Julian at 16.5 months - heading for the dog bed

This is the best goddamn ride in the world!

 


Two things that have happened to me since coming a mother:
Oops, I have lost my memory. So that's three things. And now I can literally only remember one of the things that I wanted to say:
1) The other day I was invited to a fancy-shmancy luncheon. And normally, I hate the food at these things, because it's quite contrived and all that. But, this time, I relished every mouthful of my fetta and pinenut tart, or whatever it was. And I wondered, "Why is this so?" And then I realised: it's because my diet, over the last year and a bit, as consisted of leftover baby food. Case in point: today for lunch I ate a bit of a toasted cheese sandwich (which Julian rejected), a fruit salad custard (which Julian reluctantly shared with me - I like baby food) and the bit of date that he didn't want. So, at that luncheon, I was savouring grown-up meal that hadn't previously been chewed up and spat out by a toddler.

2) I am going to bed rather late. Case in point: It's now 1am. You would think I am silly to do this, especially since Julian doesn't sleep through the night. (He was up at 11:30pm) But, after I've put him to sleep and eaten dinner and cleaned up and down a few household chores and worked on the computer and played on the computer and watched rubbishy TV and had a bath and read some of my book, it's already 1am. And if I go to sleep any earlier, it will feel like I barely have any grown up life at all. (Even if "grown-up", in this context, merely means watching The Bachelor: After The Rose). 

Am I the only one who thinks it would be kinda funny to teach your child funny phrases for the nouns he's interested in? I mean, if we told him an apricot was really a "hey dude," perhaps he'd pronounce that really well instead.

Swinging - 16 months

 
 

Good boy

I have a good baby. I'm not trying to be immodest here. I'm just lucky. I'm not claiming that my baby is a genius (even though he clearly is!) or good-looking (even though he is the spittin' image of me!) or destined to become a neurosurgeon or famous pianist (even though both seem highly likely), but I am grateful for his personality. He's very good-tempered. I just got a newsletter from one of the baby sites I subscribe to, and it started off saying something like, "By now you've experienced the hysterical tantrum that a toddler goes into when he/ she doesn't get what he wants, and you've no doubt had to exit the grocery store in embarrassment."

Nope, haven't experienced that one.

Julian occasionally wakes up in tears, and can be grizzly when constrained for too long, but he doesn't throw tantrums. He generally isn't upset for more than two minutes at a time. He laughs a lot. He smiles a lot. When we go shopping, we are invariably stopped by people who pinch his cheek and declare "What a smiley little girl you have there!" (Yes, the long hair is now responsible for some gender issues.) And, he smiles right back, in his flirty, happy way, oblivious to the fact that someone has put his machoism into question.

He goes to sleep pretty easily, he lets you change his nappy without too much fuss, he can sit and read a book for awhile. He doesn't tear up the place, or put strange objects in his mouth, or throw his food around (unless it's directly into Ali the pug's mouth). Today he did reprogram the entire TV system, but I chose to believe he was simply practising his future neurosurgery hand skills.

Oh, what a lovely son I have.

My big boy - nearly 16 months

 


Ten teeth. 120 words. No walking. Time marches on.