Growing Up

In all the hubbub about our first IUI, we neglected to mention that Theo is officially (as of a week ago) and one-and-a-half-year-old. Or, an 18-month old, depending on your personal preferences.

So what is the lovey up to? All of a sudden, he just knows oh-so much. He points and nods and gesticulates wildly when he's excited about or wants something. Ask him something, and he can point to it. People speak of there being a sign explosion or a language explosion. I wouldn't call it that exactly. It's just--an involvement explosion? I don't know. He's just different in a big-boy way. He also climbs up everything. Stools. Ladders. Couches. Chairs. Tables. Anything mountable he can find a way to scramble up.

On the words front, I don't think he still has officially met the "10 words by 18-months" quota, but some of his frequent words are mama, munny (for mommy), lala (elmo), ball, ba (for bottle, though he doesn't take one anymore, so it now means a sippy cup of milk), light (sort of), and I swear the other day he said "stair" as we were going upstairs, but who knows.

So, not 10. But, he points and nods and babbles away. I'm not really worried, but I'm no early childhood specialist like my darling wife, who analyzes everything Theo does. The car pile-ups down his parking garage ramp; the occasional lining up of cars. Does it mean anything? Of course not necessarily. But she's still watching him like a helicopter mom. One of the teachers at S.'s schools, after hearing Theo's list of "symptoms," like not being able to hold his spoon properly, said, "oh, yeah. you should get him tested." Sometimes S. needs to be kept in check.

And, sometimes it's a bad thing when teachers turn into parents.

And did I mention the boy self-weaned himself off the bottle? He did indeed. Just stopped being interested in it at night and now happily (er, sort of) will have his pajamas put on, his teeth brushed, a book read to, and then plop into bed.

That's the love. He never stops moving and never stops amazing us and testing us. I think we're already getting a preview of the fabled terrible twos, as he's taking to smacking us in the fact without warning. Yes. Any advice on that one? Maybe in another post.