So...he's a boy?

We met the neighbors the other night and they were not sure about you. You were dressed like a boy, but your hair is getting so long and you were wearing that...necklace. The neighbor lady hesitated after I introduced you, and said, "So he's a boy?"

Yes. Of course you are a boy. A very handsome little boy. You wear an amber teething necklace which is supposed to ease the pain of teething. And your hair is long for two reasons: 1) You are incapable of holding still, and 2) I can't bring myself to cut it yet.

Baby hair is enchanting. It floats. It is wispy and silky smooth. After a bath, the top if your hair stands up. After a nap, the back of your hair sticks out. It is precious. I don't want to cut your precious little hairs!

Daddy mentions the length of your hair every day, but he doesn't dare cut it either. Scissors? Around your whirling dervish head? Not a good idea.

But don't worry, my love. Even with your long hair and your girly necklace, you are the cutest thing on the planet. You can trust me when I say that, because I'm your mother. :)

I love you, dear boy!

Communication is key

Doodle, you are learning to communicate with us!

While you are not talking in sentences or even saying "cat", you do say "Mama" and you know what "Daddy" means. Sometimes when I ask you where Daddy is, you shake your head "no". Daddy is not here, you are saying. You also shake your head no when we try to feed you something icky, like green beans or carrots. If that doesn't deter us, you wave both hands back and forth, creating a complete barricade between the food and your mouth. Very clever, and very effective.

Oh, it doesn't stop there! When you want something, you've learned to babble sentences of "Eh! meh! meh! eh! eh! meh!" You flail your free arm toward what it is you want (usually whatever I am eating or drinking). I share with you nearly every time, only depriving you of coffee or peanut butter. We haven't introduced you to nuts yet, and I probably won't offer you coffee until you're 18. Both are delicious; look forward to it.

You enjoyed mashed potatoes tonight for the first time. I hadn't offered you mashed potatoes in months, and the last time I did it was truly just boiled, mashed potato. You hated it. This time it had some delicious butter, salt and half & half mixed in. You were a big fan of them! Daddy and I enjoyed them too. It's nice to be able to share our real foods with you.

We are going to plant a garden tomorrow. You can supervise from your office, OK? We will plant corn, carrots, potatoes, squash and maybe tomatoes. Green beans, too, if I can find my seed packet. I'm so excited!

I'm going to get some sleep before you wake me. It makes me tired, but I do look forward to seeing you in the night. It's really the only time I get to cuddle you now.

Xoxoxo

YOU WALKED!

Darling, you walked yesterday! You took three steps to Mommy, and later took four and five steps to get to Daddy! You step quickly and need to grab onto something after a few steps. We are so impressed, my dear.

Xoxoxo

Get it all out of here

One of your very favorite things is to empty your bookshelves (you've got the bottom two in my bookcase) of their toys and books. You do this several times a day. In fact the shelves are laid waste at this moment. Daddy calls it a "Samuel tornado". You call it your job. I think it's adorable. And so are you.

Things you think are scary

The vacuum.
Uncle Ken.
"Uncle" Gary.
Rex from Toy Story, when he is waved in your face.
Men with dark facial hair.
Big dogs.
Barking dogs.
Being left to play by yourself.
Your Cozy Coupe car.
Shoes on your feet.
Swings and the slide at the park.

You may also have a terrible fear of sleeping through the night. Still, I'd like you to try it.

Love,
Your Mom

At home with Momma

I pulled you onto my lap today and asked you to sit with me and watch the world go by. You lasted 9 seconds. You are just too busy to watch the world go by. You have toys to toss, books to browse and a laundry basket to fill. Take that, world. You are boring to my son.

You blew me away this week! Clearly I have underestimated how much you know and understand. I asked you "Where's Daddy?" on Thursday and you pointed to the door. That's where we go to watch Daddy come home from work. Thinking it could have been chance, I asked you "Where's Mommy?" You turned and patted me. Still uncertain, I gave you one more test. "Where's the kitty?" I asked you. You pointed straight at Howie. I was so impressed! Now I am telling you more about what's around you and I bet you are paying attention.

We are waiting for Daddy to come home from church right now. We stayed home today because we have had a terrible time sleeping (oddly enough, I couldn't sleep last night even when you WERE sleeping). That third tooth is still not through, and it is bothering you a lot. We are also hoping to avoid the terrible flu that's going around the congregation. We had a good Sabbath at home. You took the day of rest very literally and had a two-hour nap. You do live the life, my child.

