15 months

Phoebe turned 15 months old Sunday. And she spent it at a Brewers game … Her second Brewers game. Her third Major League ball game this year. And her fifth Major League game in her lifespan. I’m not really counting -- but seriously, I didn’t make my fifth trip to a ball game until I was 12. I'm not sure how we’ve managed it …

Calling Phoebe curious these days feels like an understatement. She wants to go and be everywhere. … As we’d anticipated, her new found walking skills have made it slightly more complicated to take her along for errands. Strap her down in a stroller or car seat or hi-chair for too long and she’s flailing and arching her back in a tantrum. Let her walk and she's strutting over to every nook and cranny that catches her eye ...

Her walking -- and her fascination with scaling steps -- also has brought more bumps and bruises and Band-aids.

Her vocabulary delights us daily -- not to mention the hilarity that ensues when she starts speaking her “Ewok.” ... She’s been screaming “Daddy!” for a couple months now, but she’s since learned “ball,” “up” and “hi” to her repertoire. She also yells out “doggie!” at just about every animal she sees, and she scurries to look out our back door and yell “doggie!” every time she hears the neighbor’s dog bark. She recognizes “Elmo” and “Ernie” now thanks to a summer of watching “Sesame Street” with Mom …

And this week, her new word is an exuberant “yeah!” …

“Phoebe, do you want some water?”
“Yeah!”
“Phoebe, do you want to go downstairs?”
“Yeah!”
“Phoebe, do you want to take a bath?”
“Yeah!”

She probably understands more than we can comprehend. With all the words she has yet to learn to say, it amazes me to watch how she responds to what we say. Whether it’s a request to turn around, to retrieve a specific toy or to throw a ball, she knows what to do.

She also knows what she wants. She sees one of us with a glass of water, she looks at us and signs “please.” If there’s a toy she wants, but can’t reach, she looks at us and signs “please.” If we’re in another room and she wants help with something, she’ll come into the room, look at us and sign “please;” inevitably the thing she wants help with is a toy she accidentally pushed under the couch or a door she closed and wants to reopen. Or the other day when she appeared sleepy and we asked if she wanted to take a nap, she signed “please” and promptly turned to begin walking to her room.

Handling things with her hands and touching things fascinates her. Opening and closing doors of all kinds gives her endless enjoyment, and she never fails to flood the floor with Tupperware lids when she gets into the container cabinet. That said, I’m terrified of the day she figures out where the pots and pans are stored.

Buttons and knobs are equally fascinating. To our chagrin, she thinks it's fun to turn the TV on and off, or turn the volume knob on my stereo. The other day I dropped a record on the turntable, not realizing the volume had been turned up and nearly went deaf.

Special toys? Yep. She's got those now, too. ... Mostly, she just loves blocks and containers. Give her some empty yogurt containers and milk jugs and she's good to go, walking between rooms and knocking them together.

Then, there's her blanket, which she can't sleep without and she carries almost everywhere. It's checkered with a yellow and white floral pattern, and most of the stuffing has been flattened, but it's so soft even I wish I could sleep with it sometimes. It's adorable to watch her carry it to bed every night, a bundle of so much fabric she can hardly see where she's going ... What's even more interesting is that the blanket was Kates's blanket, and Phoebe took to it almost immediately.

Oh, but this week, we got her a baby doll and a miniature stroller. We’d seen her clutching a similar doll at her daycare and she took ownership of Sophia’s baby doll the minute we stepped on her home turf. Now, she won't let go of that.

She’s becoming more and more of a little girl each day.