More Than 21 - but Not Quite 22 - Months

Littlebat,

You are almost TWO YEARS OLD! Aaagh! The thought leaves me speechless sometimes, but not today... today I have a lot I want to say to you. Not too much though, just the right amount.

You surprise me every day with something new, and lately it's been your growing verbal skills. I constantly have to step back from the buzz of whatever is going on and just listen to your voice. It's changing so much, and the things you say and how you say them are changing so quickly. It shocks me sometimes how much of a little kid - a little boy - you are now.

You said your very first four-word sentence a couple weeks ago - I want dat cooook (cookie). And you are coming up with the most amazing things lately... One night around 9pm we were watching a movie (after your usual bedtime, but we were letting you stay up because we had been in the car all day). You hopped off the couch and said very matter-of-fact, nap time mama, come on! then turned to Papa and grabbed his hand and said nap time Daddy, come on! We cracked up. Then we took you to bed, of course... irresponsible parents that we are.

And leaving the farm the other evening, NanNan told you to "say thank you to Granny for the boat ride". Well, we went on talking and saying our goodbyes and forgetting about it - until a whole two minutes later when you looked up at Granny and said fankyou boat wide. Talk about amazing. We are so not used to you doing and saying things like that! It's all so new to us. I actually had to sit down to process it! You really do pay attention and understand a lot. Phew... glad I'm sitting down right now as a matter of fact.

You had been calling me mommee for the longest time, but recently you switched back to mama. I have no idea why. I hadn't realized until you switched back how much I'd missed hearing you say that... mmmama. It completely melts my heart. Maybe you know that?

You're such a lovebug, always wanting a huck! and a tiss? from everyone. It's so freaking adorable! And if that isn't enough, there's also maar huck?! and too tiss? Again, heart = puddle.

And ohmygoodness, do you ever love that Furrybat! You always want to give her treats, and hold her leash (we let you, but only inside) and help put her in her crate when we leave in the mornings. Googrr (good girl) tehyee, you'll say. Sometimes you'll sit next to her and just pet her. She loves this - except when you start pulling her ears and pounding on her head. She really is incredibly tolerant of you, you know. You seem to have forgotten how to be gentle! But we are working on it, again. The other day we were doing things up and down the stairs and you and tehyee were at the bottom and I was in your room. I heard whining, then yelping, and when I looked... you were yanking the fur on the back of her neck as hard as you could. And for some reason, she was just standing there letting you do it! I'm sure they were love yanks, but still. You are one lucky little boy - she loves you to pieces.

You also say pees and fankyou and sarry mama when prompted. And just so you know, there are plenty of occasions these days that require you to say sorry, and we're working on learning the follow-ups too, like no towin (throwing - toys mostly) and no hit (no hitting, punching, slapping, yanking, etc.).

Your mood has been a bit more prone to random swings in recent days, and I can see that you are entering the age where some things are just literally too much for you to handle, and completely losing your shit (for lack of a better way to describe it) becomes acutely necessary. If I dare to say no, for instance. Or wait. The audacity! And sometimes I don't even get to utter those responses. Say you want something and it is a.) out of reach, or b.) stuck somewhere, or c.) whatever - the situation may (or may not, because we're not talking logic here) dissolve into tears and screaming and thrashing about - in a mere instant. Happily, the screaming doesn't usually last for long. And I'm finding that I'm able to pull from my reserve of patience and deal with it calmly - most of the time. So, we're managing okay for now. I know it's supposed to get worse. But I also know that it's a totally normal (difficult, frustrating) developmental stage. And I'm determined not to label you and treat you like the terrible (how terrible!) TWO-YEAR-OLD toddler you're supposed to be turning into. You are you, and I love that about you, and that's not going to change.

Potty training is going just about the same as last I wrote about it, which was months ago. Sigh... You will sometimes cheerfully announce that you have to go, and skip into the bathroom smiling (says Granny). But other times, especially if I don't catch you early enough, I'll ask you and you will adamantly tell me NO - while you are actively pooping in your diaper. For now, we celebrate our successes and just move past our setbacks (with the help of this handy new contraption I got about a month ago - and have used only twice, so the setbacks are still few and far between).

