19 months today

You love tractors and diggers and all things that go.

And rainbows and bubbles and 'painting' with water.

You love helping with watering and sweeping and making food.

You often lean over to smell the rosemary as you walk by. You love inspecting the compost. And picking and eating capsicums whole from the garden.

Olives, avocado and kangaroo stew are all eaten with exclamation. Grapes and broccoli too. But most of all you love eating whatever anyone else is eating. "Some?"

Pink is your favourite colour and when you draw, it's always pink tractors.

You love dressing up in other people's clothes. Especially checked shirts. Which all seem to belong to Uncle Ryan.

Uncle Ryan would be impressed to know that he is also associated with the three-dollar checked bag under the house.

Today, holding onto the kitchen bench and balancing on one foot, you put on your gumboot by yourself.

You're drinking from a cup now, though you're often tempted to tip it's contents on the floor.

You're still dubious about ride-on toys, even the one that looks like a bee, though you've recently gained the confidence to start climbing things.

You'd much prefer to display your love of words. ❤

You can identify and name shapes of all kinds, even a hexagon and a trapezium! And count to three, and sometimes fire off numbers beyond.

Your word associations often have us in stitches. We made pikelets for breakfast and you kept calling them pipe cleaners!

Your sentences are gaining pace: "Daddy home afternoon. Tractor? Maybe."

It bores you to have books read to you - you pick up the words so quickly that 'reading' is now collaborative.

You can say goodnight in French. And are picking up a bit of Pitjantjatjara.

You seem much more like three, than the 16 months you should be.

You have a keen sense of hearing and love to copy sounds: the ocean, coffee pots, tractors. But you find big noises scary. And ambulances and tow trucks, but we're working on this.

Your most-loved toys are your rainbow stacker, empty containers (or anything requiring fine motor skills that involves a cause and effect), the water spray bottle and watering can.

You also have a minor obsession with your new potty book.

But by far your favourite thing is to be outside, rambling around the Cape or at the beach.

Me? I adore your curls, your wild fuzzy bed hair. The way you say 'help me?' when you want to help, and 'aw tuddle tuddle' when you rock your teddies. Somebody also taught you to say 'yo yo!' like a dude when wearing sunnies. Your wordiness is pretty cool too.

But my favourite thing is when you give us hugs, complete with back patting.

Can we keep you like this?