19 months

Hi, my sugar plum fairy.

Tomorrow you will be 19 months old. At this point, I think we start to drop the months and call you "a year and a half." You are so amazing. A few months ago, I think I wrote about how it was great that you could talk so well because I was really getting to know your personality. I had no idea then how much we would learn about you as you got even more verbal! Back then it was all peanut butter vs. hummus. Now I know what you find funny, what you love, and what you want to do. You ask to go swimming, to go to ArtBeast, to go to the playground, to see Dylan... You told me that Daddy was funny, that Boompah is funny, that you like my teddy bear, and he's funny because he sticks his tongue out... You like to tell us that the rooms in the house are beautiful, that the park is beautiful, that Mommy is beautiful... Yesterday for the first time you said "I love music." You are very proud of yourself when you paint, and you tell us how beautiful your paintings are.

You also talk almost constantly. People comment on it all the time, even though you are often shy in public compared to at home. Yesterday a grocery clerk asked how you were, and you said "Fine, how are you?" You also speak clearly. There are a few words that sound a little funny, though, and I thought I'd record them here. For example, I think when you hear "Hip hip hooray," you think the "P" is attached to "Hooray," so when you're excited, you say "Pooray!" You also love to ask for ArtBeast, but you call it Arse Beat, which makes your daddy and me laugh.

Today at ArtBeast, you were in the play room and another dad and 21 month old boy were there. For about five minutes, you went on like this: "Zadie standing! Zadie upside-down. I'm walking. I'm bouncing. Boom on the butt. I'm okay. I'm crawling." Finally, the other dad asked me how old you were, and said you were a good talker. For five more minutes, you said "Micky Mouse, Donald Duck, high, high, high... Elmo kisses the baby every day. I'm bouncing. I'm booming. Mama's a woman." Then the dad looked at his kid, who had been silent the whole time, and said "Jordan, do you have anything to say?" He didn't.

You eat like a mighty beast. Some days it seems like you never stop eating, from breakfast, to snacks, to lunch, to snacks, to dinner... The other day Grandma made you two scrambled eggs with cheese, then left the room for a minute. When she came back, she asked Boompah "What happened to her eggs?" What happened was you had eaten them!

You are not a big fan of other kids sometimes, but you are usually kind to them. For example, when you are alone on the playground, if another kid approaches you'll say "No! I don't! I don't! No touch Zadie!" I'll assure you that no one will touch you if you don't want them to, and then you'll often go back to playing. Yesterday you rode the airplane with another little boy, and afterwards you said "We shared, we shared!"

You helped me decorate Halloween cookies today. That is absolutely one of the things I had most looked forward to about having a child, and I have to say, I loved it as much as I thought I would. Being there in the kitchen together, working together on a product, making you feel like you are helping (which you love), and then sampling our cookies and giving them to other people... it was just a very nice experience. We'll have to do more of it.

You still love nursing. You ask (loudly) for "booby time!" which sometimes gets shortened to "boo-time!" I am still thinking that we'll stop when you're ready, but you aren't really showing signs of being ready yet. It will be bittersweet when we stop. It's been nice to have our close cuddle-time several times a day, especially before bed. I can't imagine you will consent to get cuddled for half an hour at a time after you stop nursing.

That's about all for now. I could go on and on about you, and sometimes I do.

I love you tremendously,
Mom