16 & 17 Months

Dear Line,
It has been a fun two months! You have really grown by leaps and bounds- physically and mentally (though I feel like I'm always saying that)! You are suddenly a BOY. I marvel at you and wonder where my baby has gone.
You are a master of movement. Running, climbing on everything, experimenting with jumping, and playing. It seems amazing that you have such sureness of self. You barrell forward towards whatever you want without any doubt of your ability. This doesn't always go well, but luckily you are also good at falling. :)

You are doing so well with sleep. You generally go down easily without any fuss and are getting awesome at self-soothing. You have a few things in the crib with you, but aren't particularly attached to anything special. Tonight when I checked on you, you'd thrown out all your toys and were cuddling a book. Silly boy! You generally have a nearly 2 hour nap after lunch. I'm loving having time to eat my lunch and do a few chores in peace.

Your eating is pretty good. You definitely know what you like and aren't afraid to let us know. Usually what you want is whatever your Dad is eating. It never fails! You love pickles, olives, cottage cheese, tomatoes, and all fruit. You randomly have stopped liking yogurt in the last couple of weeks. So bizarre. Thankfully, we finally figured out the milk situation. Goat's milk for the win!

As far as communication, you are rocking it. You say some words, sign others, and a few select you say and sign. You say and sign: all done, bye, duck/quack, and bath. You sign: more, chicken,  and food. You say: hat, book, ball, button (baba), cheese, shoes, moo, baa. You are working on Grandma and Grandpa. You rarely say Dada. Mama is even more rare. Usually only when you are insisting that I eat something you are trying to feed me. We're getting there though. Right? Right. You understand way more than that. You love to look at your picture book and point to different things that I name. It's really cool to watch you learn new words every day.

You and Daddy still dig each other the most. You love to climb up and sit next to him. You have taken to kissing his feet recently. We're not sure where that came from or what it's about, but it's cute and funny. You are also enjoying getting The Yickers. It's a thing from Daddy's family where you get tickled on the thigh. Mommy hates them, but I'm glad you find them amusing.

Sweet baby, you are the light of my days. You make me laugh and smile. You are just the best.
Love you so, so much,
Mommy

Ps. I couldn't find my converter for my laptop power cord, so I am typing this on the Tab. It's too hard to add pictures on this so I'll add them later. Once I find the converter. I would wait to publish, but Grandma gets very antsy.

14 & 15 Months

Dear Chicken Bean,

Well hello there, my sweet boy. I've had to combine the last two months because I never got around to your 14 month letter. I've been busy helping daddy with work in the evenings. I'm going to try to get back on the blogging wagon (I know... I've said it before. This time, I think I mean it.)

So much has happened in the last two months! I feel like I'm always saying this, but you've made some huge developmental leaps. I look at you and wonder what happened to my baby. You are so grown up! You really are a toddler now. (Though you'll always be my sweet baby!) You are a master walker now. You are super-fast and have pretty good balance. You rarely crawl these days. It's all go, go, go. You have several words now. You're favorite is "down" because you always want to get down and walk around. To make things difficult, you won't hold hands. Never have. That means that there are often times when you want "down", but it just isn't safe. I think we'll be getting a kiddie leash before long (even though I always swore they were silly before).

Your other words are: round (asking us to do the rhyme "Round and Round the Garden"), again, row (asking for "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"), all done, shoes, outside, down
You sign for: bath, food, more, water, all done, duck (very rare), sleep, milk
You make noises for these animals: zebra, lion, duck, monkey, fish (not consistently)

You understand a whole lot more and add new things every day. I'm constantly amazed by things you comprehend. It is so much fun watching you grown and learn. Daddy and I think you are a genius, you know.

We had a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa mid-May. It was too short, but we are excited that we'll see them again in a couple of weeks. You were a bit shy and were finally warming up just when it was time for them to go. I'm so sad we don't get to spend more time together, but I'm grateful for any time we get. Grandma & Grandpa has a grand time following you around and loved watching you gobble up your food.

You're mostly and excellent eater- though you definitely have favorite foods: tomatoes, cheese, most fruit, & sweet potatoes. You aren't a fan of fish these days, but I keep trying. I'm making some progress on getting you to drink cow's milk. You'll drink it happily as long as it's mixed with some fruit smoothie. I'm planning to gradually increase the milk/smoothie ratio until you're ok with plain milk. You still have breastmilk first thing in the morning and just before bed, but I think we're getting closer to being done. You don't really drink much at night anymore, so I think that will drop pretty soon.

Your sleep is awesome. You sleep through the night and have (almost always) just one nap, which you go down for without trouble. Even better, if we're out and about you'll nap in the stroller. I love that you are flexible and don't get too out-of-sorts if we don't stick to a strict schedule.

You are a bit clingy and often times only Daddy will do. He mostly doesn't mind, except when his back hurts from carrying you for too long. You have a great mix of tender loving cuddly-ness and fierce independence. I love that. It makes me feel like you are secure in our love for you- which, let's face it, is IMMENSE.

