C's 17.5 Month Update

To My C,

You have gone through a remarkable transition in the last month.  No longer are you 100% baby.  Now?  Now you're far more toddler than I'm ready for.

I've stopped trying to get you down off of the dining room table anymore.  You take full advantage of when I'm feeding Sayer to climb up there and I'm tired of telling you over and over to get down.  When you're up there, you fiddle with whatever you find and periodically you look over into the living room at me and grin.  I now have to keep the table clean, which is probably a blessing in disguise.  Hey, call it bad parenting if you want, but alas, I can see you, which means you can't get into TOO much trouble.

But with those "gets into everything" moments, comes the funny ones, too.  Sometimes, when your Daddy comes home, he'll ask for a kiss or a hug.  Lately, you've been saying no.  But your Daddy figured you right out,

"Can I have a kiss?"
"NO."
"Can I have a hug?"
"No!"
"Can I have a wrestle?"
"YES!"

And off you two will go, wrestling and tackling all over the place.  You're a rough and tumble kid.

You've started repeating EVERYTHING that I say.  Including things that I shouldn't say.  The other day, I was changing your particularly ripe diaper and exclaimed, "EW!  STINKY BUTT!"  (For the record, "butt" is a strongly discouraged word in our house).  Without skipping a beat, you patted your diaper and repeated, "stinky BUTT!" clear as day.  And now?  Now you say it every time you need a change.  Lovely.  (But it could be worse).  Some of your new favorite words are "BAP!" (bath), "Geek" or "Gink" (drink), "Petty!" (pretty), "Moo-ee?" (movie or music, depending), "Cogadoogadoo!" (cockadoodledoo), and "Dank Ooo!" (thank you).

You love to dance, sing, wrestle, and run.  But you're also beginning to love reading and coloring, (when you're not eating crayons), and you're slowly starting to concentrate on small projects or tasks until completion, like helping me unload the dishwasher.

This stage of childhood is often the hardest.  You're just beginning to be verbal but not quite enough to be understood all of the time.  You have lots of desires, but sometimes I don't totally understand what they are.  And you often want to do things that you just aren't allowed to do.  But this is also the time of life where you're starting to be aware and to care about others.  You're developing a personality all on your own.  And your likes and dislikes are becoming quite apparent,

You like:
Green beans
Rock music
"Yelly Bees" (Jelly Beans)
"Noooo-Nooos!"  (noodles)
Baths
Outside
Going bye-byes
Your baby brother
Your blankets
Saying "Hold you" and reaching your arms up for a hug.

You don't like:
Broccoli
Being told "no"
Small dogs
Frozen things
Having dirty hands
Needing to stay still

I'd say that's fairly typical of toddler-hood.  :)

Sometimes I get wistful, watching you grow...  your babyhood flew by in a pregnancy induced fog.  Part of me will always wish for a do-over where I could grasp those little moments of you being small all that much more tightly.  But then, when you come over out of the blue to kiss your baby brother or you give something to your sister when she's sad, I realize that our family, while not exactly how I planned it, is perfect, just as it is.

So, here's to hoping you keep carving out your own niche in our crazy bunch.  I don't think you'll have a problem doing that at all.

Love always,

Mommio :)