“What are you doing? He’s asleep!” your daddy said after
poking his head in your darkened nursery and seeing me cradling you under a
blanket in the rocking chair.
“I’m enjoying this cuddling because this is his last day as
a baby!” I said, nearly choking on my emotion, as your dad just laughed at me
and left us alone.
You graduated from the Infant Room at daycare on Friday and
today there is a ceremony in the morning where they take the infant graduates
to the big boy Toddler Room on the other side of the building. I told myself I
wouldn’t cry, but when I dropped you off in the Infant Room this morning for
the last time, and your caregiver for the past year, Fran, gave me a big hug, I
couldn't stop my eyes from welling up.
My baby is growing up.
You’re 16 months old now, and are definitely a toddler. You
are constantly on the move – with the goal most of the time being to climb one
of the two sets of staircases. One has a baby gate up to deter you and the
other has two cardboard boxes blocking it off, which you have somehow figured
out how to unblock on several occasions and have given me that sly little grin
from six steps up – you know, the one that says “I know I’m not supposed to be
doing this, but HERE I AM DOING IT ANYWAY!” You also LOVE it when people chase
you – I can get you to laugh so hard and so loudly if I just crouch down, tell
you “I’m gonna get you,” and start chasing you around the island in the kitchen
or around the armchair in the living room. You don’t run yet but you can walk
rather briskly during this game!
I never have to worry about where you are because you talk
up a storm. You say “mama” “dada” and “buh-bye” like a champ, though when you
get excited, you let out a stream of “DADA-DADA-DADA-DADAs!) which I hear all
the time when I pick you up after work, which cracks up your caregivers because
I’m the one who usually picks you up – your MAMA. And you say and wave
“buh-bye” to everyone all the time, even if they’re not leaving, or even if
they’re on the phone and can’t see you waving.
You’re always talking to yourself when you’re playing, or
look up at me often to tell me something. I can’t help but feel bad sometimes
that I have no idea what you’re saying unless you’re pointing out the dog
(“daw!”), your books (“buh!”) asking for some sort of liquid (all of which you
refer to as ‘juice’ - “jis”), or requesting a banana for breakfast (“baba”).
It’s remarkable to me that you’re just 16 months old, and
yet you can understand me just fine. I asked you to give a piece of paper to
your dad the other day and you proudly walked over and gave it to him then came
back to me and grabbed another piece and did it again (and again and again
until he had a pile of junk mail by his side). You get your shoes when I ask
you to and respond with emphatic nodding every time I ask you if you want some
juice, breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner.
Yes, one of your favorite activities is eating. You want to
eat constantly. You want to eat when you’re done eating. It’s remarkable that
your tiny tummy can hold all that food – although it does get remarkably
distended when mealtime is over! But if I have to take a minute to prepare
food, warm up food (heaven forbid I have to put something in the microwave and
out of your sight!), or let warmed food cool down, I know that I will be on the
receiving end of nonstop crying, wailing, and flailing around in your highchair
until the food is on your tray. You need to work on your patience, which I’m
constantly reminding you to do (though not really expecting that it will happen!).
When you were really little I taught you sign language for
two actions – “more” and “all done”. (Full disclosure that I taught you “more”
incorrectly in that I though it was when you essentially point at your palm.
But it still serves the same purpose.) I
thought this would be a good way for you to tell me when you wanted more of
something and when you were full. Unfortunately, all it does is give you a way
to tell me when you really like something, because you emphatically point at
your palm over and over again – like when I gave you vanilla ice cream for the
first time last night. You only sign “all done” when I tell you that you’re all
done and I take the food away.
Your other favorite things are all things paper-related.
We’re talking toilet paper (on or off the toilet-paper holder, or as I call it,
the wall-mounted entertainment system), paper towels, tissues, and napkins. You
LOVE these things and carry them around the house all the time like a safety
blanket. I have no idea why you love them so much; only that you scream if I
have to take them from you to put you in the bathtub for example. I even found
a wad of toilet paper in your toy box last night – put there by you because
that’s where your “toys” go!
It’s also amazing to me how much you are learning on a daily
basis and how easily you pick up new skills. We were all watching Michigan play
in the NCAA tournament the other day, and your daddy did the motion for the
referee signal “and one!” where a player gets fouled while they’re making a
basket and get an additional free throw. You smiled and imitated him and now do
the signal every time one of us says “Colin – AND ONE!”
You also love being a big boy, which is why it should be
easier for me that you’re growing up. You love “helping” in the kitchen and
will whine at my feet in front of the stove because you want to be the one
stirring the stir-fry or flipping the burgers. I started bringing the stepstool
into the kitchen so you can climb up and see what I’m doing, and all you want
to do is be on that top step because you grin so proudly when I tell you that
you’re “so big! (and protest so loudly if I pick you up and set you down!).
And you love your mama and your dada. You give kisses
freely, hugs even more often, and there are times where you’ll just look up at
me and pause before giving me your full 12-tooth smile.
You may be growing up, but I will still call you my baby
mostly because you’ll always be my baby.
Love,
Mama