My darling boy, you are so much fun and so, so wonderful. I almost can't stand it. I'm brought to tears on a daily basis by how amazing I think you are.
Love, love, love you,
Mommy

13 months

Dear Sweet Bean of Love,

You are 13 months old! I was telling someone how old you were the other day and I couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that you are more than a year old already. You have had quite the month! It's been a little crazy. You kicked off the month by going spectacularly off your schedule and have only just gotten back on track. I am certainly breathing a sigh of relief that you are back on track. I don't like seeing you out of sorts.

It all started when we gave you cow's milk for the first time the day after your birthday. You seemed to really like it and drank it up well, but the next day you were horribly sick and couldn't keep anything down! You'd never been sick before and it was very upsetting to us to see you vomiting. Poor baby! You were pretty miserable for a few days after, not eating much and nursing a lot more.

I've been saying for ages that I'm happy to breastfeed as long as you want, but that hopefully you'd be ready to be done by about 18 months. I'm not going to lie, I started to feel a bit like you were never going to be done! It was hard for me to feel like I'd lost ground when you added nursing sessions back. I also saw cow's milk as a natural transition. After your first try you started refusing it and that made me panic about not having something to replace breast milk with. Yikes! By the end of the month you actually finally dropped to nursing just after waking up and again before bed. What a relief! I'm happy with that schedule for a while. You still won't have milk, but you are getting plenty of dairy with yogurt and cheese.

You are really taking off walking now. You are so steady standing still that it amazes us. You have also figured out how to climb on the couch and it is your favorite place. You took a few days to figure out being safe on the couch, but now you can scramble up and down like a champ. We really need to get you some shoes so you can try your walking when we're out and about. It also might get you to keep your socks on. You love to take them off and show off your bare toes.

You are so funny! You are really learning so much about playing and interacting. You still love to play peek-a-boo. You play it in the bath and even on Skype with Grandma and Grandpa. It's pretty adorable.  You are also playing with your toys more and differently. It's neat to watch you try different things and figure out how things work. Your daddy and I might be biased, but we think you are very smart!

Oh how we love you my little baby!
Mommy

Tram Conversations

When using public transportation, you see and hear lots of things. 

Some are interesting. 

A few weeks ago, we were getting on the tram when the doors shut very quickly and the tram started to move. I was just inside the door on the crowded tram car and saw a woman on the other side frantically pushing the button. As she realized the tram wasn't going to let her on, she started motioning and yelling. At first I thought, "Geez lady, calm down. Sure it's annoying to miss a tram like that, but another one will be along in a few minutes." Then I realized that she wasn't yelling, she was trying to communicate instructions to people on the tram. I also realized that the people were three young men (late teens/early 20s). We couldn't really make out the instructions before the tram pulled away. As we rode along, it became clear that the young men were mentally handicapped. They lamented the situation between themselves and said over and over that it was "the doors' fault". The looked at me for reassurance in this matter. I heartily agreed that there was nothing they could have done. As the ride went on, the boys continued to confirm amongst themselves that it was the doors' fault. I noticed that one was wearing a Bury College lanyard and we asked if they were going to Bury (the last stop on the line). They confirmed that they were and so we talked about how they could just stay on until the end and then get off and wait for their teacher to join them, as she would surely be on the next tram. Not long before our stop (2 stops before the Bury stop), I confirmed that the young men knew what to do. (We would have accompanied them, but it was already pushing it for Linus' dinner time and there were plenty of others on the tram who could assist.) One of them looked at me and earnestly said "It's scary being all alone." I told him that he wasn't alone. He had his friends and the other people on the tram. And then ran through what to do once they got to the Bury stop one more time. I then high-fived them for reassurance. They were such sweet guys. I still sort of wish we could have accompanied them, just to make sure.

Some are funny.

The other day, I was holding Linus as Ross and I stood on a crowded tram car. In order to fit on the tram, we'd filled in spaces, meaning that we weren't right next to each other. A nearby man in a business suit was smiling at Linus and making faces to entertain him. Linus' gaze shifted to Ross. I noticed his smile and said "Is that your daddy?" Ross noticed the panic on the suited man's face. I was oblivious to the fact that the man thought I was referring to him!

Some are sad.

Today we rode the tram and were wedged next to 3 teenagers. Two boys and a girl. One boy and the girl were a couple and the other boy was a newish friend of theirs. They were all filled with the public cockiness that teens so often put on to mask their insecurity. They talked loudly, putting on a show for the other tram-riders. They clearly imagined themselves the stars of some very compelling reality show. (Clearly they weren't wrong, as I'm now relaying the story to you.) They spoke about the petty dramas that fill most teenage lives. They used vulgar language with daring and a pinch too much forced casualness. The boyfriend got on his cell phone and called someone and asked if it was ok for his girlfriend to come to his house for tea (tea means dinner 'round these parts). As he hung up the phone, he was all in a huff and chastised his girlfriend that she'd "almost made him say 'I love you' to his dad". The three shared a good old laugh. The boy continued in his exclamations regarding expressing this emotion. He acted like it would have been the most ridiculous thing ever. His girlfriend joined in his laughter saying "that would have been... awkward". The way she said it left no doubt, that she would have found it the height of lameness. They all mocked the possibility of this imagined faux pas together. They continued to discuss exchange of emotion between father and son in a dismissive manner and threw around the word "gay". 

