When I was pregnant with Dresden, I somehow stumbled across the song "In My Arms" by the artist Plumb. I fell in love with it, and had daydreams of singing it as a lullaby to my new baby, except I figured some of the words wouldn't quite fit...The first lyrics are "Your baby blues, so full of wonder. Your curly-q's, your contagious smile..." and thought, how will I adapt those lyrics to a baby who will likely have brown hair and brown eyes? Hmmm.
I never dreamed I'd have baby blues to look into, or blond curly-q's to twist around my fingers and sink my nose into. And yet, here we are, 22 months later, and that's what I have. And every day I look at him and still cannot believe he came from me. It really is like that quote says, your "heart walking around outside your body".
The reason I even brought up the song on the blog is because it actually came on this afternoon in my car while I was playing an old mixed CD I had made. I had completely forgotten I even bought the song, and listening to it just brought those memories and thoughts back to me. And now that I listen to the words and have this little man here, the rest of the song is so much more real to me. I ache to protect this sweet face from all the hurts and trials life will inevitably sling his way. I will do everything in my power to hold him close while he weathers the storms and the rising tides. This is something I have been thinking about on a near-constant basis lately, as he's been growing up and changing every day, how someday I will have to let him go out on his own to forge his own path, and I won't be able to shield him from the bad, because if I did, he'd miss all the good, too. I think about that when I realize I still feed him his food sometimes. I think about that when I make him his bottles first thing in the morning, and after his bath. I think about it when I pick him up nearly every time he looks up at me and says "Mama, Hold you?" because I just cannot resist. I cannot resist the chance to keep him my baby just a little longer. While he's forming near-sentences and grasping ideas and skills he barely knew even a month ago, I find myself needing to do everything in my power to hold on to whatever innocence I can. Even then, I know these things will come to an end. We are determined he will be completely weaned from the bottle when he turns two, and I do make him feed himself as often as I can (unless I just need him to eat quickly, because when he does it himself, it's an hour and a half at the table for a small bowl of spaghetti - kid gets distracted!) Those things for me though, are so bittersweet. Every day it's that conundrum of wanting him to be more independent and yet melting when he needs me (when I'm calm and relaxed enough to realize the special moment for what it really is).
All this was to say (albeit in an overly sentimental way) that I cannot believe Dresden will be 2 in just 2 months time. It's harder and harder to do those little "tidbit" recaps because there is just a constant change in what he says and does, but the highlights on my mind right now are:
- Basic stats, which are still 25 pounds and size 3 diapers, though on the next diaper buying trip we will be promoting the kiddo to Size 4s! The velcro is definitely being stretched at this point. Wahoo! I will be interested to see at his 2-year appointment how tall he is. He wears 24-months and 2Ts in shirts, and his shorts are usually 18-24 months, though some are just plain 18 months, because he's still pretty skinny for 24 months in pants.
- He is "singing" a lot more these days, usually just the ends of the lines of song, but he's quite good at Old McDonald's "e-i-e-i-oooooh" part (which is cute because he exaggerates it and shakes his head back and forth for extra panache on the "oooohhhh"), and he loves "Skidamarinkidinkidink (sp?)" from the Elephant Show (A CLASSIC!). And today he even got into "Itsy Bitsy Spider". We love music, and I love to sing, so I am really hoping Dresden will, too.
- He counts out loud at random times, and usually in counts of three ("1, 2, 3"/"6, 7, 8"), and will count before his daddy throws him up in the air, "1, 2, 3, GO!" I'm not quite sure he understands the correlation to counting and the numbers of whatever objects we are counting, but that's ok. He knows a few of the letters of the alphabet by recognition, too, namely "D" - his favorite, wonder why?! ;-) , M, L, and O. It's so cute when we ask him what a letter is and you can just see his brain searching, and he'll say a "T" is an "L", because that's just what he knows, but he says it with such certainty, yet instantly repeats the correct letter when you tell him what it really is. The same with colors. He still thinks everything is pink. But when you say "or...maybe it's...green?" He goes, "Green." Like, "Yeah, that's what I said, green." Even though when you quiz him he says things are pink, when he's on his own, he is really good at identifying yellow, purple and orange. Sometimes I worry he is color blind, cuz he just doesn't seem to care much about green or blue, but I'm probably being paranoid, lol.
- He loves to say things are "cute", especially himself. He'll hold a shirt up and go "I cute!" over and over, but when he's on a kick, then even I get to be cute! "Mama, cute. Daddy, cute. Papa, cute. Maimie (Grammy), cute." It's so funny.
- He's also a MUCH better (though SLOW as molasses in January) eater, and will gobble turkey sandwiches really well, string cheese, crackers, yogurt, spaghetti, cantaloupe (a recent rediscovery/win!), dry cereal, oatmeal, green beans, and pizza, to name the ones that come to mind. (Those all sound pretty much like my staple foods too, lol!)
We cannot wait to see him continue to learn and absorb the world around him! I'm re-prioritizing that it is my duty to him to make sure he sees as much beauty and wonder as possible as he navigates everything. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the "doing", and I forget about the "being" of being present and alive in every moment, which is so much more important for him right now. I relish and embrace the challenge, for both our sakes.
Happy 22-months my sweet pie. I LOVE YOU!!!
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