Genevieve is just a hoot right now. She’s in that super-sponge 18 month(ish) phase where she’s absorbing so much, I can almost hear the neurons growing in her brain. Every day there are new words, new faces and new stories she likes to tell.

Her vocabulary takes a little interpretation, much like her oldest sister. But she’s happy to tell her favorite memories to anyone who will listen:

Kitty, kitty (while pointing to her arm): the kitty scratched me (this girl will NOT leave Athena alone, and our kitty is old and grumpy, now…she’ll learn some day to have soft hands)!

Dog dog! (while sticking her finger up her nose):  Uncle Jacques’ dog licked me in the face!

Maaahhh, wa-wa (while pointing to her shirt): Dom spilled water on me!

Yes,  you read that right. Her word for Dominic is a growling Maaaaaahhh sound. It’s hilarious, and probably has something to do with the fact that he currently speaks in mostly dinosaur.

When I ask her for a kiss, she pokes my face with her little finger (exactly as I’m showing her, “Come on Sissy, give Mama a kiss. Right here on my cheek!”)

Her favorite thing to do is faceplant onto pillows. She climbs on ALL THE THINGS just like her big brother did. And she is the first kid to be found, unsupervised, with markers, drawing all over the floor and wall and toys (I blame it on the house move and not finding a good place to hide the markers yet…).

Her “bah bah” (binki) and other “bah bah” (blankie) are her two favorite things. Lucia is quick to find them whenever G is crying.

She wears everyone’s shoes, steals remote controls, and tests just how far she can get to touching the electrical outlets before she gets in trouble. Good thing she’s so dang cute.

Every night after bath, before PJs, Andy carries Genevieve wrapped up in a towel, tip-toeing through the house to look for me. She puts her finger on her nose and whispers “shhhhhh!” until they find me and they yell SURPRISE! Well, Andy yells and Sissy laughs hysterically.

All the big kids take their turn loving on her. She looks up at each of them (Mo-Mo!, Ooh-ooh! Maaahh!) with straight up love in her eyes, and they each make her laugh like no one else. Of course, she has her struggles and also yells, and cries, and gets mad at each of them, but I am more often floored to find them all sitting together or playing nicely.

She has the funniest old man laugh. Always has. And it’s the quickest way to make even Andy’s hardest day turn around 180 degrees.

Every day we see a little more of who she is and who she’s becoming and it is a delight!