I love you. :)

What's new

Some people had a very busy day today. Our neighbors in the brown house moved to Arizona today. They were very busy. We went for a walk and saw one man blowing leaves off his driveway. Another man was edging his lawn with a noisy weed whacker. (You were fascinated.) We saw one black kitty crossing the street, and one rescued Corgi named Barney who was walking his owner.

But we didn't have much to do today. We watched the neighbors packing up and Mommy went to talk to them twice. They were perfect neighbors... we could never even tell if they were home. They had an 8-year-old daughter who often traipsed across our lawn on her way home from school. It was adorable.

I wish they weren't leaving.

But they are. Life is always bringing in new things and taking away old things. You will learn that.

When we were on our walk today, the blossoming fruit trees smelled so good it could make a person want to live forever. I hope you caught a whiff. You talked excitedly for much of our walk...probably about how good it smelled outside.

Your third tooth is coming through, and will be your first tooth on the top part of your mouth. It bothers you more than the bottom two seemed to. Your second tooth came through just yesterday. You sure took your time getting teeth, but it's happening quickly now.

You tend to take your time with everything, it seems. Starting with your arrival, during which you traveled at a snail's pace and arrived 45 hours later. Then you didn't want to crawl for what seemed like an eternity. (When you decided to crawl, you developed a travel technique that makes you look somewhat like an injured soldier. You use one knee properly, but extend your other leg out straight.) And you're still not sleeping through the night, as we have already mentioned. Did you know that I was sleeping through the night by the time I was 6 weeks old? And your father was sleeping through the night by two or three months old? Perhaps you could reconsider your routine to be more like us. Just a suggestion.

You are sleeping right now. I think I will wake you up and give you a bit of your own medicine. Besides, if I don't wake you up now, you won't go to bed tonight until 10 p.m. Wouldn't that be exciting for you!

I adore you. xoxo

Things you think are funny

Yes, of course your fingers belong in my mouth.

Daddy.
Doggies.
Peek-a-boo.
Church.
Sticking your fingers in my mouth.
Your tummy.
My tummy.
My dancing.
Fake coughing.
Costco.
Getting tossed onto Mommy and Daddy's bed.

You think these things are very funny!

Your birthday

On your first birthday, it was business as usual...for the most part! Your grandma and grandpa from up north were here. Grandma and I took you shopping for strawberries, shortcake cups, chips and ice cream. You were good all day, as if you didn't even notice it was your birthday.

I spent a little time remembering the day I met you. You were so little and skinny! You weighed just more than 7 pounds. You didn't move much, and you slept a lot that day. I was amazed at you, enthralled by you and frightened of you. I didn't know much about babies, and I really didn't know you at all yet.

Over your first year, we learned so much about you. You are an early riser. You are very social. You are curious about everything you see and you use your feet as if they are hands. You think kitties are toys and dogs are hilarious. You love music and you've definitely got rhythm! You love to take your socks off and refuse to wear shoes. You think riding in the shopping cart is meant to be done sideways. You seem to know that we love you, and Daddy and I are your favorite people, ever. Your feelings get hurt when we just tell you "no", as if you are sad that you disappointed us.

You never disappoint us. You sometimes need correction, but you are learning very quickly.

I held you as you fell asleep on your first birthday, and I cried a little. I wish I hadn't been so afraid of you when you were small. I don't know how the year passed so quickly or why I can hardly remember it. But I am so thankful for you! I love you more than you can believe.

Happy birthday, sweet boy!

Your first tooth

You got your first tooth on February 21, and it is still coming in. It sticks up so much now, though, that we can see it when you grin. You like to run your tongue over it and clink it onto things, like your water cup. Your next tooth is slowly coming in next to it, and it's not giving you much trouble. But right now we can't find your Hyland's teething tablets, so we are just hoping that tooth behaves until we can find them. By the way, where did you put them?

You like to take small drinks of water from your sippy cup. You love cheese and cheese-flavored crackers. And you love to have yogurt with rice cereal for dinner. Forget about carrots, though. And green beans can take a hike. You are sure babies are not supposed to eat that.

You have never really slept through the night...not yet. As a result, your momma has not slept through the night in about 16 months. I'm still alive and mostly functional. It is sometimes hard to put sentences together, which is another reason why I've created this Mr. Fussingpants memory spot.

You love bathtime, but you do not like it when I rest the frog bath toys on the side of the tub. We rinse your hair with a blue plastic cup, now called the "controversial cup" because you fuss if we don't give it to you. Once you filled it up and dumped it outside the tub. You're so funny!

Honey, you are the best little thing ever. We can't get enough of you. xoxoxo

To my son

Because you turned one two weeks ago.

Because you are just minutes away from walking.

Because you do things every day that delight us.

Because I don't want to forget ANYTHING about my time with you.

I'm writing it down now.