Lucky 13

Dear P,

You’re 13 months old today!

We turned your carseat around this week and you seem quite pleased to now be looking at the same things as the rest of us. When I reach around and grab your feet or pat your leg, you grin and show me all seven of your widely spaced teeth. I miss your gummy little smile but those funny little teeth are awfully cute, as is the rest of you. In fact, you’re quite the charmer when we’re out and about; making women everywhere swoon over your long lashes and flirty ways.

These days you’re into everything and nothing is safe from your curious little hands. The trash can in the kitchen is one of your favorite haunts, as is the dishwasher, the toilet and our cabinet full of vinyl albums. Anything on the edge of a surface is sure to be pulled down and dismantled, crinkled or broken and the cordless phone MUST be unplugged a minimum of 3 times daily or your day is not complete.

Some of your favorite items include coffee cups, my Vicks inhaler, my lipstick (top on, top off, top on, top off), my wallet, and anything on my desk that can be thrown to the floor. Your toys, however, are safely tucked away in the bottom of the hall closet where you can get at them with relative ease which insures you will have no interest in them whatsoever. *sigh*

Your separation anxiety really peaked this past month and was beginning to drive Mommy fricken bonkers. Fortunately, it seems to be declining now and has resulted in much better sleeping for you. Lately, you don’t protest at all when I lay you in your crib and you fall right to sleep. I can’t tell you what a nice change this is and frankly, it’s one I thought it would never happen.

You still love Bootsy kitty as much as ever and you still do the same thing you did as a teeny baby where you affectionately rub your head on him. It’s beyond cute. Also really cute are your wet, slobbery open mouth kisses and when you play peek-a-boo with me. You’ve been doing that for a while now but I never get tired of it and apparently you don’t either as you seem willing to play for as long as I’ll engage you.

You’re walking almost all the time now and even though you still fall a lot and clunk your head at least once a day, you never get discouraged. You stand up and pick up right where you left off. And you’re fast! It always amazes me how quickly you can get into the bathroom when you notice that the door has been left open.

Hat, outside, what’s that? (wassat?) Dada, Mama, sissy and kitty are the staples of your verbal repertoire. I’m sure there more that I can’t decipher. “Hat” is your newest word and goes along with your penchant for putting everything on top of your head. “Outside” is your favorite and you say it as a response to pretty much everything while gesturing to the window or backyard.

You’re eating anything a mostly toothless person can eat and Stonyfield Farms Yo-Baby yogurt makes you deliriously happy. You have an appetite that gives new meaning to the term “bottomless pit” and will follow me around making little grunty noises and tugging on my leg to give you a bite of whatever I’m eating. I’m fairly certain this is how moms really lose their baby weight.

You weigh 24.11 lbs and you’re 31.25 inches tall (75th percentile for both). Frankly, you feel like you weigh a hell of a lot more and I would have bet a kidney that you weighed at least 25 lbs. Your head is still really big and as I like to tell your also large-headed sister…it’s full of big, smart brains.

You’re still napping twice a day, thank God, but this schedule makes going out and doing any baby-friendly activities almost impossible. I must confess that in some ways, I am relieved that I have this excuse. You see, when your sister was 13 months, I was an eager first-time mother and highly motivated by the fear that I would somehow ruin her or stunt her development if we just hung around the house all day.

Unfortunately for you, I completely wore myself out keeping her entertained, educated and well-rounded for the past five years and I now know better. Thus, you’ve inherited a much mellower and lazier mom who is not even remotely interested in attending Kindermusik or Gymboree classes or making small talk and arranging playdates with other moms. I apologize in advance for whatever harm may come to you from not being properly socialized.

I love you, my baby Noogs. *smooch*

Love,
Mama
oxoxo

My goal is to do one of these every month since I’ve been a total slacker mom and haven’t done your baby book or kept a journal or really done anything to chronicle your first year other than photograph you like you’re a huge celebrity. I hope those 50,000 photos that live in my computer will suffice :)

This entry was posted on July 17, 2006 at 2:44 am and is filed under Daily, Kids, Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.