cal’s eval

like everything else, cal is doing this talking thing in his own sweet time. like everything else, he is cutting things rather close to the wire with his “i’ll do it when i’m damn good and ready” attitude. so for fun/real interest, auntie m gave calum a speech evaluation over christmas. considering there was a small, but significant, number of questions/activities that he refused to answer/participate in, the fact that he was evaluated at being right smack in the middle of where a 20 month old should be is pretty excellent (he had just turned 21 months old two days before).

still. it’s a bit frustrating. auntie m suggested we do some baby sign with him, as he is only going to get bigger and smarter and want to talk more soon, and sign language would be an excellent way to help forestall any tantrums resulting from his inability to communicate. well, you would think we were asking him to share his chocolate or something. but no. he stubbornly refused to do any of the signs we asked. he still refuses. he refused to make any of the first syllables/sounds of words that we asked. he still refuses. what a punk!

the thing that is so crazy-making is that we have no idea at all how much he really knows — although it’s clear he understands just about everything. when megan was trying to see if he knew a handful of names for clothes, he completely ignored us for quite some time. i said, “well, i know he knows shoes, and probably socks, but maybe he doesn’t know pants or shirt yet.” a few minutes later he impatiently grabbed a pair of pants and then a shirt and handed them to her at her request. oh.

i have a baby signs dvd on reserve at the library, so perhaps he will be interested in learning signs made my babies on the coveted tv. yes of course i know that *theoretically* i could teach him the signs myself, but i feel like i have already explained how he quite frankly is not remotely interested in learning anything that i am teaching thankyouverymuch.

i think he just started saying ba(ll) yesterday. i was putting his gear on to go out and play in the snow (!) and he wanted to pick up a ping pong ball but couldn’t with his mittens on. ba! he said. sorry, i said. we are going outside. he tugged on his mittens. ba! he insisted. ba, ba, BA! and then he pulled his mitten all the way off and picked up the ball.

sigh.

what am i going to do with this guy?

21 months

 

dear baby bear,

you now hate brushing your teeth. or rather, you now figured out that mama always needs to take a turn every time and i think THAT is the part you really hate. you still love eating off all the toothpaste and you love walking around chewing on the bristles. your gums have been bleeding this month and i am no longer sure if you have teeth breaking through or if there is something else going on. i hope it’s just the former, poor baby.

sunshine pancakes are delicious!

you’re more stubborn about feeding yourself these days. honestly this is fine by me, although, of course, it makes things considerably messier. still, you are quite a big eater when you are in the mood, and there really is nothing cuter or more satisfying than watching you eat.

can i open this package?

i keep forgetting to post this — but another super adorable thing you do is that you gasp (!) when you are surprised. it seems like such an older person thing to do, and it makes me laugh every time.

holiday tree!

although you are still not the steadiest guy on the block walking-wise, you still love to do  physical things. you still always want to play basketball or to put all the soccer balls into the net and just recently you have become rather bitter about the fact that gus gets to take swim lessons but you do not. there was a swim class for wee babes your age starting on saturdays, but our weekend plans didn’t quite work out and so you haven’t gotten a turn in the water yet after all. it’s a nice change from this summer, though, when you were not particularly pleased to be in the swimming pool, despite the fact that you loved (and still love) taking baths.

solstice swag!

you have about 25 (!) words! although we’d love you to have 50 already (you should have about 50 by about 2), you are right at about 20 months, vocabwise, which is not too shabby at all. a little over half of them are signs and they are pretty cute. some of our favorite things that you say are  ”EYAYYAY!” and  ”BWOWWOW!” for when you are happy and/or excited about things. you even invented a word for grandma when we visited, which was cute, but also annoying. so you can obviously make up new words when you WANT to, you stubborn little peanut. you also seem to be refusing to pick up any more signs, apparently simply because we want you to. i am getting a baby sign dvd for you to watch to see if the extremely coveted tv can motivate you. considering that you already make yourself pretty well understood with the series or verbal and manual words you’ve already come up with, i am not too surprised that you are not necessarily very interested in anything new we have been trying to teach you.

chocolate!!!

your second set of winter holidays was quite fun. you enjoyed opening presents, but you didn’t mind leaving them wrapped either. and you seemed to prefer to play with things once they were opened and didn’t feel the need to keep unwrapping. woe unto he who brought an amazon box into the house without letting you peek inside, however. for some reason brown cardboard boxes are where it’s at in your mind for the good times. you got a lot of lovely gifts and just really were sweet and wonderful with all the guests and traveling and visiting.

ornament fund manager

the only thing missing from this last month of 2011 was snow! i thought we might get to play in some winter weather before the new year came, but it does not seem to be. so far this  winter has been rather mild, and i have to admit that i don’t have any complaints about that!

21 months

happy holidays and happy new year, little one!

love,

mama

happy new year!

run run rudolph

i don’t know which was more awesome: watching the original performance, or watching the kids crack up watching the video of themselves after.

