Ellis,
You are 18 months old this month and according to your Yaya you’re acting like you’re two. Actually you’ve been acting 2 since your first birthday. It’s one of the ways you are like me and one of the things that scares me about your teenage years.
What can I say, you are incredible.
Every day is a roller coaster of amazing highs and exasperated lows. The more you are able to communicate, the more fun we have playing together. You can speak in fragments and every now and then you get a full sentence out.
A couple of weekends ago we spent the day at Mount Baker which is about an hour and a half from where we live. We spent the entire day in the car with the exception of a few sight seeing stops here and there. You were incredibly patient in part because we kept telling you we were looking for bears on the winding mountain roads. You kept saying "bear?" "right there, bear?" and we would say "No, I don’t see one, do you?". "No," you’d say and we’d start the whole thing over again. Now your favorite thing to say is "right there." You say this any chance you get.
You are also obsessed with caterpillars ever since you and your dad found a centipede on the driveway the other day. If ever you are dawdling behind us all we have to say is, Ellis do you see any caterpillars over here? And you’ll come running, bend over until your face is an inch away from the ground and say, right there?
Every morning when you wake up you climb into our bed drink a warm cup of milk and snuggle with us while we watch your shows. (Thank God for Sprout) Whenever you fully wake up you’ll sit up and say GO EAT! And our day will begin. Those are the sweetest moments I have ever experienced.
You have 11 teeth and are working on your 12th. You like testing the new back teeth out by shoving as much food as you can fit into your mouth at once and scaring the shit out of your parents. Last weekend you swallowed a piece of a toy that slipped through our paranoia radar and choked for several minutes. Your dad held you upside down and whacked your back several times but that only allowed you to get a couple of gasps in before you choked again. Eventually your gag reflex kicked in and you projectile vomited your cheerios and the toy piece all down my front and across the room. It was beyond scary and when it was over I felt like I had narrowly escaped the lowest depth of hell. That’s what my life would be without you in it. Unimaginable.
Three big developments have happened this month. One is that you have a babysitter who is not related to you. Twice a week she comes over the play with you for a few hours while I get some work done. I had been very apprehensive about how you would handle this but you have been more than fine. At the end of the day when I come up the stairs to say hi you barely even notice. You even get upset when she leaves. The second is that you now sleep in a toddler bed. Our extremely generous neighbors gave it to us and for you it was love at first sight. I wasn’t at all sure that either of us were ready for you to move into it. Then I saw your reaction to it and realized just how wrong I had been. In fact tonight you asked to go to bed an hour early just so you could lay in it. The third is that you’ve given up your paci except when you sleep. This is a huge deal for a son of mine because I was so attached to mine that I had it until I was 4. You’re doing so well with all of these changes I can hardly even complain about the whining.
The constant incessant whining at me. What is it with you repeating what you want without any pause between the words in that really high pitched whine? Have I ever deprived you of something you need? Really, cut that out.
Other developments: you can sit in a big person chair with a booster seat as long as the chair has handles to keep you from falling to either side (more of a fear on my part than an inability on yours). you can climb the stairs on a playground and slide all by yourself. you can sing row row row your boat, ABC’s*, and twinkle twinkle little star. ever since we got back from visiting your Paw Paw anytime you see a large body of water you call it a pool and run straight to it. when you can’t find something you raise your hands up and turn your head asking "where go?" You made up your own nickname for me (mama honey bear) which is so adorable when you say it.
Last night we took you to see a movie and you weren’t ready to sit still. So for the first time we tried to reason with you, and you know what? It totally worked. For about 10 minutes. Which is longer than I ever thought would be possible at 18 months. I know I’ve said this before but it’s true, life with you just gets better and better. I have been so blessed to share this first year and a half with you, thank you for making my dream of being a mom so much better that I ever could have imagined.
I love you, Mama Honey Bear
*My sister in law Ida pointed me to starfall.com and Ellis LOVES the abc’s section
