18 Months

Dear Tolliver,
You're a year and a half old.  And you're amazing.  We've compiled a list of eighteen things we love about you right now.  Know that there are at least eighteen million things we haven't included.  Know that you are loved.  You are loved - above all else - just for being you.

We love:
1. The way your smile opens wide the window of your face.
2. The way the wind fingers your hair, the way it raises the part right down the center and makes you almost resemble a rooster.
3. The way the spring sun sent a faint spattering of spots across your nose and the way the bright blue sky touches your skin and leaves soft pink marks.
4. The way your liquid Disney eyes claim all the wonder in the world.
5. The way you nod your head yes.  You squeeze your eyes shut, touch your chin to your chest and shake so it seems as if your whole body is sending an affirmative message.
6. The way your smooth, dark voice erupts.  If chocolate were a sound, you could frost a cake with words.
7. The way you answer the question What is your name? with a very confident Betz!
8. The way you say uh-oh, stretching out the word like a rubber band.
9. The way you seven dwarf through the day -- happy, sleepy, bashful, grumpy.  Mostly happy, though.
10. The way your laughter lifts our spirits and the way your light lends us strength.

11. The way you, despite being built a bit like a cinderblock, move -- half-moon belly ahead of hips, feet that ferry you almost as fast as you'd like to go.
12. The way, with you, walks become adventures and destinations become delights.
13. The way you like to color.  Paper, your shirt, your toes, the floor, each with equal enthusiasm.
14. The way you ride the wooden crane -- for fun, for work, for mischief.
15. The way you count, not out loud but with your fingers - one, two, three - before you jump.
16. The way you've, just recently, started humming thank you.  When we hand you a toy or offer you a treat or wipe your nose with a tissue, you sing-song two little notes of appreciation.
17. The way you make your brother a brother.  All the ways you're so different from him, and all the ways you're so the same.
18. The way you live tucked up right against the limits of all your growing abilities.

Oh, sweet Tollie.  We love you you for lots of reasons, and we'll love you forever.
Mama & Daddy

These pictures are a few weeks old but we chose them because they're reminiscent of your brother Tucker's 18 month post.