20 months

dear (honey) bear,

what a busy bear you have been! so much to see, so much to do, always.

you’ve decided you like to eat apples this month — you want to bite your own bites out of whole apples. or eat slices with gus in the car. or use apples to scoop up peanut butter. it’s a good sign — all those nasty incisors coming in have finally broken through your gums, so your poor little mouth must be feeling a little better. i feel like i am just getting used to you having teeth, and now you’re nearly finished with all the big ones — only your 2 yr molars left (well, for now, anyway).

uncle birdlegs was trying to get HIS shoes on and you backed right up into his lap and handed him your shoes, all, put these shoes on ME, uncle!

you’ve really gotten into gus’ stuffed cats. gus loves bella cat and silver cat. you love ALL the cats. as is, thank you for trading me teeny tiny cat for bella cat big brother. also, please give bella cat back now. and silver cat and fluffy cat and golden cat now too please. just kidding. for some reason, no one ever wants fluffy cat. this drives gus crazy, but mama and papa think it’s very cute.

you’re into trains and planes all of a sudden. you are constantly searching the sky for planes or are dragging me over to the fence over the orange line to watch the trains go by. you came to this a little later than gus did (and he was late to it compared to his buddies), so for a time i wondered if you were going to escape this toddler bug. not so. i had forgotten how much fun it is to watch the trains, though, and the look of delight on your face each time is, of course, quite priceless.

we got our first snow of the season this month. you were quite intrigued by all that crazy white stuff.

you’re walking less drunkenly and with more confidence, although you still often prefer to hold a hand or two. you’re quite the climber when you have a mind. one afternoon i wasn’t watching you very closely — you were playing around a chain ladder so i wasn’t paying too much attention. i happened to look up, though, and you were 3/4 the way up! oh! i didn’t know you could DO that! you’re also quite bold about going down very steep slides. you are such a brave little stinker!

you seem to be more into babbling than you were a few weeks ago, as if you have suddenly decided that being noisy is fun after all. you’ve started saying amamama for me and abababa for papa, although like gus, you often call papa amama too. you use the sign for water more often, and have become quite versatile with the “more” sign, using it as a general action verb. or, like the other night, to mean “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT EATING THAT PECAN PIE WITHOUT ME ABABA!” you also have a way with pointing. you use it to say “hey you! i see you! good morning” or “sit right here and play with me” and, of course, “i want that!” it will be great when you start using more words, but watching you sign to get your point across is so very cute, and i will miss it for sure.

how are you big enough to wear these pj’s already??

you love playing with your big brother — light sabers, blocks, wrestling. you love to play zombie tag with us (everyone stumbles around the backyard mumbling “brains! brains” and then tackles each other). since you can growl and tackle, you feel very proud to be able to fully participate. you’re particularly interested in your brother’s playmobil toys. they are perhaps your very favorite thing to play with at the moment, when you are not painting with dot paints or glitter glue or drawing with chalk, that is.

you’re quite the helpful little bear. you enjoy putting dishes in the dishwasher (and you get quite miffed if someone tries to put a plate away without offering you the task first!), taking off your own shoes and putting them in the closet, collecting garbage at the playground and throwing it away. you’ll help put toys away, help put clothes away, help brush your teeth, and help brush my hair. it’s so very adorable that your papa and i can hardly stand it.

you point to the cabinet, then you sign “more” (one finger tapping into the open palm of the other hand). then you point to yourself if i’m STILL not getting the fact that you WANT MOAR VEGGIE BOOTIE DAMNIT 

you also are quite the lover. if gus gets hurt, you rush over to kiss him. if you hit once of us and we say “ouch!” or “no hit!” you immediately stop hitting and use gentle hands and give the victim a kiss. it doesn’t stop you from hitting in the first place, but it’s pretty sweet. i’m curious to see how this pans out in a few more years, but for now it’s quite a lovely little habit you have, little one.

oh fella! a warm halloween and a warm thanksgiving this month! and more holidays to come! we are so looking forward to spending the rest of your second holiday season with you!

love,

mama

first things first

we have a few photos from thanksgiving that i hope to load some time this weekend, but first FINALLY here is calum’s 1st birthday movie! hurrah!

5th annual thanksgivingxtravaganza!

tomorrow we host thanksgiving at our house for the 5th year in a row in boston! it’s crazy to think we have been here  for 5 thanksgivings already, and crazy to think how we’ve had a tradition of eating with the same friends from the start! the thing that makes us feel the most blessed about living in boston is the folks we’ve met here over the years, the folks who’ve made us feel the most like family.

we’re going to have a vegetarian roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, acorn squash, fresh bread, sweet potatoes, apple pie, pumpkin roll, ice cream, wine, pumpkin beer, and even fancy sparkling juice. we’re going to have new friends and old friends and big kids and little kids and even a  kid-to-be (well, unless THAT little one decides to show up tonight!).

it’s all so very exciting! i’ll try to post some photos later this holiday weekend, but for now, a little trip down memory lane, to our past thanksgivings here in boston:

2007:

baby gus and baby ezra

gus  and annie and ivan

2008:

gus and ezra and simi

the food!

