My dancing, bobble head baby...

I wish I could make time slow down if only for a moment. My children are growing up so fast. It’s going by at such a rate that sometimes I feel like I’m missing it. I don’t want to miss anything.

I was looking at a photo of Byron holding Lily when she was around two weeks old. It wasn’t Lily that I was drawn to but Byron. He looked so young. His face was so ‘baby’ like. I guess, looking back, he was only a baby himself albeit nearly 3. When I look at the photo now, I see a little toddler boy whereas I probably didn't see that at the time. Now he is well past that stage. He is four going on 15.

Lily is 16 months old today. She is only two months shy of the 18 month mile stone. What happened to my little bubba girl? I must admit, the older she gets the more completely in love with her I fall. I am simply besotted by her. Almost everything she does makes my heart beat that little bit faster. She is too cute!

She follows Byron around like a love sick puppy. When he isn’t there she is lost and likewise, he is the same with her. She babbles away in her own little language. I generally understand what she wants by her hand and facial movements but in terms of vocal ability there are only a few words I understand. These include, puppy (everything with fur is a puppy), duckie, bottle, ball, bubbles, mummy, daddy, ta, hello, bye bye, night night and something reassembling Byron (although it’s different every time).

Speaking of puppy she has learned to bark like a dog. She blows her mouth up, puckers her lips like a fish and says “woo, woo, woo, woo”. She hasn’t quite mastered the sounds other animals make.

On the book front she is getting much better although she prefers to read the same books over and over and over again. She isn’t quite into new books, although I try my hardest to introduce them. When I do, she promptly gets up and goes over to get a book she is familiar with. I guess she finds comfort in the same ones. Her faves at the moment are "Night, Night Baby”, “Dear Zoo” and “Dear Santa” (she hasn’t yet realised Christmas is over). The common theme with all these books is that they have flaps! If I try to read her one without flaps she puts her hand all over the pages trying to find the flaps. I think "Spot" will have to get a work out before the fad runs dry.

The cutest thing she has learned of late is to nod yes. She learned to say ‘NO’ and shake her head a while ago. Now she nods when she agrees with you or you say yes. The funny thing is, when she nods she moves her head back and forward, neck and all. I guess the only way to describe it is like one of the ELVIS bobble head characters you might see in the car. It is the cutest thing and I could watch her nod all day long.

Another one of her new attributes is dancing. She has never really been a dancing baby but of late she has started moving around in circles when she hears music or you tell her to dance. She has also taken to stamping her feet from side to side in a dance like action. My favourite is the arms that she swings around to the music whilst her body stays still.

She has reached the sponge stage of babyhood/toddlerhood (can’t let go of babyhood yet) where she saps up everything. She watches everything you do and copies it all. Byron is a big influence here and not always for the best. She loves him to bits and when he does something she likes to copy. The latest is the squeals. When he squeals, she squeals louder and longer. When he screams, she screams louder and longer. Unfortunately Byron, who knows not to start her off and has been told not to a million times, copes the brunt of the discipline, although, I’m steadily getting stricter with the little Miss. Speaking of which, she hates NO. She looks at you will those big eyes and slowly the bottom lip will drop, the eyes will weal up and the tears will flow. She’s good, I giver her that. Melts my heart every time!

So there you have it. My dancing, ‘wooing’, flap loving, bobble head baby is 16 months old.