Dear Big Baby,
This month held a lot to be grateful for, and as it always does right after Halloween, time felt like it sped up. We've been bouncing all around between out of town trips for your dad, a new job for me, and a new longer school day schedule for your brother. But you and I have learned ways to keep life simple and relaxed at home. You have a new room setup with some new painted shelves that you helped fill yourself. You will pick a book to read in my lap on your big kid bed and sometimes you like to do this all morning until nap. It's so simple really to be a one year old. My job is to help keep it simple.
You love peaches and waffles. You will ask for both by name. "Wadfles"is a pretty cute word the way you say it. You will gobble a whole peach by carefully skewering each cut piece with a fork. You are pretty patient with the slippery peach. You don't always want to eat what we are having, so the chugging spoon on the way to the train depot seems to work. Aiden's commentary is so funny too, you laugh as you wait for your bite to arrive. Aiden will say, "Clear the track... on the way to destination: KC's tummy!"
You have a habit of calling all drinks "bubbles" like you're getting ready to celebrate with some bubbly champagne. It sometimes gets us some strange looks from a waitress when you are reaching towards our water repeating "bubbles pease!" In the bubble bath asking for a cup of "wawa bubbles" that you like to pour over and over again. Bath bubbles are so much fun when they give you a Santa beard and we ask you what Santa says. Your little tummy jiggles as you say "ho, ho, ho!"
You like to ask to help. "Baby help?" - you will say over and over until someone understands your little voice. Your favorite thing to help with is the dust buster, and the toy vacuum at your friend's house blows your mind every time. You're a good boy putting your clothes in the laundry on your own. I'll leave the spoons for you to help empty the dishwasher. Spoons were one of your favorite toys this month.
When you weren't being a calm guy playing with spoons (how quaint) you were busy doing what your brother called "tumbleweeding" into his farm set up. This essentially equates to running or rolling towards it with your arms flailing... while giggling usually because tumbleweeds are devilish. Your singing devil side came along to your brother's choir practice while your dad was out of town. You essentially had a precise radar directing you to wander towards all the practice rooms which are spread out throughout the huge building. Your face would light up while you tried to bellow and join in the song. We ended up having a party in the car for the rest of the practice time.
While your dad was out of town you explained that he was in the choo choo if anyone asked or brought him up. I put you on the phone with him one night and from your "hi daddy" your dad thought your big boy voice was actually your brother. You ask to call your PopPop and Gran Gran on the Facetime whenever you get your mitts on my phone. While it's dialing you say "Day, dare?" which translates to "Are they there?"
You can be somewhat demanding for things, like after a helicopter flies over head or we go through a tunnel, you ask us to make it happen again. You say "more, pease!" One time your brother asked you, "You say no to everything right Keaton?" and you answered "Yep!" It does seem like you understand what we are asking or sometimes no is just more fun. If you see someone get a kiss you want to make sure that everyone gets one too. If I give you a kiss, you tell me to give one to daddy too. It's a sweet way to share.
You also make sure that everyone gets a mint when they are out. You might be wondering why a one year old knows about mints? Well, you love them. I'm not sure how you managed to get a mint in the first place, but you will beg for a little piece of mint (usually a full mint we've bashed into tiny pieces). You call mints "spicy" and you ask for more "spicies" especially when we get into the car. I think we went through almost a whole tin of Altoids on the Thanksgiving drive to Ohio.
You have a hankering for your brother's toys. You will pick up Woody and Buzz (which sounds like Wooky and Uzz when you say it) and carry them everywhere. Most recently putting them in the Christmas tree or giving them a ride down your slide. One of the toys you chose to put in your room was a rolling ball tunnel, which you like to smoosh the ball into the top repeating "push!" You think any fabric "bankets" are fun to wrap yourself in, which leads you to try to swipe fabric I'm using for a project for your new baby cousin coming right around when you turn two.
"I do!" is becoming more and more frequent. You like holding my hand and taking your time walking down the big steps to the car and even pushing the button on the car remote to open your door. You were a big boy chilling at the soccer field for your brother's tournament. The freedom we give you allows you to learn to stay close to us and still be independent. This means that I can't even remember the last time we used the stroller.
