Jemma, 17 months

It's the 27th of May today, which means that it's exactly 17 months since my doctor insisted that Jemma come out and meet the world. And what's she up to, now? Well, she's not feeling her best today - she was up a few hours last night, coughing, until I took her outside into the cool air at 5:30 a.m. and it seemed to settle her lungs down - but, when is she? The child has no immune system and has spent a good 40% of her life with a cold of some sort. I hope that she's getting them all out of her system now and will be the picture of health in a couple of years.

In the communications department, she's still very into the vigorous nodding much more than any verbal communication, so I play a lot of yes/no 20 Questions with her: "Do you want a drink? Do you want milk? Do you want water? Do you want to hold your cup?" I am really, really looking forward to some increased vocabulary in the next month or two - I hope! I hope! - but the girl definitely knows what she wants and figures out a way to get it anyway. And just tonight, I watched her babble happily to herself for about 15 minutes in the bathtub, so I think she's going to have a lot to say, eventually.

Her personality . . . she's happiest when we're with large groups of people, preferably outside. When she's not feeling well or when she's bored, there is a lot of whining and crying. (It's totally normal to cry every single time your diaper is changed or your clothes are removed for 17 solid months, right?) She loves to try new things (except food) and has very little fear. Now that it's summer, she can often be found frolicking out on the front lawn or, maybe, riding Annie's scooter (very wobbly!), putting on Annie's bike helmet and pushing herself around on the tricycle with her feet, Flintstone-style, drawing with sidewalk chalk, running through the sprinkler, or running down the lawn straight for the street. She thinks she is three years old.

PLG: Her carseat is still rear-facing because she hasn't offically broken the 20-lb barrier at the doctor's office. Soon, soon . . .

I just pulled out all the 12-18 month clothes and put them in Jemma's closet for the summer; it's so much fun to see her wearing the things that Annie wore two summers ago when SHE was 18 months old, we lived at the beach in South Haven, and our lives were so different. I love my little feisty cuddler, though, and I'm grateful that we get to go through this stage again with a tiny little girl.