IRX at 18 Months

Have I mentioned lately how much I love IRX? I think I'm feeling it today because she and CP left for Washington DC yesterday. I'll be meeting them out there on Saturday to go out to Virginia with her dad and family.

She's just a great kid and more and more her personality is showing. I mean, she's always had the same personality, but it's getting more and more developed and nuanced. She is fearless. She never scared of going down head first on a slide. She is not afraid to explore unfamiliar places. She loves with all her heart and will show affection when she's happy. Luckily, she's a very affectionate kid. Days are filled with kisses and hugs.

Days are also filled with dancing. There's a dance she does when she's excited to eat. And then the dance she does when she's excited to go outside. And the dancing she does for fun. And singing. She can sing her ABCs (thank you, TV) although you can't really make out any of the letters except G. She sings the songs she learned from her music class. She just sings.

She's a sweet and caring child. If she hears one of us say "ow" or hears a loud crashing sound she will ask "you okay? you okay?" until we confirm that, yes, we are okay. Of course, she will sometimes purposely throw something at us, say "uh oh..you okay?"

Her latest things that I love include asking people "how u?" which she got from our neighbor. Sometimes we wake up early and sit on the porch and look at the disgusting, ugly pigeons that congregate in our yard every morning and she will say, "hi birds how u?" Same to the neighbors dog. But not the neighbors. And hand shakes. And cheers-ing everything she eats or drinks. She loves carrying a purse. The other day, a woman almost ran her over with a shopping cart and she looked at her and said, "ohmygod". Hasn't said it since.

Finally, my baby has learned to pose for the camera. Unfortunately, we can never get her to do anything on video. Should could be singing for 5 minutes but as soon as she senses the camera is on, she stops. Anyway, here she is saying "cheese".

IRX is a year and a half today. This realization is stunning, exciting, sad...

Recently, we've had a few flashbacks from the past that remind me how little she used to be and how much she has grown in a very short period of time. We attended the premiere of a movie she shot last summer, appearing in the part of "baby." Of course, I am infinitely biased, but she was very good. That is my professional opinion as an actress and a director, and also my gooey melting mother's opinion as well. She was cute, cried on cue, stopped on cue. Possibly sound editing had a lot to do with this, but like to think not. And oh - she was amazingly and impossibly small, a BABY. Now, even though I call her my baby, in reality she is a toddler - an insanely active, reckless, constantly in motion toddler, basically a kid, and practically a teenager!

I've also been trying to sort through all of the photographs I've taken of her in the past year and a half. So far, I've gone from 3500 to 2500, which is no small task - especially when each photo brings me back to the day it was taken, to my memories of what she sounded like, acted like, looked like then. Facial expressions she only made for a while... Facial expressions she makes now, with words attached to them. I see pictures and video of her struggling to roll over, and remember how much time I spent trying to get her to do it how proud of her I was when she did. And then I think of this morning, when she busted her chin climbing over a chair. Or yesterday, when she climbed onto the windowsill and stood there, surveying the room.

Meanwhile, we have a new niece. At two weeks old, she seems like a (gorgeous) creature from another planet - incredible and tiny and alien. She was a pound bigger than IRX was when she was born, and yet - how can it be that IRX was ever that little? It happens so fast. And yet, when I see her next to her cousin P-LO, who is three, she seems so young. Just a baby, really. My baby.