Dear Scarlett,
This is a statement I overheard when Dad was giving you a bath the other night.

Dad: That is a no-no Scout. That's no-no number FIVE tonight.

Dad had been home for roughly 16 minutes. I know that no-no numbers one and two involved you pulling Smokey's tail and laughing at him. I'm not sure what the others were and I don't know exactly what you were doing in the bathtub, but I can say I'm not surprised you were misbehaving. Lately it seems like Dad and I have to admonish you a lot. I don't like telling you no or stop or yuck or please don't do that again. But your favorite games these days involve shutting doors, touching the cat food, putting your hands in garbage, and turning the stove dials. I suspect you are testing us. I'm not sure we're passing.

We're still having a lot of fun with you. It's just apparent that you are no longer a baby and you're beginning to navigate the world in a different way. I love your curiosity and your fearlessness. You will go right up to strangers and say hi, you are incredibly outgoing and funny in music class, and you have become a huge fan of swimming underwater. If there is something to climb on, you will climb it. If there is water nearby, you will rush towards it. Although if there is a leaf or something else defiling that water, you will point at it, yelling "Uh oh." I had to talk to you the other day about how sometimes there are things floating on the water in the San Francisco Bay and we can't really clean them all up.

Yesterday you and I had a french lesson at home. Our teacher Julia came over while I was getting your lunch ready. You refused to sit near her, and when she and I were speaking you whined and clutched at my clothes. You would only sit in your high chair if I sat right next to you, and when I got up to fetch something for you, you yelled at me to "SIT!" I guess we have found something you're a little bit scared of: French. Julia disarmed you slightly by singing Tete, Epaules, Genous et Pieds and at the end of the lesson, you told her "merci."

You have become obsessed with the monitor above your crib and want to talk about it all the time. I'm not sure why--one day, you pulled the cord and the whole thing fell down, and ever since that happened, you constantly look at it and say either "Uh oh," "NOOOOOO" or "Hiiiiiii! Mwah!" It's a little weird, I must admit. You tell me it has "eyes" and a "mouth." I tell you that you're right, since it watches you and tells me what you're doing.

I never really bothered to count your words, because you repeat everything we say. But recent additions to your vocabulary include "yoga," "doggie" and various forms of the word "poop": poopie, poopsie, poopoo. It was only a matter of time, I guess. You like to dress yourself, although this often means that you're wearing Dad's shoes and my tank top (sleeve over your head.) You tried tilapia this week and ate it right up (hidden in your macaroni and cheese, but still...) You love lima beans. You can sit for long periods of time doing puzzles and building things. You have covered our house in stickers "stook-ah." And you will still only nap for about an hour which means I've spent enough time blogging and need to go do something else. Quickly.

I love you,
Mom