19 Months

19 Months

 

Date

July 16, 2013

 

The official 19 month picture

Before we jump into an overly detailed and incredibly boring review of Elliott's current development and skills, I would like to talk, for about 46 minutes, about the above picture and today's 19 month photo session.  I will include unnecessary background information and a lot of blab about my thoughts and feelings.  We might analyze the War of 1812 at some point.  Just randomly.  Not because it has any correlation. 

 

Spencer starts kindergarten in 5 days.  We have been rearranging sleep schedules and schedules in general over here.  In order to keep to our new wake up time (7:15ish), we have to keep to our new bedtimes (8-8:30ish).  And that means that our evenings have to be really structured and strict.  I worked today and we left for swim lessons soon after I got home.  There wasn't enough time for a photo session before lessons and we didn't want to risk ruining the new bedtime by waiting for after swim lessons, showers and dinner. 

 

Moving on.  Spencer is now taking 50 minute swim lessons.  His lessons start at 5:00.  Elliott's lessons start at 5:30.  I picked the pool that I registered at because it has a splash pad next to the pool so Elliott can play while we wait the half hour that we have to be at the pool but can't be in the pool.  So we decided we'd do his photo shoot at the splash pad.  Pros: he was having fun, smiling a lot and it was overcast reducing weird shadows and such.  Cons: he was running around like a maniac and my camera isn't fast enough for such running.

 

I debated and debated and stressed and stressed about picking an official picture that was slightly blurry and has his head cut off because my camera didn't click fast enough.  I even went back and checked if I have any "head cut off pictures" for Spencer's monthly shots (I don't) to try to justify this.  I considered photoshopping a top of his head into the above picture. But in the end I decided to go with it because it shows his 19 month joy and dammit that counts for more than missing a little sliver of scalp.

 

This was a close second.

 

So, I think I will ditch the headings this month and just type freestyle.

 

You have all the time in the world, right?

Elliott is now closer to age 2 than he is to age 1.  I am days away from creating a pinterest board to start planning his birthday party.  And when I say "days away" I mean I am going to do it the second I am done with this post.

I really thought he was going to wean himself over the weekend.  He refused to nurse on Friday and then I got really, really sick on Saturday and was afraid to hold him because I thought I would drop him, so Michael ended up getting him to bed.  But he nursed with enthusiasm the last 3 nights.  Who knows what will happen.  We made it 19 months.  At this point I feel OK if he gives it up.

I'm sure Elliott has spyware on the computer and will revolt the second he reads this, but this is our new bedtime routine: get ready (jammies, teeth, etc), read books, nurse, rock for 2 minutes, I put him in bed and rub his back for 15 seconds, I sit in the chair for 3 minutes and then leave the room.  And he goes to sleep on his own.  No crying.  He sleeps all night (although he still cries out a lot in his sleep) and wakes up happy and ready to go. 

Elliott learned three new words on Saturday: mine, apple and cookie.  He's never actually had a cookie, but he has a toy that sings a song about cookies and we sing that song all the time.  He can also count to 3, but he usually skips 1.  He will only count when he's standing next to the pool waiting to jump in.  And yes, he will hurl his body into the pool every chance he gets.

 

This is the beginning of a huge explosion of language.  I love it.

 

His favorite book is Owl Babies.  We read it 9 billion times a day.

Much like his brother, he runs everywhere he goes.  Going from the bedroom to the kitchen?  Run!  Going 2 feet across the kitchen? Run!  Headed from the patio to the pool?  Run across the pool deck and give your parents a massive heart attack!

 

He's not very good at running, so he falls a lot.

He has figured out how to climb on top of his riding toys but doesn't know how to scoot yet so he just screeches until someone comes to push him. Spencer is usually up to the task.  It's going to be a tragic day on Monday when he disappears to school for 7 hours everyday.

We got the results of his organic acids test and his urinalysis.  Everything was normal.  No signs of an inherited metabolic disorder.  That's good.  It still doesn't answer any questions about his liver.

 

That's all I can think of for now.  Enjoy 3,000 more pictures and then you can go about your day. 

Oh wait.  One more thing.  He now calls me mommy and mama.  Depends on the minute which one he picks.  His little voice when he says mommy just about bursts my heart every time.

 

I had to leave after taking this picture.  He was not happy that I wasn't joining them for lessons.