Nineteen Months
July 13, 2006
Yet another step away from babyhood, that is how this past month has felt. You body has lost some of it’s fullness and roundness. You do things with more purpose, more control over your body. Your little bowed legs have grown and straightened, which is good since it used to look like you just jumped off a horse’s back.
You have developed a temper. You get angry at me and will come over with your little fist and try to hit me. I have to stop myself from laughing because the amount of fury in your tiny body over not being allowed to crush every granola bar in the cabinet is astounding. I will hold your little fist and tell you, “No hitting.” This will cause you to throw yourself onto the ground and cry.
This past month you have grown more teeth. All four of your molars broke through and continue to grow through your gums. It doesn’t seem to bother you in the least. Perhaps,unbeknownst to me, your father has given you the “pain is weakness leaving the body” pep talk. But now that you have teeth, you feel entitled to use any toothbrush you find, regardless if it doesn’t belong to you or belongs to the Clorox I scrub the tile grout with. All I have to say is, “Is that your toothbrush?” and you will turn and run away with it as fast as you can, clutching it to your chest, screaming. I hope your obsession with dental hygeine lasts, because I am getting pretty tired of telling your older brothers to brush their teeth twice a day and having them look at me like they have never before seen a toothbrush.
The excema that you have been plagued with in recent months, has cleared up significantly since we put you on the elimination diet, and really how could it not since you can’t eat anything anymore. I set you out in the yard to graze and luckily you aren’t allergic to grass. It’s a good thing that you are at a completely reasonable age and don’t care if you get an empty ice cream cone to eat while everyone else has cones overflowing with ice cream and sprinkles. Yeah, right.
Your appointment with the allergist is next month, so hopefully we will have some kind of answer then and you will be able to enjoy some overprocessed junk food as is the right of every American child. And your ever so helpful siblings will able to leave their snacks laying around and you will be able to eat them when you find them. Instead of the way it works now, which is they leave the snacks laying around, you find them and begin eating them, only to have them snatched out of your hands by those same well meaning siblings.
This month you have discovered how to power your Little Tykes car in a forward direction. This has resulted in much joy and celebration for those of us who didn’t particularly enjoy pushing you around the driveway. Okay, the “us” I speak of is me. Me and my aching back. Your brothers are usually all to happy to send you down the driveway at mock speed, with their own bodies splayed across the car roof. They still don’t understand that your feet get trapped under the car and dragged under the car, and that you don’t like having the tops of your feet and toes skinned by the ashphalt. Yeah, you are such a baby.
And yes, I did cut your hair again last week. But this time I think I did a good job. Your hair is so fine and fluffy and has turned quite blonde from the summer sun. Having your hair cut short makes you look so old and boy-like.
You now run. Your body stays completely upright, your arms held straight out from your sides, hands flopping from the wrist down. Your legs are the only thing that are running. I love it. I love the way your chubby little cheeks still jiggle when you run. It makes me want to chase after you and bite them like they are little mounds of jello. But I have to be content with tackling you in the yard and kissing those cheeks until you beg to be let up.
When does that cheek jiggling stop? I don’t know, but as I look around at your siblings none of them run slack jaw and have their cheeks shake. I want so badly to remember you like this.
You still don’t like to talk very much , preferring instead to point and grunt. Most of the words that you do say sound amazingly similar and are only decipherable based on the context in which they were used.
Words that you use frequently:
dada: daddy
teet : teeth
uh-uh
uh-oh
ouch: used very dramatically
ball
ba-ba: bottle
bye-bye
daw-daw: all done, complete with hand movements
hello: usually said when you have stolen my cell phone
bat: bath
ba-ball: baseball
Speaking of baseball. You love baseball. You love watching baseball. I’ll tell you to show me how you swing. You will stand with you feet spread and assume the hitting position and swing your imaginary bat. It is a kind of cute that defies description. I think that your father is feeding you treats behind my back everytime baseball is on television, training you like Pavlov’s dog. Otherwise I just have no explanation for your giddy reaction when we switch channels and happen by ESPN.
or maybe it is the snowcones I buy you at the games. The ones you spill out onto the grass and i keep scooping back up into your pointy cup, until you have eaten it all, leaving behind only bits of grass and dirt at the bottom of the cup.
I love you. And every day I am thankful for you, my little surprise, my little cabosse, my little pita pocket.*
(pita pocket for my new readers is a shortcut name for “pain in the ass pocket sized version” that I began calling Miles when he was a wee cranky babe. And I say it with love.)
to see the whole set, and really why wouldn’t you. click here
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Simply adorable.
July 13th, 2006 at 8:33 amYou have the most beautiful children I think I have ever seen. And my own kids are pretty beautiful.LOL. He is just - THE MOST!!!!
I really enjoy and look forward to coming to your site every day. I love the way you write and think we might be friends if we lived closer to each other (in a non-stalking-kind-of-way). You have mostly boys, I have all girls, who knows Hee hee. Just kidding. Seriously though, thanks for writing and please know that we all enjoy what you do.
Alice
July 13th, 2006 at 8:35 amHe’s absolutely gorgeous and if any of the other offers don’t work out, my little girl is only a couple of months older.
It always amazes me how fast babies suddenly start turning into little kids and there is no stopping them once it starts. It’s sad and wonderful all at the same time.
