Newsletter: Month 21

Giulia, my big baby (literally, see below!), you are now 21 months old. You’ve had a huge growth spurt this month and yep, a bunch of your pretty clothes all of a sudden became way too small for you. It scares me how quickly you are growing – it’s almost like God’s way of reminding your papai and me to enjoy every second of this gift (you!) that He’s given us. Here are some things that you’ve been doing this month:

You love the puppies – you’re always giving them big, tight hugs… hey at least one of you enjoys those hugs – a lot!

You reach your little hand and say “a mao” (the hand) when you want to take any of us wherever you want to go / do what you want to do. You will say “senta, mamae / papai / Ba” when you want one of us to sit with you. Then you instruct us to do the next thing, like pinta, mamae (let’s color mommy). And you know exactly what you want, expect us to do and where you want to go.

You love to sing (you know every Xuxa song by heart!) and you just love to dance. Amongst many others, you can sing the ABC song in English and you can count to 10 in both English and Portuguese. Smarty pants.

You love going to the library with Santana. She walks with you to and from the library and you get home and still, you still have so much energy… You love going to the park and going down the slide. The other day, your father and I were walking with you in the path behind our house and when we got to a certain point you diverted from the path and started walking toward a condo complex. You wanted us to follow you, so, even though we weren’t quite sure what was going on, your father and I followed. You took us to this playground where you go with Santana sometimes. You knew exactly how to get there, which slide you wanted to go and how long you wanted to be there (although I had to grab you from the playground because in your book, that would have meant never!). It’s amazing how determined you are and how you know exactly what you want. This makes your father and I so happy because we’ve always wanted things in your life to go your way, for you to do what you want, for you to have the freedom to choose your own path. And we will always do whatever we possibly can to make sure you have all the tools to do just that.

And the best thing that’s happened this month is that now you hug me. Giulia, you just come and hug me sometimes, you’ll hug my legs and you’ll squeal -- you’ll hug me with so, so much love… You’ve become so much more loving towards me and you are just so much closer to me. And Giulia, I enjoy every second of it, I am enjoying my gift so very much – I never take you for granted. May this trend only grow and may we get closer and closer – I love you.