EIGHTEEN MONTHS

I don't think I need to tell you that time is FLYING.

Johnnie turns 18 months old this weekend. She has been celebrating by working on the procurement of two new molars, while simultaneously suffering through a virus that brought us four straight days of fever. Daytime hours... nighttime hours... I am a zombie (though a sympathetic one) through all of them. All the snuggling she's required has been a nice throwback to her baby days though, so I've been trying to focus on that sweetness while fighting the urge to throw her away.

However, this week from hell aside, Johnnie is really pretty awesome. This is proving to be a good age for her -- she's a dancing machine and getting really communicative. My favorites from among her little phrases:

• Bless you! (when you sneeze or cough or blow your nose)
• Love you (she only repeats it when we say it, but who cares? HEART MELTS EVERY TIME)
• Oooopuss (octopus!)
• Jesus (any book character with a beard)
• Help you (when she really means "help me")
• Birdie
• Elmo
• SHHHHH! (when she's pretending to sleep)
• Caillou (she doesn't actually watch the show, but she likes the theme song)
• Cado (avocado)
• Buddies! (when she sees her little friends!)

I don't know how many words she knows, but she has turned into quite the little mini-person these past few months. She has ideas, she makes animal noises on command and she can tell me whether she wants apples or bananas for dessert. This is all just good stuff, and it's the most fun I've had as a parent thus far. It really keeps getting better. Thank God for that.

I will leave you with this video of Johnnie blowing my mind by recognizing several letters of the alphabet. (This was two weeks ago and she still hasn't mastered E... little slacker.)