21 months, or, where's my baby??

Dear G,

You are 21 months old, as of Sunday. How crazy is that?

You're just so much fun to be around these days. You laugh easily and often. You love to read, and now one of your favorite games is to go to your room, pick out a book, bring it to us on the couch, read the book, then head back to your room to get another one. You also love to sit on our laps to read. I'm more than a little smug that I'm your favorite reading partner, but you usually turn to Daddy when you get hurt, so I take what I can get!

You finally started doing a little communicating this month, and no, I don't mean with words. You learned to shake your head "no" and nod your head "yes," and now you use them often, letting us know how you feel about something or answering our questions. I swear, those simple gestures have made somethings, especially mealtimes, so much easier. You also learned the sign for "diaper," so that makes - what? - four signs? More, all done, milk, and diaper.

You also learned some more body parts: back, teeth, and penis. Yes, you learned where your penis is, but you kept pointing at it in the bath and asking, so I told you. This is definitely way more weird for me than it is you, but your mama doesn't want to be a prude so I'll do my best to be open and straight-forward about these things.

Man, I'm gonna embarrass you so much when you're older.

This month, we've dealt with you testing your climbing skills. You're figured out how to climb on the kitchen chairs but not how to get down. I'm so afraid you're going to break something! At least you call for help once you can't get back down. You can also climb up in the large recliner in your room, and make mama have a heart attack with that.

You cut the rest of your incisors this month. That means we are all done with teething until those second year molars start coming in. I hope those wait at least a few months. You had a time with the incisors, and I think we could also use a break. I'm a little freaked out by your mouth full of teeth, but I love your toothy grin whenever you flash it. You've relaxed a little about getting your teeth brushed and you're actually opening your mouth again, but you still jerk that head around all over the place. Seriously, dude, what's with that?

We've got an appointment with Early Intervention this Friday to talk about your lack of speech. You still only say "moo" and it's really starting to break my heart. I'm very hopeful that you'll qualify. I know you want to communicate because you try every other way to do so, but you just don't want to form any syllables. Who knows what the matter is. I hope we can get you the help you need - whatever mama is doing isn't working!

Love you, baby G. I know we still call you a baby, but you ought to quickly learn the old cliche. You'll always be my baby. Thanks for being such a trooper the past couple of weeks as we've dealt with the loss of your little brother or sister. Your kisses, hugs, and ready smiles are exactly what I need right now.

Love,
~Mama