Monday, November 19, 2012

18 months!

Dear Max,

I can't believe you're 18 months and about to be a big brother! You are finally walking, running, throwing, and dancing ALL the time. You are an absolute joy. (You're currently under my feet and under the computer desk chair hole collecting your bouncing balls to throw them all over the kitchen) I'm not sure you understand entirely about being a big brother soon, but when I ask you where the baby is you either point to my big belly or you point to your belly. Silly. You also carry around one of Clare's baby dolls and take care of "him." You rock him in the glider in your room, you feed him a toy bottle, and you push him in Clare's baby stroller. It's pretty sweet. You have several words: Mama, Dada, ball, foo ball (football), ba ball (basketball), dog, NO, hi, and bye. Compared to Clare, you are my snuggle baby. When I hear you are awake in the morning we usually spend 15-20 minutes in your room rocking in the glider. You put your head on my shoulder or my chest and we "talk" and sing together. Precious moments. You still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night and I'm way too tired (and pregnant) to put you back to sleep so you usually get to spend the rest of the night in our bed. You go right back to sleep and like to be really close to me!! Your favorite foods by far are fruits although you usually eat whatever we give you. You love dum-dum lolly pops (a luxury your sister NEVER enjoyed at 18 months) and request them throughout the day although you don't always get them. You have 11 teeth including all of your molars, but you're missing your teeth in between your fronts and the molars. Funny. You absolutely love playing with Clare. You love dancing with her and playing puppy with her. You sometimes like to take whatever she is playing with and run away with this look on your face that seems to say, "Did she see me!?" She has learned to distract you with another toy to get back what she was playing with. When we drop her off at pre-school you usually let out a little cry because you get sad that she's not going to play with you throughout the day. You're an excellent napper and usually sleep between 2-3 hours a day. When we go to the park you love to swing and look in the sky for airplanes. You like sliding, but only when Clare goes with you. You also like playing in the mulch, dirt or sand at the park. Trains and cars are probably your favorite toys. You like to line all the trains or cars up in a row and then move them along the table or floor. You also like building with blocks. Recently you learned to give kisses and sometimes, not always, you walk around to the whole family and give big kisses on the cheek while you say, "muah!" I love it. We really like to go to toddler story time on Wednesdays and you sing and dance with all the other kids. I finally took you for your first haircut (because Daddy finally allowed me) and you were so good. You sat very still and got a very big boy hair cut. It reminded me that you are now a toddler and no longer the little baby I wanted to hold all the time.

Max, time has gone by so fast with you. I'm actually so grateful it took you so long to walk because that meant that I could still hold you and make up for all that time your spent in the hospital and I couldn't hold you. You are so strong and have taught me more about life than I ever thought I could know. You are growing and learning and I almost forget that your precious heart still needs to be fixed. You make it so easy to forget.  I love you, Max.