Month 18 Highlights
Merry Christmas! We can also all celebrate Toby turning one-and-a-half years old today!
Headline for the month: Toby loves talking. She busts out a new word basically every day. Yesterday we debuted "bunny," "blueberry," and "wand" (she has a little fairy wand toy from a Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant in Malaysia). It's pretty easy for me and Szuyin to pick up what she's saying, but I can admit that her pronunciation could use work. Lolo, her stuffed cat, is an adorable Wohwoh.
I already mentioned this as part of the recovery from the Malaysia trip, but Toby sleeps on a floor mattress now. She's really enjoying the extra independence, although she probably hasn't even made it through a nap without sliding off. Last night, after I put her in her bed, she stood up, walked towards Szuyin and I at the door, said "bye-bye," then shut the door on us.
Her favorite indoor activity is definitely reading, and she has spent some time alone with her books, babbling. That's really fun to see. But I still like it more when she grabs a book and tells me to sit down so she can climb into my lap to read it with her. She'll pat a chair and just look at me like "c'mon, Dad." I love it.
The cats are warming up to her. Toby is pretty exuberant most of the time, but she has managed to bring the right snuggly energy once or twice, and the boys have let some cuddles happen. Most of her interactions with the cats, though, are her telling them to get down off the counter. (I have no idea where she learned that rule.)
![Toby caught Udon on the bed and used him as a pillow for a sec. He is tense.](https://assets.buttondown.email/images/f7a4325a-9213-41cd-b7cd-47d39d204765.jpeg?w=960&fit=max)
![Toby puts her head right on Chapati's body. He doesn't seem to love it.](https://assets.buttondown.email/images/c6ec1bb4-dd24-4e69-bce5-a11064f3576c.jpeg?w=960&fit=max)
Overall, she's just really a little person now, and a fun person to live with.