not a baby anymore (or, stop chasing the girls!)

I don't know what's up with my kid.

From what I can gather, his brain is doing all sorts of growing and developing things right now. And it's making him (and me) kinda crazy.

We realized a couple days ago that he'd learned a new word. When the hubs asked him if he could change his diaper, G ran from the room screaming, "No no no no!" He then stood in the doorway of his room, saying "Nnnnoh!" over and over while we giggled at the funny face he makes while he says it. Well, I giggled and Dave did the more manly equivalent.

Yesterday, on the way home from the mall, he babbled the entire way. "Oh, oh, oh, oh." He loves this new sound and practices it often. This new sound is terribly cute, despite the fact that it means he's being more defiant with us.

Plus, he makes this face when he says it. How can you not love that face? I wish he'd pucker up like that when he goes in for a kiss, instead of his usual open-mouthed slobber kiss.

He's trying out all sorts of sounds lately. Which is a huge deal for my kid who at almost 26 months has only a handful of words. The urge to talk seems to be disturbing his sleep, too. He's been waking in the middle of the night with a great big burst of babbling. It freaks us out, but we'll watch on the monitor as he finds his teddy and goes right back to sleep. He does the same thing in the middle of his naps. I'll hear a loud noise of something he just said, look at the monitor and find him fast asleep.

I feel like he's talking. But I'm the one who's the issue because I can't understand a word. I try repeating similar words back to him to see if anything clicks, but I always seem to miss the boat on what he's trying to communicate.

He's increasingly easy to talk to, though. He seems to understand a huge amount of what I say, when I make the effort with my vocabulary. He can follow complex instructions and often knows what I mean without me having to completely spell it out. (i.e. "Put this toy away, please" and he'll put it where it always goes.) You can carry on a conversation with him even though you'll have no idea what he's saying. And while he is increasingly combative and opinionated these days, he's also so so sweet and generous with affection.

Finally, on the subject of weird psychological developments with G - he's started noticing other kids! Before, he'd either ignore them or look at them like they were crazy. He's normally quite standoffish, and it's the worst thing ever if any other kid enters his bubble of personal space.

But this morning, we headed to the playground at the mall. We were alone for a while but then a father with his daughter showed up. She seemed about 4 - a head taller than G and a great talker. G immediately took notice of her and started following her around. If she was up on the slide, he wanted to be there. If she took off through the tunnel, he wanted to go through the tunnel too. When she stopped and smiled at him, he smiled back. I was like, who are you and where is my son who shouts at the kid who gets close? When he wanted to walk past her, he didn't yell, he just kinda scrunched up his body and passed by her.

It was getting close to time to go. I asked G if he wanted a snack and some water. Usually, he'll nod and be ready to go at that point. However, this time he gestured at the little girl, mumbled something, and fiercely shook his head before climbing up the slide to join her at the top. "Mom," my kid had basically just said to me. "There's a girl so we can't leave yet. Oh, and you're ruining my mojo by talking to me so stop it."

When did G turn 14 years old behind my back?

In truth, all of this is so amazing. My baby is definitely no longer a baby. Sometimes, I'm so amazed at how tall he is or he'll surprise me by laughing at a joke because that's what you do - you laugh.

The girls (or boys) can wait, though!