I’m getting this one in by the skin of my teeth – Chief turns 22 months next week! Yikes.
Not much has changed from last month in terms of his general demeanor. We still avoid restaurants, I don’t take him grocery shopping, and strollers are out of the question. He runs at full-speed from the moment he opens his eyes to the moment he passes out. He goes to bed around 7 pm, wakes up at 7 am, and takes one nap around 12:30pm. If he’s awake – he’s the sweetest, cutest, category 5 tornado you’ve ever seen.
Baby Update…
Chief is a food lover. He begs to wash produce when I bring it home, he squeezes lemon onto his own food, he’ll sprinkle just the tiniest amount of salt onto his broccoli, he eats guacamole by the spoonful, and I’ve watched him put an entire bulb of garlic into his snack cup for “later.” (Note: I didn’t let him eat an entire bulb of garlic.) If you eat a veggie at our house, guaranteed it’s been washed at least 4 times. It might have also been on the floor 4 times, but that’s just reason to wash it again – right? He’ll (try to) pull his kitchen tower to the sink, get the colander from the cabinet, and he’ll wash anything I give him. If we run out of things to wash, he just starts all over again…
He experienced a splash pad. And man was it a good one. The first time we went he sat back, soaked it all in for a few minutes, and then without missing a beat took off running full-speed to the nearest sprinkler. The second time we went there was no inspection period, it was full-speed ahead from the moment I got him out of his car-seat. When we go to the splash pad Chief is not content playing in the gentle sprinklers intended for the littles. No, he wants to be in the middle of the running, screaming, big kids and play under the buckets that DUMP ridiculous amounts of water right on top of his tiny head. He gives me anxiety…
He had his first lake weekend (of this summer). My how lake weekends have changed since last summer. It was so much easier to keep him contained last year – he couldn’t open doors, couldn’t sprint for the water, and couldn’t hurl things off the balcony (that drops 30ft to the water!). He threw every rock and stick he could find into the lake. Chase and I were on the verge of a heart attack when we bought him one of those small, plastic pools at Wal-Mart to keep him occupied. Best $5 I’ve ever spent. From that point on he was satisfied playing on the back porch and filling his pool with rocks.
He sleeps like a teenager. On his back, in complete relaxation.
He has so many words it’s silly. Some of my favorites are Holy Moly, Thank You, Shhhh (with a finger pressed against his lips, or sometimes up his nose), Glove, Clock, Balloon (Loon), and Trash Truck. He’s a sponge right now.
He started swimming lessons. This was by far the biggest thing we did this month. Chief started ISR (Infant Swimming Resource) survival based swimming lessons. We have an in-ground pool and it TERRIFIES me that our tiny tornado is going to run straight into the deep end. The program is 6 weeks long and Chief goes 5 days a week…for 10 minutes. Chase and I thought it was crazy to go to a class for 10 minutes, but after that first day we were both like “Whew! I’m so glad that wasn’t 15.” The first week was really hard. While the instructor was gentle with him, she did have to teach him to hold his breath. They would bounce in the pool and every once in a while she’d bounce low enough that his face went in – he didn’t like it, but by the second day he was holding his breath. As a parent, watching him struggle or get upset goes against every single one of my instincts. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle it for 6 weeks, but every week has been better, and now (6 weeks in) I’m so THANKFUL we’re doing it.
Swimming is exhausting. He passed out on Mama more than once that first week.
Mama Update:
I turned 32 this month and Chase and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. Needless to say, we’ve eaten a lot of chocolate torte lately. We kept our celebrations pretty low key this year, but I’m already scheming big plans for our 10th anniversary next year.
Well, I did it. I signed up to run another half marathon. In the Rocky Mountains. In August. Because 13 miles at close to sea level isn’t hard enough, lets add some elevation to it. Good plan, Cassie. I’m hoping the views will make up for my struggle.
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