2009:

thanksgiving cupcakes

uncle adam

2010:

pumpkin rollers

baby’s 1st thanksgiving

19 months

Dearest little one,

Bigger and bigger you are! Still walking like a sailor who’s been drunk, riding a horse on the back of a ship in the middle of a storm for a week, but getting sturdier and sturdier on your feet. You love swinging on the swings, sliding on the slides, and running around on the playground (well, you don’t really run all that much yet, but you do like to get around). It’s such a pleasure seeing you checking out the world around you.

fall foliage

you seem to have more of a sweet tooth than your brother and papa, you like fruit in general (raisins, dried blueberries, apples, bananas), and you LOVE sweets and candies. you love m&m’s like your big brother, lollipops, and you can eat an entire cupcake by yourself (while gus still only just eats the icing).

nap time

you’ve started to form a tiny little bit of attachment to certain toys. there’s this school bus that we got for gus when he was 2 or so that you really love. you spent a whole day carrying it around with you, which was  very cute. and although you haven’t paid it that much mind since, if someone else is over and picks it up, you get a little antsy about it. your brother never had any major attachments to any toys (except his cats, and then only at bedtime, some times), so even this day long love affair was new and exciting for your boring old parents.

toothbrusher

you’re starting to enter that “do it myself” age. you flap your hand and  crank if someone tries to help you do something you feel you can do just fine thank you very  much. like when nana tried to show you how to use her camera, you were QUITE annoyed with her attempts to show you how to use the buttons. or when you walk down the stairs using the railing, which by the way, is too high for you so you use the hooks that attach it to the wall and ohmygod it gives me a heart attack every time you swing from one to the next. you still like to hold hands when we walk places, though, and so i appreciate that you still let us pretend that you need us for SOMETHING anymore.

snack eater

you still don’t have many words, but you’ve picked up a few more signs. you say more much more frequently, and will sign for water to confirm, yes, idiot, i’m pretty sure i just made it clear i want a drink of water but i’ll play your stupid hand game if it makes you happy.

plane lover

you have a total mullet. it’s ridiculous/adorable. of course your papa is freaking out and wants me to cut your hair, but i just can’t do it yet! you have so little! perhaps when you are two you can look a little less crazy-headed.

with buddy benny

what a happy month, sweet one.

love,

mama

happy halloween!

darth sidious takes the bus just like you

what’s it to you, rebel scum?

rhinocercal loves you

darth sidious is not going to share his pretzels with you

rhinocercal is groovin to the music too hard not to be fuzzy

treats or the dark side;  rhinocercal  loves you either way

18 months

dear lover,

happy 19 months! aaah hahahahaha!!! sorry, this is the latest i have ever been, eh? sigh. i’m so sorry baby! what a crazy life we have these days.

you LOVE to read and are always bringing us books to read to you

but a good crazy. look at you: WALKING! you’ve been working and working and working on this business for the past three months, but this month you finally nailed it. you still crawl quite a bit, but every day you walk more and more, and it’s so very cute. sometimes when i am cooking, you come marching into the kitchen, wave your arms around while you cruise the perimeter and march right back out again, the biggest, proudest grin ever on your face. and you should be proud, my little friend, it’s quite an accomplishment you’ve achieved after all your hard work.

you love to hold a finger while we walk together

you’ve developed some other less appealing skills: your arm and aim have improved so much that you actually dinged our car door with a rock that you threw from the porch one afternoon. you managed to peg a lady mallard duck at the pond not once but FOUR times while we were skipping stones one day (why the duck never moved is beyond me). you enjoy taking all the books off the bookshelf at the top of the stairs and throw them all down the stairwell (your big brother LOVES when you play this game too. he knows better not to do it himself, so instead he just points out which ones you should throw). you’ve also started filling the toilet up with any and all available toys when anyone is foolish enough to leave it open. oh we definitely have a busy toddler in the house!

apple picking!

you’ve finally started to nap regularly again — after a 6 month descent into sleep craziness. and now that you are walking, you’re sleeping better at night too. although i am sure the 4 (!) molars and 4 (!) canines you grew this month had a hand in your sleep misery as well. in any event, it’s very nice to have you resting more easily these days.

what do you mean i’m too little for ev’s tricycle?

you’ve started doing some silly word games — you do this funny sound with your tongue.. it’s something like “beetle-beetle-beetle”. and even though that sound is not right, if we say beetle-beetle-beetle to you, you’ll delightedly make your sound back. your grandpa taught you to say uh-oh (you say “ah-ooh”), which you also love to say, although you actually don’t know that it means “uh-oh”. you are picking up more signs “hot”, “more”, “all done”, and “up.” you’ll make the sign for water if i show it to you first — but i think you just do it because you’re annoyed with me and just want me to give you a drink, not necessarily because you know what it means.

penguin peepers

you love to eat yogurt, and still enjoy trying new foods — when your teeth aren’t coming in (and then you just like to nurse and nurse and nurse!). and you’ve finally gotten fat — 3rd percentile for weight you little chubster! that puts you at 20 lbs 4 oz and 30 3/4 inches. you are even wearing 18 month clothes — not too shabby, little 18 month old.

you LOVE basketball

i sure do love you, little fellow! happy (belated!) year and a half!

xoxo,

mama