19 Months

This has not been one of the easier months, kiddo. You had a cold, and also sprouted two new molars on the left side. The lower one seems to be causing you quite an achy mouth, and as a result you have been one gigantic grumpasaur. I had pneumonia and bronchitis myself, then did something to my rib cage from all of the coughing, so I've been a bit drained as well. It has all led to this being a trying time around the home front. You are doing some wonderful, little boy things though, so please don't think that Mommy has forgotten how much she loves you!

You have some new words, of course. I'm getting worse about documenting all of them when I hear them, and I'm sure you have some words at daycare that I haven't yet heard. These are the ones I captured: duck, milk, hand, arm, truck, down, paci, pumpkin, Brady (you pronounce it Bady and really this is something you picked up at 18 months), keys, yes, bath, snow, hooray, monkey, poop, puff, baby, box, chin, sheep, shush, thank you, Elmo, hockey, fish, fox, buzz, elbow, hello, all done, shoulder.

Despite your growing vocabulary, there is one word you choose to use more than any other, "NO!" As I said, this has been a trying month... You also like to scream at the top of your lungs and growl angrily when you're not happy about something, which has been happening a lot lately. You never seem to know what you want when you're grumpy. You'll point at your milk, say "milk," but then scream and yell "NO!" when someone offers it to you. Then when we put it back, you yell and point at your milk again. I hope this phase passes soon!

You are starting to string words together. So far it's mostly been "bye bye ___." You say bye bye to lots of things, always with a coy little wave (you put your hand up right next to where your neck meets your shoulder).

When you're in a good mood, you are a loving, sweet little boy. During our hard moments, I always try to remind myself of this. Happy 19 months, sweetheart!

(Pictures to follow. I'll upload some over Thanksgiving break!)

A Lesson...

... in cognitive therapy.

I have my biannual pap appointment this morning. My initial thought when I woke up was, "Oh boy, someone gets to be all up in my lady business today!"

But then I reframed it to, "This is the very first step towards pursuing an FET sometime next year."

And that makes me feel a lot more ok about the idea of plopping my feet in some stirrups.

Congratulations, you are now a certified cognitive therapist! You're welcome.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween was a very fun day. It was Fall Break for my school district so I had the day off to hang out with Noah. The day didn't start off so fun for Noah. He had his 18 month appointment so he had to get vaccinations. The silver lining there was that he is done with shots until he's school age now. Woohoo! We also found out that he is at 23lbs, 4.5oz (16th %ile) and is 32.25" tall (46th %ile). According to the Ages and Stage Questionnaire, he's developing completely normally in all areas (motor, cognitive, speech/language). I wasn't really worried about that, but it's always nice to get confirmation.

The rest of the day was considerably more fun. After his nap we raked a big pile of leaves and played with Daddy after he got home from work.

Then it was time for carving pumpkins! Noah really wanted to help scoop. He also tried to eat the goop on his spoon, but mean old mommy wouldn't let him.

By the time we were done it was time to trick-or-treat. At first we had no intention of taking Noah out. I thought it would be awkward to walk around with an 18 month old and ask for candy from strangers. Obviously Noah isn't going to be consuming much of it. However, we have friends in the neighborhood with a 3 year old and they invited us to go along with them, and I am so glad they did! First of all, it wasn't awkward at all. I realized that the people who bother to buy candy are people who enjoy seeing cute little kids dressed up in cute costumes. The people who don't want to deal with that turn off their lights and hide. Everybody thought Noah was adorable (he was probably about the youngest trick-or-treater in our neighborhood). Second, it was the CUTEST THING EVER. Noah insisted on walking all by himself. We didn't have a proper basket for his candy so we improvised and used the bucket from his shape sorter. Well, he carried that thing in front of his belly with both hands and never set it down. At each house he took a piece of candy one at a time and carefully placed it in his bucket. I can't even describe how adorable he looked with his little bee antennae bouncing up and down as he plodded along with his bucket bumping his belly with each step. People oohed and aahed over him on the sidewalk, and a couple of times he grinned back and offered a sweet little "hi" in return. Every time I think back to that night I just smile. He totally melted my heart. And third, free candy! Ok, I might be in my 30s, but I still have a horrible sweet tooth. ;)

I'm going to remember this night always. So much fun!