18 months
Categories:
ah!
What is happening?
Our little baby boy is long gone and in his place sits a curious, vibrant and oh-so-energetic little man.
Every day is more wonderful then the next, and while I’ve never been more tired or run down in my life, I’ve also never felt more thankful. Thankful for the little boy who brings more joy to my life than I ever thought possible.
Here’s what’s been going on…
- SO MUCH talking. Oh my goodness. I mean, the boy knows hundreds, maybe thousands, of words, but he has started to string them together to form sentences. There isn’t one day that goes by where the Mister and I don’t look at each other with raised eyebrows, thinking “did he really just say that?!” For example, we were eating at one of our favorite restaurants last week, which has a fire pit in the back. In true boy fashion, Sawyer cannot sit down in his seat until he goes to look at the fire. Raising his arms in triumph, he diplomatically tells us “take me to see the fire!”
- We have a lovey! A real lovey! Not a pot, not a plastic shape or a lid, but an actual, real stuffed animal. Sawyer really glommed onto him this past month and rarely lets go. BFF. The Mister and I also purchased a second one, which we occasionally throw into the mix (so he gets worn), should we lose the original Cookie. Sawyer has no idea. Surely his head would explode if he saw them both at the same time.
- We are at the height of separation anxiety. At night, anyways. Bean will occasionally wake at 4 a.m. (and by occasionally, I mean half the days of the week) and want to come in “Mama’s bed!”. He knows I’m just down the hall and will be damned if he has to sit in his crib for another two hours (or one hour on a day life wants to hand me a lemon). He’s too stubborn to cry or whine himself back to sleep, so he’ll stand and scream for 1-2 hours. We’ve been bringing him into our bed on those mornings so at least we can all get some extra sleep. I know I’m probably setting a bad precedent, but at least we’re all well-rested. And nothing in this world beats morning snuggles with Bean (and Cookie, of course). Nothing.
- Manners! My annoyingness is paying off and Sawyer is regularly using please and thank you.
- Still no TV. I must admit, there are days that I wish I could just put him in front of some Seasame Street or Yo Gabba Gabba for just a half hour or so while I get ready in the morning or start dinner. But it’s OK – I’m 100% certain that we’ve made the right call. Boy loves his imaginary play and BOOKS. And you can’t argue his language and developmental skills.
- He is freaky smart. Like seriously freaky. Example: my mom was reading him a book with a stop sign in it. Except it was just the shape and color of a stop sign, no words present. Sawyer points at it and says, “stop sign!” Ok, kinda cool, but here’s where the impressive part comes in — he then goes on to say: S-T-O-P. Freaky. He knows all his shapes – just yesterday he pointed out and said, “OCTAGON!”. I don’t think I knew that until I was in third grade. He knows all his letters and can differentiate between letters and numbers (although he knows very few – if any – numbers by sight). He does, however, know when there are two, three, four or five of something. When I tell these stories to people, they look at me like I’m lying or exaggerating. So I’ve just been keeping my mouth shut – I don’t want to sound like an annoyingly braggy mom – but the boy is remarkable!
- SINGING! We are signing and dancing over here on the reg. Any surprise? He has a few songs he sings a line or two of and then says, “sing mama!” And we sing and dance together.
Other loves: THE LIZARD! (a hose attachment that sprays water), looking for bunnies or bumblebees with Daddy, jumping with Papa (Sawyer and my Dad have a game where they jump and chase each other around the house – Sawyer can’t quite jump yet so he just squats up and down - adorable), the library (he’s always loved going but this month he has actually started to ASK to go), throwing pennies in the fountain at the mall, The Fire Truck song (Fisher Price Little People CD), giving high fives, giving fist bumps, finding his and anyone else’s (who will let him) belly button, feeding the ducks, being able to do his puzzles all by himself, playing in the rain, dusting
New hates: fire helmets – my mother-in-law has taken him to the fire station quite a few times to see the firetrucks in person. He LOVES it and has such a blast. But for whatever reason, he is terrified of the fire helmet they gave him as a little prize. Jason put it on the other day and Sawyer had a meltdown. It’s hiding in the closet. I’m sure he’ll be obsessed with it in just a few months. Silly boy.
Current favorite foods: blueberries, peaches, any other berry, macaroni and cheese, toast, soup bread (bread dipped in soup), applesauce (I found some that has spinach mixed in – he loves it!), pizza, cooked carrots, kiwi, yogurt, turkey, cheese
Sawyer — thank you for bringing so much joy to our lives — we truly can’t imagine what we cared so much about before you got here. Hard to believe your birthday will be here before we know it.
And with that, I’ll be working on figuring out how to stop time.
That’s fantastic! 18 months is a real turning point. They go from baby to toddler then, and get so much more expressive! I always had a tough time with the small babies, but once they hit about 18 months I really felt a lot more comfortable. Congrats!
you are so right – it gets more and more fun every single day!
I can’t believe how fast time goes! My little guy will be turning 1 in three weeks and I CANNOT believe it! Bean looks so grown up in that last picture! Too cute!
it is INSANE. i can’t even handle it
So freaking cute. I love all the stories – Sawyer does sound like a baby genius. Very exciting!
thank you, he is pretty adorable
I really look forward to these updates. I often go back and read old ones to see where Raffi might be in a month or two. I don’t think he will be STRINGING TOGETHER SENTENCES at 18 months though! Your son is a genius.
I LOVE Raffi’s updates, as well — make me re-live each month all over again
p.s. LOTS of throughts and experience on weaning, re: you babycenter post, let me know if you want to email or gchat