You are teetering on the edge of being a BABY versus a TODDLER. Perhaps you are already a toddler, because in the past week, you've taken your first, independent steps! For Christmas and your birthday, you received some toys to help you walk. You use them everyday and cart yourself from the living room to the kitchen to the living room to the kitchen to the living room to the...well, you get the point! You can easily stand up on your own, balance for quite a while, and sometimes, when the urge strikes, you plunge one foot forward and then the other. And then you realize that you're walking without holding onto anything - and then you pop yourself down on your butt. Is that what "toddling" is? If so, I guess you're officially a toddler. (But your dad and I still call you our BABY!)
This month has been full of fun! After recovering from your perfect 1st birthday party, we packed up our bags and spent a week in Orlando. You were a near-perfect traveler! You loved the sights and sounds at DisneyWorld...I can particularly remember your eyes wide open and mouth agape as you watched the night-time light parade at the Magic Kingdom. You were awestruck! (Unfortunately, I can also remember the second-to-last night, after 5 days without naps and LATE bedtimes...when you screamed and cried and fought and were generally unpleasant for the entire night, leaving me deliriously tired in the morning!)
One of my co-workers asked me a question a few days ago..."Does Silas ever cry?" This question made me laugh. Well of course you cry - but not that often. You primarily cry only when you want something and your dad or I have the gall to take it away or not let you play with it. For example, the computer. You are beyond obsessed with playing with the mouse and keyboard. You find key combos to open computer applications we didn't even know we have. And when I try to pry your little fingers off the keyboard you get mad. No. You get pissed! And you let us know by crying, arching your back so wildly that we almost drop you, and you make faces that are heartbreaking. If we're not holding you during the freak-out, you will get on your hands and knees on the floor and just wail, often putting your forehead or cheek on the ground and simply sob.
Your self-concept and self-identity have grown by leaps and bounds this month. You are aware of what you want and when you want it. You know what you want to do and generally how you're going to make it happen. This has made a big difference in our daily life. Rather than making all of your decisions for you, we're starting to lighten up on the reins and letting you follow your desired path on a regular basis. It's fun to watch you make decisions and watch you process the idea of options in your mind.
Playtime is your favorite time. Whether it be on the living room floor, knocking down the wooden block towers that I build, or splashing vigorously in the bathtub making both you and me laugh uncontrollably, or dialing your toy cellphone while sitting in your pack n' play, you have lots of fun. And now that this fun is becoming more interactive, your dad and I especially love this playtime. As I've mentioned, you love technology. One of your recent favorite games is to grab one of our cellphones and hold it right up to your ear...and then hold it up to my ear. You smile with pride, because you know exactly what to do with the phone - and as soon as you can talk, I'm sure you'll be chatting up a storm on the telephone. (Now...remove the phone from your hand and all hell breaks loose! Remember the crying/freaking-out paragraph above?)
You've transitioned from two medium-length naps (about 1.5 hours) per day to one LONG mid-day nap (usually about 3 hours). Your dad and I greatly appreciate these long naps when we have time to ourselves, time to straighten up, catch up on e-mails (or blogs...), or even take a short nap ourselves! You are down to nursing only once or twice per day - depending on if you wake up early enough to nurse before I leave for work. If not, it leaves us just one session before bedtime. I thought we'd be weaned at 1 year, but it's still working out for us, we both enjoy it, so I'm not in a hurry to cut you off yet! One thing you do (but the frequency is decreasing quickly) while nursing that I find so adorable is that you match up your thumbnail at the tip of my thumbnail and to calm yourself down, you flip the tip of your nail back and forth across mine. It seems to be really calming for you - it's something you've done nearly your whole life. I don't think I've mentioned that before, but it's something I never want to forget. I don't know how you learned to do that, but it's so sweet.
You now weigh 22 pounds, 2 ounces and you are 31.5" long. I know this because we were at the doctor's office yesterday afternoon to get eye drops for a little eye infection you woke up with yesterday morning. It's already seemingly healed, though we have to continue to use the drops for a week. I feel lucky we've only had to face relatively small illnesses with you and hope that's all we'll have to face together.
You are adorable, charismatic, smart, energetic, opinionated and funny! You are starting to really outwardly express affection and it's the best thing in the entire world. Especially this past month you give hugs with tight squeezes behind them. You crawl over to me during playtime and just rest your head on my lap or shoulder for 5 seconds before going back to playing. You crawl up to me, put your arms up to be held...and when I pick you up, you give HUGE, WET, SLOBBERY, WIDE MOUTH kisses on my cheeks, chin, lips, eyebrow - wherever that mouth lands! This new development is one of my favorite so far - I love that you display affection purposefully and most often on a whim. It makes me think you're a happy happy kid and that sometimes a wave of joy overcomes you and you feel the need to display it via a hug or kiss or snuggle!
I know that feeling of a wave of joy and happiness - which is why I constantly kiss and hug and snuggle you. Your dad and I are constantly amazed by you - and you bring us more happiness and love than we ever imagined. WE LOVE YOU!
No comments:
Post a Comment