I wanted to turn around and tell this boy that:

a) "Gay" is not an insult. It isn't a word to be used to describe a situation that makes you uncomfortable. It is not "gay" to express emotion. Unless he meant that sometimes being gay takes real courage, as does expressing emotion.

b) I bet his father loves him. A lot. 

c) I hope that he loves his father. And I hope someday soon he figures out a way to till him as much.

I didn't. I just continued listening to this conversation- my back to them as I faced my husband. My adorable husband who was holding our son. My two favorite boys who were gazing at each other with such love. I watched as they played and made silly faces and as Ross covered Linus' face with kisses. It broke my heart to think that some day Linus might have a similar conversation. Then I thought about it and decided that was a silly worry. Of course our boy would grow up in a loving home where his parents were open with their emotions and vocal about their love. He would come of age knowing that it IS cool love your family. He might get embarrassed by us. He might get mad at us. But he will always know that Mommy and Daddy love each other. And that we both love him. We say it constantly. Because it's important to me. Important that he not just know it, but that he hear it. Important that he learn to say it. Important that we teach our boy to be a man who can express himself emotionally. So then I just felt sad. Sad that this boy didn't feel that way. Sad that he and his father don't get to experience the joy of open admiration for each other. And happy. Happy that my husband has no problem expressing love. That he is the kind of father who will kiss his son and hold his hand and teach him how to be a loving, kind, and brave person. Happy that Linus will have such a wonderful role model to show him how a real man acts.

Are you vocal with your love? 

Anyone else have any good public transportation stories?

ONE

Dear Linus Alexander,

You are a year old now. (Well technically you are a year and nearly two weeks old now because mommy has fallen off the blogging wagon, but whatever...) You are such an amazing little guy. I can't tell you how often you make me laugh. I go teary thinking about how much I love you at least once a day. It blows my mind to think how much you have changed in the last 12 months, and then how much you will change in the coming years.

How things have changed! (L- At the Manchester Museum on March 1, 2013; 

R- At NMGH on March 1, 2012)

You are so fast at cruising and will take a few unsupported steps if pressed, but are rarely happy about it. You seem quite cautious and content to keep crawling until you are sure you have walking nailed. You still love to blow kisses and have started to give unsolicited smoochies. Those are the best. You are very sweet, you know. You love to play peek-a-boo and are getting really good at holding blankets/your shirt/my shirt/anything in front of your face and then pulling it away with a big grin. You are also pretty good at knowing that the duck says "quack quack". We're working on other animal noises, but duck is your first one. You also have the hang of putting shapes on rings. 

Eating is still pretty good. You have days of being a bit more picky, but I just ride it out and keep offering a mix of healthy foods. You still haven't had any meat or chicken (you eat fish though). I'd say bananas and cheese are your favorites. I wonder how many bananas you would eat if you kept going after one! You had your very first sweet (other than fruit) for your birthday. You ate up your chocolate cake like crazy!! Don't worry though, it was very healthy. I made it with sugar substitute Xylitol and black beans. I used this recipe. Daddy and I both agreed that it was very tasty. You are still having 3 breastmilk feeds a day. I don't have a real plan to wean you yet. I figure I'll introduce cow's milk and see what happens. I'd be happy for you to drop your afternoon feed and just do first thing in the morning and last thing before bed, but we'll see. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until 2, so I figure as long as I am happy and you are happy we'll keep at it.

Sleep is still great at night and not great during the day. On my birthday (Feb 10th) I was wondering aloud when you would drop to 1 nap. The next day, as if by magic, you refused to take your morning nap. Looking back, you'd been having a bit of trouble going down at night for a week or so before. I assume it was because you were in the process of transitioning to 1 nap. Now that you are down to 1 nap, I really will get busy on getting you to nap in your crib. Pinky swear.

It should come as no surprise that you and Daddy are still part of the world's cutest mutual admiration society. I mean you like me a whole lot. Especially when you want milk. But Daddy is your favorite. And he's such a softie. I am sure I'll have to be the heavy on a few things when you are older. 

You really are beautiful. And it's not just us that thinks so. Strangers frequently come up to us and tell us how lovely/gorgeous/beautiful you are. It's not just physical, either. When you start flirting, it's a rare person that isn't charmed by your sweet smiles and gasping laugh. You have sweetness in your heart, which shines through that adorable face. There isn't a more lovely sound in the world than your laughter.

Oh my sweet boy! I can't wait to see what the next year holds. You are the most fun. The sweetest. The most wonderful little guy I could imagine and I am truly blessed to be your mommy.

I love, love, love you.

Mommy

(Dear readers, I'm working on rebuilding my blogging mojo which has been on hiatus. I'm coming back. For real. Pinky swear. Don't give up on me.)