July 13th, 2006 at 8:38 amHe is the sweetest thing! I have 4 girls and finally had my boy in July of last year. Yep-he’s coming up on a year and I am walking down memory lane with you.
Amy
July 13th, 2006 at 8:43 amHe is just precious, and your words about him bring tears to my eyes. That longing to remember everything just the way it is (at each age) is indescribable, isn’t it?
Your blog makes me smile every, single day.
July 13th, 2006 at 9:02 amPita pocket; simply a brilliant cover. And to think I was soooo unoriginal and only called my colicky daughter a pain in the ass pocket sized version. With love, of course.
July 13th, 2006 at 9:03 amChris,
July 13th, 2006 at 9:05 amI no longer even remember how I found your site, but i have been readign for a while. You recently mentioned that you couldn’t understand why a woman with no kids would read your site. I have no kids - and at 37 I can resonably predict that I probably won’t ever - but I adore reading about yours.
You write with such wit, style and passion that I would happily read an engineering manual authored by you. OK - maybe that’s a stretch, but I really do love reading about your family.
Thanks so much for writing.
Michele
Awww. I love those fat little wrists! I can see why you want to munch on those little jello cheeks. I’m glad you let him eat dirt and grass. It’s good for him.
July 13th, 2006 at 9:24 amwow Chris, he looks so much OLDER!
I remember him being in the little baby seat and looking like a BABY!
I was reminiscing about my own boy on my blog this morning.
He is 6′2″ now and towers above me.
But I remember 19 months vividly.
The journey through motherhood is bittersweet no matter if you have 1 or 10 children.
July 13th, 2006 at 9:31 amCuteness with beautiful eyes. . . and the Little Tykes car thing is so universal. I have experienced those skinned feet of which you speak!
July 13th, 2006 at 10:04 amI’m new here - found you through Angry Pregnant Lawyer (who I also just found today while I should have been doing laundry!)
That letter is beautiful, as are your children. Thanks for sharing!
(I have a new Site o’ the Week today - come on over and check her out…)
July 13th, 2006 at 10:18 amYou are very, very blessed!
July 13th, 2006 at 11:22 amWhat a handsome boy you have! I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now and I enjoy it so much!
July 13th, 2006 at 11:42 amOh, that last picture looks like a totally different kid. Where’s the dark haired baby? How did he get so blonde!?
July 13th, 2006 at 11:50 amwhat a post–what a handsome little boy! cheeks like jello…i love it
July 13th, 2006 at 1:31 pmHe is absolutely beautiful. And he is changing so much! I love when you call him your caboose.
July 13th, 2006 at 1:55 pmDying. DYING I tell you from the cuteness. And the loving letter has me all choked up.
July 13th, 2006 at 2:17 pmMust be an age thing with the toothbrush, my 17 month old does the same thing. No toothbrush is safe.
July 13th, 2006 at 4:29 pmGreat post as always!
gosh, he’s growing up so fast! he’s so adorable. But wasn’t it just the other day I was waiting to hear he had been born?
July 13th, 2006 at 5:19 pmI love your letters to Miles.
Morgan and Marley are only a few weeks older and so they are going through all of the same stages that he is. This is probably my favorite age.
July 13th, 2006 at 5:34 pmThese posts are so sweet. Maybe I should start writing them to my kids. Or you could write them to my kids. I’ll send you their pictures.
July 13th, 2006 at 5:55 pmHe is just beautiful. I love your letters to him.
July 13th, 2006 at 6:44 pmHe is just so precious. I have so enjoyed watching him grow up.
I am very glad that you had such a wonderful surprise!
July 13th, 2006 at 7:08 pmHe’s growing up so fast. He is so lucky to have you for a momma. Thanks, Chris . . . these “talks” you have with your kids are so precious and will especially mean so much more to them as the grow into adulthood. . . many years to come.
July 13th, 2006 at 7:28 pmWow, look at that little boy! The BLONDE little guy! He is completely adorable and your post’s about him really are tear jerkers.
Laughing at the Little Tykes car. I thought for sure all three of my childrens feet would be permanently damaged due to the “Flinstone” feet dragging that they endured!
July 13th, 2006 at 8:18 pmWhat a sweet letter. He is indeed a handsome little guy. Funny how a haircut can make a baby look like a little boy.
We called our last baby RC (Red Caboose) until he was born and we knew what to name him. And I so remember him running like you say - all legs but nothing else.
Definitely agee with earlier comments - I love reading your posts and look forward to visiting your blog for the latest entry.
July 13th, 2006 at 11:13 pmMy 16 month old does the toothbrush thing too - always stealing the big boys! We have decided he is either going to be a dentist and create business for himself by stealing the worlds toothbrushes - or a pharmasist, because he also loves little brown medicine bottles! Why don’t the younger kids just play with toys???
July 14th, 2006 at 6:44 amHe is SO blond and adorable! Love those cheeks.
July 14th, 2006 at 5:05 pmThis post is what blogging is all about~~capturing the present.
He’s beautiful!
July 15th, 2006 at 10:13 pmThat so totally hits home for me. My son is 20 months old and I think almost all of those same thoughts. I wish I had the talent to express myself the way that you do. I’m gonna have to work on that.
July 19th, 2006 at 7:19 am