When we visit other people's houses you become one of the big kids. You do fit right in on play dates chilling on the trampoline and riding in style with music from NPR blaring in the electric kid car. You even grooved a bit past bedtime to the DJ at the big kid halloween party. At your brother's fifth birthday bash, we couldn't quite fool you into thinking that the play room was the real action spot while Aiden and his friends were in the gym. You are getting used to our friend's dogs and kitty cats, but you still have a habit of yelping at them and making both you and the animal friend a little skittish. You don't quite understand why kitties usually run from you and you really like trying to chase them down.
You were excited to wear the A superhero tshirt before and after Aiden's party. You have a habit of chanting milkman, "mik maaan!" with flying arms outstretched every time you heard your brother mention a superhero. You were excited to wear a new hand me down train shirt. You went to the grocery with your coat covering it, and you would shout train, "tain!" pulling your coat open to reveal your choo choo shirt to show strangers like you are superman.
You think it's funny to tell us that you are two years old, instead of just one. You say ooo, then laugh, then hold up one finger. I think it's because your brothers thinks it's so funny. You are pretty excited if you can get him to laugh. You love to pretend to count, "un.. ooo...ooo...ive...ive...more ooo... eight!" You can almost say the number 8 clear as day but the rest lose a consonant and vowel here and there.
Your love of stickers has begun, with a really fascination with putting them on your nose. You had to get a followup shot at the doctor the other day, and you again took it like a champ and then actually asked for a "stick!" The nurse was surprised how friendly you were to her even after she just stuck you. You are usually a pretty friendly guy, greeting the crowd at the post office with a big "hello!" or parading down our driveway to greet the neighbors while chalking on the driveway in beautiful 60 degree weather. You did a little chalking, but you mostly wanted to direct me and your brother on what to draw. Pointing at the robots and animals and asking your brother to add the nose - by point a your nose and the ground spot at the same time.
You love little babies. You give them a hearty hello and try playing peekaboo with them unprompted. At the book fair night for Aiden's school, you ran around finding every baby you could to coo at. You enjoy giving baby pictures a kiss, especially the sleepy one on the wipes package. Sometimes you think a sleeping baby looks sad, and you will point and make a crying noise. You are a decent sleeper all things considered. If you get fussy on the play ground, if I simply ask you if you want to go sleep, and you will say "yes! bye" and immediately say bye to your friends! You sorta stop short of a full meltdown and just make a quick exit. You are now sleeping in your big kid bed and are now completely night weaned. You like sleeping on your own in your big boy bed, but you have surpassed your brother's 19 months of nursing. We'll see how this weaning train keeps slowly chugging along... You do like pattering straight to me in the morning and each morning pointing at your room and telling me, "big baby seep oder dare!"
Your absolute favorite is singing wheels on the bus and wanting to repeat the baby on the bus goes wah wah wah over and over. You were so excited to be the only kid at sign and sing class with the attention of two teachers. All that three on one attention and as many Itsy Bitsy Spiders as you want - bonus! Riding the parachute on your own was the highlight of your day.
You get really excited by all the leaf blowers in our neighborhood and especially when they cleared our own roof. We actually went outside while they were working and you were dancing in our neighbors driveway watching the guy clean off our roof. It was as if you were watching a fireworks display, you were so excited! You loooove to yell "Bus!" whenever you see one on the road and especially at the yellow bus that cuts down our street every morning.
You have become more and more bold and you can now climb right up on your brother's big tall bed. You like to sit right in the shoe closet under the coats, and jump out and saying peek a boo! You were excited that I let you walk across the parking lot holding my hand and you looked right up at me with a big smile and said, "Mama big baby walk!" Your words replace your signs more and more lately. You love asking to watch family videos - whoosh means airplane, bum bum bum means the parade drumming, and yum means ice cream eating competition video.
This was a big month. Montessori would say that you went through a sensitive period... You started really developing more and more ways to communicate, not just through speaking but through expressing your emotions. You are more and more little boy every day. I'm sad and excited at the same time. I had a job photographing a bar mitzvah and I found myself feeling emotional about this family photo montage they put together. The family has two brothers the same ages as you and your brother. The 9 and 13 year olds seemed so different from you guys at 1 and 5, but that is only 8 short years from now! Gosh, time can just slow down, as you would say, pease! But for now, I am strangely comforted that you can fit your whole forearm in a paper towel tube because it reminds me how little you still are.
Love, Mama