You are getting to be a very confident little swimmer. Granny got you some arm floats (I call them swimmies) and they actually support you in the water. You kick and splash and have loads of fun in the pool. You are becoming less afraid of the water, even when you inadvertently dunk yourself under and come up coughing and sputtering, which is great because that used to make you cry. Papa and I are way excited about this because we really want you to learn to swim at an early age and enjoy being in and around the water.

This is especially important now that Papa has a boat! You love being on it (and on Granny and PawPaw's boat too), and besides climbing on the seats and sometimes wanting to lean over the side when the boat is in dock - you always wear a life jacket - you are a very well-behaved and patient little passenger/ Captain-in-training.

Speaking of, we took you on your first kayaking trip in June. Six and a half hours on the river on one of the hottest days of the year so far, and were you ever a trooper! You even took a nap sitting up in Papa's kayak. You loved floating around in the circular current, and seeing the wild (and not so wild) life along the river - turtles, fish, birds, cows... It was an awesome day! Too bad our camera was broken.

You can put your shoes on all by yourself now too - sometimes even on the right feet! And you always pick out matching pairs! Which for some reason, I find utterly fascinating! And I think deserves a paragraph all to itself.

Speaking of all this growing up though... there's one thing you haven't grown out of - mowk. It seems to go in phases, sometimes we skip it, other days you are super interested, asking to nurse between our normal times (upon waking in the morning and at bedtime). I try to explain to you that I have very little left, I really do, but sometimes you cannot be dissuaded. There is almost always some there for you, but on occasion now, there is simply nothing (especially on the left side). This is giving me pause because I never imagined the reason we would have to encourage you to wean would be because I'm running out of the beloved mowk! OMG! The humanity! But... I can honestly say I would encourage weaning (gently and gradually - not that I have a plan, yet) if/when that happened. Dry-nursing is not particularly comfortable, but more than that, the sole purpose is comfort. And that's not a bad thing - actually I love the fact that nursing continues to satisfy your needs for comfort and closeness. But... I feel that in the absence of mowk, we can learn to substitute other forms of comfort (like cuddling, which you currently love to do with Papa, but not me), for our nursing relationship, and still maintain that closeness.

I don't necessarily want to stop (right now, at least), but I can picture a day when nursing will be behind us, and I'm okay with that. Actually, I feel better about it than I would have expected. Maybe it's because you are almost two, and we are close to meeting my (and Papa's) ultimate minimum goal for breastfeeding (that - hopefully - our children would do so for at least two years). Or maybe it's because you are almost two and I'm almost ready to start thinking about nursing another child... maaaybe.

Anyway, I'm sure this lack of mowk situation has something to do with night-weaning. We successfully night-weaned you about 6 weeks ago and it has been the most wonderful thing! Awwwesome! But as happy as I am about it, I don't regret not doing it sooner. I strongly feel that we did it at exactly the right time for all of us. You are sleeping better, mostly all the way through the night. And when you do wake in the middle of the night, you no longer totally freak out. You calmly get out of your bed (you now sleep on the full-size mattress/box spring combo we have in your room, instead of in your crib) and wander into our room and climb into bed with us. And... promptly ask for mowk. Hmmmph. (I consider you night-weaned anyway because that doesn't happen too often.)

Speaking of your second birthday, it seems to be coming up all too fast. I already have most of your presents (one of these, and a whole lot of these and these and a few of this kind of thing - almost all from craigslist), and I'm thinking about party planning and themes (what do you think - is this too obvious?). Anyway, it's certainly a reason to celebrate!

Littlebat, you are just terrific and we love you so much! You are absolutely the light of our lives, not to mention those of Granny and PawPaw and PopPop and NanNan and GranPop and Aunt Wachee and Great-Grandma and everyone else who knows and loves you... you really are a star!

Lots of love and hopeful cuddles, my grown up baby boy. Until next time,

Mama