Letters to Oliver: 13 & 14 Months

Dear Oliver,

You are now 13 months.

I mean 14 months.

I mean 14 months and 15 days!

OOPS. Bubs, do you know why I am so behind? YOU, my darling little cherub baby with the most delicious thighs, you are to blame for my tardiness. (And maybe also your sister and her penchant for "care and attention.") (And perhaps also Grey's Anatomy being very important from 8-10 PM every night lately.) You are a full-time, round-the-clock job of a toddler. For example: today in the two seconds I took to put an icky bucket left in the garage up onto a shelf - out of the reach of your curious paws - you dumped out my precious caffeine-filled caramel macchiato onto the driveway. But you did make sure to warn yourself that it was, "Ha! Ha!" (hot) first.

Oliver, I needed that caffeine. Know why? Because you have been waking up ALLLLL night and then fully up for the day at 5:30. Also? Yesterday, you threw a glass down the stairs in a moment of exploring gravity and it shattered, creating a big old mess. But this mess was put in perspective because just a couple weeks ago you pulled an entire gigantic pan of veggie lasagna from the fridge, shattering the pan and getting lasagna everywhere.

So. You keep me busy, you precious and somewhat naughty boy.

Alright, to catch up! This must be a bullet point letter, because there is so much to say.

• You are still giant. Whenever Daddy takes you somewhere without me, old ladies will seriously question whether he has your age right. They assume Daddy is just a silly fool who forgot his baby wasn't in fact TWO. You are also quite muscular and the fact that you have these sturdy quads and calves, in spite of your chubby baby tummy and face, makes me smile.

• You hair has turned into a curly surfer-dude blonde mop. People regularly comment on it.

• You adjusted to the move fairly well, although your night sleep has been off and early wake-ups are the new norm. You are also very clingy to me. VERY CLINGY. However, I don't know if that has anything to do with the move and just a lot to do with teething & your stage of development. 

• In addition to the clinginess is the separation anxiety. Your daddy keeps teasing me about how I always wanted this, since your sister never went through it. It's hard that you sob and can be so inconsolable when I leave the room or occasionally leave the house, but it's also very sweet.

• Teething has been a major part of our lives lately. OOF. All four molars very, very, VERY slowly poked their way through. Actually, it seemed they went back and forth for days and days and weeks and weeks, but no matter! They have arrived! A steak for you, Bubby!  

I like to send creepy pictures like this to your daddy at work.

 

• You now walking almost all the time, except for the occasional moment when you fall and then decide standing back up isn't worth the effort. In those moments you'll crawl. 

• You love the playground and will squeal in delight when you see one from the stroller. You remain somewhat wary of swings, though they are growing on you. Slides, however, are a big hit. You will throw yourself down them head first if I'm not holding you.

• Hand in hand with your playground love, is your love of climbing. You are always trying to scale something and can enjoy getting on top of the dining room table, the upper shelves of the cat tower, etc.

• You have surpassed your sister in terms of being a "good eater." You eat it all and in huge quantities. You strongly prefer to feed yourself, including using a fork and spoon. I'm quite impressed by your forking abilities! You also prefer to eat whole pieces of fruits & vegetables. One day I handed you a plum, turned around to do some final lunch prep, and turned back to find you had eaten the plum pit. Oh Bubby. That scared me, but Google told me it was no big deal and apparently even adults do the same thing all the time. Sure enough, 18 hours later the plum reappeared out the other end and I will never again hand you a full plum!

Note: not actual ingested plum pit as that would be gross

• On the nursing front, you have weirdly gone a couple stages backwards and now want to nurse several times a day. Or maybe it's not so weird - you have been doing some intense teething. I nurse you anywhere from 2-5 times a day, including at night.

• You talk! Yes! We were right about you saying "whaz dis?" (what's this?) and now you have several more words in your vocabulary. Most of them are still the kind that only your daddy and I can understand, but your "Hi!" is getting to be more clear. Other words I can think of off the top of my head are dada, kheee (kitty), maaaaw! (meow), du (duck), and doh (door - for outside). Here is a video of some of your "talking."

• If I yell "wings" you hold your arms out backwards. It's awesome. 

• If I ask you to burp you make a burp noise. Double awesome. 

• When you are done drinking something (or occasionally after nursing) you let out satisfied, "Ahhhhh!"

• You really enjoy looking at books, can stack up blocks, and LOVE sweeping and swiffering.

To sum up all these bullet points: Biggie, you are the best!

As I was putting you to bed tonight, I realized two distinct traits that you get from me: you smile with all your teeth and you suck your thumb. And this struck me as such a significant thing because it led to the next thought: you are really mine. And not only that: you are really here.

These thoughts continues to stop me in my tracks every once in a while. You are here. You are mine. But the "mine" part is just for now. And this is what the old ladies are thinking as they smile at us in parking lots and stores. They are remembering this time and missing it. A part of them will always long for it and mourn the loss of it from their lives. Because there will never again be a time when you need me so desperately, when you cling to me as if I'm the only one who can fix things, when you love me as though I'm the best. What a gift.

You are my treasure, Bubby boy.

Love,
Mama