Things To Remember

Today has been a difficult day with the 18 month old.  I think it's a wicked combination of my being 2 weeks away from delivering another kid, him being 18 months old and discovering that he can have an opinion, and perhaps his little body fighting off some germ or another.  Who knows. What I DO know is that he's sleeping soundly in his bed right now, and for the first time since he was quite little, I'm going to let him nap til he wakes up.

(Yeah, that's a weird thing... I wake him up almost daily from his naps because if he naps too long?  Nights are miserable.  I missed the memo on that whole "never wake a sleeping baby" thing).

Anyway, as he was sitting across his room from me shouting "NO WAY, NO WAY, NO WAY!" and not wanting anything to do with me, (or the nap I knew he most desperately needed), I started thinking that I better write down all of the cute things he says before the proverbial "Terrible 2's" arrive.  Because judging from today's tantrum?  I'm going to need some reminding.

So, excuse my sentimentality for a bit while I note my little guy's sweeter moments.

1.  I'll often tell him, "I love you [insert random nickname]!" And he started saying, "I wuv you too."  My favorite is when I say, "I love you, little man-man!" and he tells me, "I wuv you too, mama mama."

2.  He likes to play patty-cake with me lately and has been doing all of the motions.  Except that his rolling motion for "rooooooolllll it" is more like he's shaking maracas up and down.  Then he throws his arms up and shouts, "B!"  Best is when he's standing up while doing it and does his maracas dance while running in place as fast as he can.

3.  He's a champion mimic.  I realized this today when I heard him lay the verbal smackdown on his sister who was tormenting him with a toy.  "Ca-wee! STOP IT!"  It was precisely the tone I use when trying to get the kids to leave each other alone.

4.  First thing in the morning, as he's usually the first one up, he calls for me from his crib.  And every morning, when I go in there, we have this exchange, with very little variation:
M: "Good morning Sunshine!"
S: *Grins and grins* "Hi Mama!"
M: "How are you?"
S: "Good!"
M: "How'd you sleep?"
S: "Good! Hug?"
I scoop him up, he wraps his arms around my neck, puts his head on my shoulder and rubs my back.  Then he pops up, smiles and says, "Snack? Watch a movie?" and clambers down and out into the living room where I get him a little snack and we snuggle while watching Curious George and waiting for the girls to come out.  It's a delightful little way to start the morning... especially considering that I am NOT a morning person.  He charms me into grinning pretty easily.

Just a few things, but things that are particularly close to my heart as these kids fly through the childhood.  I might remember snuggles, but I want to remember these specifics too.  Because, dude... at the rate this kid is going?  He's going to be way taller than me and requesting third or fourth helpings for dinner.  (Ok, he does the latter fairly frequently).

Yup, that's my little guy.