And then The Boy turned one

By Liz October 31, 2012 Celebrations, Crosby, Uncategorized No Comments

Dear Crosby,

You look so different from the day you were born.

Your defining features are your huge eyes, manly eyebrows, long eyelashes, big belly and little chicken legs. The latter two have been with you since birth.

From the instant you made yourself known (click on that. You’ll see I accurately predicted his birthday), you have been full of surprises. From the time you were in my womb and even the first months of your life, I thought you’d be my mellow child. I was wrong. While you started out that way, seldom fussing and sleeping relatively easily, you have evolved into a very loud, insanely curious child. One that screams when he does not get his way, adores banging on things and seeks out disgusting objects to put into his mouth. Like dirt, sand, leaves and toilet water. Because you really, really like to splash in the toilet. I would put a lock on them all to keep you out, but your sister needs access to them at a moments notice. Needless to say, I am constantly rinsing your mouth out and washing your hands.

Your other favorite spot to play? Our liquor cabinet, which I locked up. You have a knack for finding the most dangerous spots in our home and claiming them as your favorite. For example, the steps, which as the entire Internet already knows, you tumbled down. When we’re outside, you hang out around the tires of my car. In the bathtub, you wiggle by your sister to claim the deep end. You are also in love with the dishwasher, and come racing over as soon as you hear me open it so you can climb in. In other words, you are trouble, and I have to keep the closest watch over you.

But! What a sweetie you are! The cuddles and hugs and kisses I get are abundant and beloved. You are a true mama’s boy, frequently crying when others hold you or I leave a room and often are at my feet reaching up for me to hold you. I half adore it and half can’t stand it. It’s wonderful to be so loved by you, but there are so many other people for you to love and who want some of the attention you bestow on me. I know these days of being the center of your world are limited, so I try to absorb it gratefully.

You laugh easily. Sometimes I don’t even know what it is that you’re cracking up about, but I’m always quick to join you. You love, love, love to eat and will eagerly sample anything offered. When you were first eating real food, I could give you anything and frequently served you delicacies like hard boiled egg yolks mashed with spinach and carrots and sprinkled with ground flax seed. Yum! Those days ended a few months ago. Now you actually want your food to taste good. Your current favorites? Hummus, tomatoes and yogurt.

You’ve had many colds in your first year, catching just about anything that your sister brings home from preschool. Because of that, I’ve coddled you a bit with sleeping, nursing you to sleep on a regular basis. As a result, self soothing is really not your thing. Once you’re weaned, we will begin sleep training, so that’s something to look forward to.

You seem poised to follow in your sister’s dramatic footsteps, dropping to the floor in despair and howling when you don’t get your way.

You have 4 teeth with another two on the way. You are a skilled crawler, zooming around the house, but have little interest in walking. I have a feeling that you’ll approach it the same way you did crawling – one day you just did it. You said your first word on Sunday, October 28th as we met up with our neighbors to Trick or Treat. It was “Hi.” Katie, the woman next door, said, “Hi, Crosby!” and you looked at her and said it right back as if you’d been saying it for months. “Hi.” And then you said it to me, and yesterday, you said it to your great grandma Bernice. When you’re asked “Where’s Mama?” you point to me. You point at everything these days, wanting to know the name for every object.

You love blocks, books, cars and dragging anything around the house with you, banging it against the floor as you crawl along. In fact, banging on stuff is a favorite pastime of yours.

You have made my heart grow. It is so full of love now that there’s little else that fits. You have a yin and yang personality, being incredibly charming but equally temperamental. I keep telling myself it’s just because you’re teething, but I think this is just you.