14 months!

First you count the hours, then days, weeks, and now months. I never understood before why parents said their kids were 14 months old, or 18 months, or 20, instead of just saying "she's a year old" or "a year and a half." Now, I understand. Kids change so much and so quickly during the first years of their lives, and so I too am documenting Evie's life in months. Right now, she's got 14 of 'em under her belt, and we're in a sometimes trying but often very fun stage. It's trying in part because Evie has been independent and willful since day one and is now asserting her likes and dislikes with a passion. The "terrible twos" seem right around the corner.

Yet, a day with Evie, even a trying one, almost always seems to have more than its share of very fun moments. Evie smiles a lot, squeezes you tight when she gives hugs, and has gotten to be quite funny, whether it's seeking out a game of hide n' seek and giggling like mad when you "find" her or putting pots and pans on her head like a hat and laughing when you notice. She's also learning to better associate the words she's been saying with objects and people, and is picking up new words as well. On a long drive in the car this weekend, she practiced "hi" over and over with me and Luke...and we couldn't stop laughing. She was saying "hi" so deliberately, and was very excited when she realized that she sounded just like us. I'm not really sure at what point you say your child is "talking," as opposed to mimicking or indiscriminately babbling in a way that just sounds like words, but I think Evie's getting close to crossing the threshold. It's very, very fun stuff.

Here are some cute pictures taken of our very own 14-month old in our front yard and walk just after it snowed last week: