Here's what I believe about toddlers, at least two year old toddlers. They don't know how to misbehave, or how to do things to annoy you on purpose. They only know there are things that will get your attention, and things that won't.
And if they're doing something to get your attention, it's because they need you and don't know how to say so.
It’s hard to pick a favorite part of my day, but it might be right after I pick up E at daycare. I grab him first, and then we go to pick up his brother. I open the door and tell E to go find his baby. And he runs around looking from baby to baby until he finds G. It’s seriously the cutest thing ever.
This part of the day is easy and fun. It’s before the dinner struggle. Before I have to fight to get them in PJs and deal with tears because they’re overtired but don’t want to go to bed.
I knew it was coming.. in my head you were 6 months, but 7 was coming soon. Still, when Tom mentioned this morning that we should have taken the month pictures this past weekend, I was floored. 7 months today? Already? HOW?
I guess that means I’m not counting down days anymore to when things will get easier, because we’re here. We’ve got a schedule and a rhythm and although we are tired and busy, it’s more fun than not. You’re happy more often than not. You’re sleeping at night, and even most days at daycare. Which, by the way - DAYCARE. You started this month and you’re rocking it. It was so easy I almost forgot you haven’t been there that long.
Twice Sunday there were moments where I wished I had my camera to capture what the kids were doing, but it was too far away and Tom didn’t have his either. At the time I get so torn between kicking myself for not having my camera, and just enjoying it as it happens. So as a compromise to myself, I’ll save the memory here so I won’t forget how awesome it was.
There was nothing special about Sunday, which is to say it was a typical weekend day for us. Lately we’ve both mentioned that we have so much fun staying at home and playing with the kids, that we don’t feel the need to go anywhere or do anything. The added bonus that they both get to stay on their nap schedule definitely helps. We’re usually awake and showered before E&G wake up, just because it makes the morning go smoother. Lately E has been into helping me “do cooking!” and so I got up early and measured out ingredients so we could make a zucchini casserole with minimal effort and maximum toddler happiness.
I’m not sure when it happened, but probably sometime during that newborn induced amnesia period. But suddenly I have a full blown kid who can do things, and my tiny toddler is gone!
E shocks me daily with all of the things he can do. He’s gone from kind of humming along when we sing to sort of making sounds similar to what we’re saying, to being able to sing “Twinkle Twinkle” all by himself. He doesn’t crawl up the stairs anymore, but walks while holding the wall (he’d hold the railing, but he’s still too short haha). He’ll bring us a bottle of sunscreen and ask us if we can go outside and play.
Small children don’t understand the concept of time really. There’s either now or not now. When I wake E up in the morning, he tells me he was napping. Waiting for a play date an hour away might as well be days (so I often don’t tell him until it’s almost time). And they certainly don’t understand what it means to be late somewhere.
All that to say, grown-ups like to rush small children, and small children don’t understand why.
Sure, why not?
Right now nap schedules pretty much keep us home from 9am until 3pm. Which severely limits what we’re able to do or where we’re able to go on the weekends. It’s a lot of staying home, playing in the yard, or splitting up kids and leaving the house with just one at a time.
Which is fine. That’s the season we’re in, and I rank sleep as more important than almost everything else, so I don’t mind staying home. But every once in a while we want to do something special, and it takes a bit of creativity. Which is what we did last weekend.
Finally!
They’re much shorter, and very late, but I managed to finally put together some video summaries of the last few months. The funny thing is the fact these are so late proves why they’re so important. I was looking at videos from January and I already don’t remember these days. G has become a completely different baby, and the struggles of those early days are slowly fading away.
Holy personality baby!
I think month 6 is when things click for me. You’ve gone from generic baby who sits there and we fulfill needs, to a tiny adorable person. You’re fun now, you smile and laugh and interact. You’ll grab at our faces and try to eat our nose. You’ll laugh if I pretend to bite your hand. You still don’t give laughs away very easily, and increasingly make us work harder to get them, but they’re so rewarding when we do. Your personality is coming out more and more every day, and I love it.
E had his 2 year check up recently, which meant it was time for another blood test. So this past weekend I took him to the hospital to get that done. The further into the hospital we got, the more nervous he got. His happy chatter stopped, he traded running for walking, and asked for a pacifier. Still, he did great. In the waiting room I asked him to pick a chair, and he climbed up in it himself and sat there waiting. When we were called back, he sat on my lap and silently watched everything going on.
I’m back at work full time again, which is an adjustment (again) but I’ve been trying to get back in the groove, and figure out everything that’s changed. One thing I noticed that’s changed, is the mural in Dewey Square. This may be one of my favorites! It’s so realistic in person and kind of surreal that it’s so large on the side of a building.
Thank you to everyone who helped us through our rough time with our kitty, and has been asking about her since. We took her to the vet again recently, to recheck her labs and see how she was doing. As always, baby G tagged along for the trip. When we got there, instead of bringing us back into an exam room, the vet tech said they’d just grab Maia and get her labs, and we could wait up front.
I will say, it was a pretty odd feeling. I was sitting next to a woman with her new puppy, and across from a guy and his cat. And I was sitting there… with my baby?
I don’t think we realized when we got pregnant with E, that we had timed things perfectly. Our parental leave ended in September, and that’s one of the easiest times to get a daycare placement, since all the kid’s “move up” to the next grade. June is not. It’s not as bad as February for example, but we still weren’t able to get a spot when we needed it. So we’ve been patching together coverage until G’s spot opens up.
Luckily we have some great family who have agreed to give up a week of their time to come hang out with us and take care of G while we work. Considering he’s almost 20 lbs, likes to pinch loose skin, and scream randomly in your face, it’s a pretty big commitment!