Tallulah, 17 months

Being in Morocco and all, we have kind of dropped the ball on Tallulah's updates. She is changing so rapidly that it is sometimes hard to keep track of what she likes and does not like, what will make her happy, and what will make her explode in rage. She is turning into a crazy and hilarious toddler, complete with all that comes with the domain: uncontrollable laughing, constant exploration and discovery, and fits of frustration or exhaustion.

She still loves to nurse, and does so no fewer than eight times a day. I have the milk supply of a mom with twins at 3 months. For a while she had little interest in eating real food, but in Morocco, I did not either so I can't blame her. Now, she is eating everything that is put in front of her, usually brats, sauerkraut, or noodles of some variety. She loves fruit as much as her older brother, and can devour blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, and (now) bananas (which she hated for a really long time). She never liked cereal until two days ago when she ate a whole bowl of muesli. She still isn't a big fan of crackers, but she'll eat dried fruit and nuts like a seasoned hiker.

She is obsessed with going outside, and whenever the door opens, she rushes to the stairs in anticipation, usually grabbing "her" sand bucket and shovel she leaves by it. She knows how to gather up her shoes and bring mom's hers as well. She can navigate play equipment meant for much older kids, and has taken up the climbing rope wall as her personal challenge, and made it to the top of one a few days ago when we weren't paying attention, but she was totally unfazed by how high she was. She is a climber... and a fearless one at that. She also loves swimming, and will go under the water and come back up with huge smiles. She may be our little fish. She would jump right off the edge of the pool constantly in Morocco, and it became so exhausting keeping her alive that we opted many times to take our cautious Atticus alone because he is so much easier to watch! (terrible, I know)

She wants to ride a bike SO desperately.

She is a lover of reading. It took her a little longer to get into books, and she still hates being read TO, but she loves picking up a book and exploring the pages on her own, and I'll often peek in the room and find her in this comfy chair with a book. Sometimes she'll babble along and make up her own stories. So cute.

She still does not have any consistent words (surprising), but she recently took up signing and can sign milk, more, food, baby, please, and outside. We actually recently (yesterday) decided to send her to preschool/daycare in the fall, and she'll be going a few days a week in the afternoons. We were really on the fence about this one because we want her to have as much stay-at-home time as Atticus, but on the other hand, it's (nearly) free with the tuition assistance from the university and it will give Tim a chance to focus on his writing, assembly chair duties, and applying for grad school (maybe) without putting undue stress on me. This semester will be a little bit crazy as I'm going to be submitting and defending my pre-dissertation proposal for my research, taking 5th semester Arabic, and two reading-intensive seminars. It's a small classroom with 8 kids and 2 teachers, they play outside a lot, and it's located really close to our house. I think she'll love it, and maybe it will help her language skills develop. We get three weeks to try it out in September, so we'll see how it goes, and if we feel comfortable with it.

Her favorite spot

Everything makes a great phone.

Eating chocolate croissant in our Fes kitchen

Her adorable gap-toothed smile has brightened many a strangers' day, and she is never hesitant to walk up to strangers and befriend them. I know this is the place to say how fast she is growing up and how I can't believe she is almost 1.5, but that's not actually true for me. She has so much personality she feels like she's been here forever, and sometimes I can't believe she's ONLY been with us a little over a year. Maybe because we've had so many changes and moves since her birth 17 months ago (four moves? two cross-country drives? almost two trans-Atlantic flights? two-week train trip through Western Europe? how many 17 months have such a tumultuous life?) I forget about the time before she existed. We love her a lot, and tell her often. Atticus says it best: "Lulah is my best friend," which he says often and I think really means it.