  She will hug him and kiss him and if he is anywhere in the room she excitedly says, “bear!” until she gets her prize.  Pooh is probably her best companion during a diaper change.  She gets to point at Pooh’s “be-bo” (belly button) while we get to clean up her poo.

Her love for Pooh made him a likely canidate for being Remi’s first snuggle toy.  She has typically denied any attempt at pillows, blankets or dolls in her crib.  Remi sleeps alone. At her 11:00 AM nap time I quietly placed Pooh Bear in the corner of her crib.  I walked downstairs to a calm and quiet house just in time to hear the thud of Pooh hitting her bedroom floor.  I was more sneaky for nap #2 (4:00 PM).  I placed Pooh in the crib before taking Remi up for nap time.  This time there would be no chance of me disturbing her.  Despite my planning the thud of a bear hitting the ground occured as soon as I hit the steps.  This occured again at Remi’s bedtime (8:00 PM).  I gave it one last try but Pooh was violently rejected as I closed the door of Remi’s room.

She only loves Pooh as a friend.