18 Months

Our gorgeous little girl


I would characterize the first year of Lydia’s life as one of wonder… By His miraculous grace, the Lord created this beautiful child. I reflect upon the ordination of her creation particularly because we experienced three failed trials of Clomid. Technically we were not supposed to get that fourth round of medicine, but I had a refill on my prescription for some reason (God knows why!), so we tried again. God knew He would create Lydia Elise Willson at just that time. With her conception He called Mark and me into parenthood, a truly awesome journey…

As Lydia takes us through toddlerhood and the second year of her life, I continue to praise our mighty God and sum up my experience with “amazement”. Each day she comes out with words, phrases, sentences that we had no idea she could comprehend let alone construct. When she’s not exhausted, she loves to chat on our “rides” in the car. I was taking her to school on Wednesday and this is what I hear from the back seat, “BIRDIES!! See ‘em? I see birdies!” A whole little conversation with a real sentence – WHOA! When I went to pick her up from her morning with G-pa on Saturday I found them taking a walk. When I greeted her I asked, “What are you doing?” She replied, “We’re walking.” So matter-of-factly, like, “Isn’t it obvious, mommy?”

On a different occasion we’re riding in the car and I hear what sound like numbers popping up from the back seat. Sure enough, she is holding up her fingers counting. She has definitely mastered, “One, Two, Three, Four” then she says, “nine.” Her singing repertoire has also expanded. In fact, this weekend our alarm clock sounded strikingly similar to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – almost the complete song. So much sweeter than that annoying “beeping.”

She had her 18-month check up on Monday and all seems to be developing well. She’s almost 23 lb. (25th %ile) and in the 60th %ile for height. I knew her pants were looking more like capri’s than pants! ;) Thankfully we’ll be moving into shorts today!

Sweetness: Some mornings as Mark prepares to walk out the door, totally unprompted Lydia exclaims, “I love you, daddy!” Melts my heart every time. She’s also singing “Jesus loves me” and recognizes His picture in her Bibles and story books. In fact, almost every man with a beard and mustache is either Jesus or Santa – too cute. How amazing that she is able to sing the Truth of our loving and gracious God at 1 1/2 years old! Our prayer is that that Truth is etched in her heart, that we are living examples and faithful teachers of that love, and that she may live it out to completion… Praise God for His indescribable gifts!

A chilly spring morning didn't stop Lydie from having a blast with the animals she encountered on our walk.
"The goose says, 'honk honk'" says Lydia as she chases them across the field.

Helping daddy feed the horsies...

One tired toddler...