Happy 16 Months, G3...

In one of my favorite blogs, Dooce, the blogger writes a letter to her daughter each month, and I'm going to steal her idea. Actually, I've had the idea in a way, hence all the G3 related posts, but I thought making a specific post to my son each month would be worthwhile and--down the road--something to look back on. (Sidenote: If you like funny, entertaining, and full-of-pictures blogs, check out Dooce. Great site.)


Anyhow. Back to G3.


Gabe (since we don't really call you G3 when speaking to you) you will be 16mo old tomorrow. Its hard to believe you are so old already. I think that this is, by far, my "favorite" stage...though I've said that about all of them. You are becoming your own little person with likes, dislikes, and tastes that evolve each day.


Right now you do lots of weird (I mean, silly) things that make us wonder what you are thinking. You like to gather things, particularly soft things like towels, pillows, and dishclothes, and drag them into a corner. Sometimes you throw a few books and toys or a sippy cup into the mix. Then you go, sit in your pile of goods, and roll around for a bit. Next you will begin moving to a new corner, very seriously taking each item one by one and marching across the room. It's not unusual to find a pile of your "stuff" abandoned behind a chair or next to the toybox. Just tonight, for example, you took all the dirty laundry (underwear included) behind the bedroom door, dragging each article of clothing behind you like a fresh kill.


You love to "help out". We will guide you to do something "helpful" such as put the laundry BACK in the laundry basket, or shut the dishwasher, or throw away "trash". Most of the time we are letting you "help" to keep you from doing something you're not supposed to, like pulling steak knives out of the dishwasher or throwing away toys and clothes. Still, you get oh-so-proud when we cheer on you for "helping" us pick up your toys or push the start button on the dryer.

We (well, I) started potty-training with you. I am not naive enough to think you're really going to be trained before any other kid would be, but figured it couldn't hurt. You very quickly learned where the potty was and are never hesitant to remind us if we ask you "Where's the potty?" Unfortunately, you also like to carry the potty and the removable bowl all around the house. We've had some minor success and if nothing else you really like running in naked circles in the bathroom while Mommy asks repeatedly, "Do you have to POOP Gabe? On the POTTY?" Sometimes you do, and sometimes this happens:

What happens when I'm too busy taking pictures to concentrate on the task at hand...

You had your first extended break from us this month, as we dropped you off at Grammy Flock's for a long weekend while we went to New York City. You apparently had a great time, were very well-behaved, and adjusted well. Grammy enjoyed you so much, she kept you for an extra night! I wasn't too thrilled with this, as I missed you a lot, but you were just fine. You have a very strong bond with Grammy and I think you were more upset to see her go than excited to see me!!

You have your moments of frustration, and the general display of that is to grunt or whine in an exasperated tone that very clearly demonstrates what you cannot say, "I'm pissed off!!" Usually this occurs when I take something away from you (like steak knives), stop you from doing something (like running up the driveway for the umpteenth time) or refuse to pick you up and read a book for the millionth time in a row. Which brings me to another point--you love books. You have a million, but you love three in particular--"Big Little", "Animals", and "Blue Hat Green Hat." Daddy and I try to avoid catching your eye when we see you running across the room with "Big Little" in your hands, in hopes that you will abandon it in favor of something else. But nope, you are VERY insistent when you want to sit in our laps and be read to, and of course we oblige (almost) every time.

Although you don't say much that we understand, you understand almost all of what we say to you. Questions such as "do you want to go outside?" or "ready for your bath?" will elicit a response of you running to the appropriate location. You know the difference if we ask you to go get your book vs your animal. You are getting better at pointing things out in books. A favorite game right now is to ask you where your head, belly, and toes are--you point to each. You're working on shirt, pants, and socks, but you've got "shoes" down pat. We try not to play this game TOO many times a day, since you generally clobber yourself pretty hard when asked where your head is, and, well, this isn't the kind of thing we want you doing in public.

You seem to have your own language, though each week I can recognize more and more words coming out of you, even though its a rough attempt. Grammy, Grandad, and grapes are basically all a big "Ggggrrrrr". You try very hard to say "ap-ple" but it usually comes out as "pplllll". "Truck" usually comes out as the ccckkkk sound, but you have no problem articulating "cracker" (cack-caw).

Another word you say is "duckie". This is because, after showing some recent interest in a particular stuffed animal (a duck, go figure) we started putting it in your crib with you. Then we started saying "Let's go see Duckie" before naps and bedtime, and you picked up VERY quickly that running to the staircase and getting into your crib was way desirable. This even worked at Grammy's, where sometimes you don't go down for a nap or bed as easily. You'd think we would have thought of this trick say, a year ago. You still get a binky just when sleeping, and you take great pride in putting in on and taking it off your bedroom shelf.

Some other silly things you are doing right now: You like to play the scaring game with me, where I will shout "boo" and make you jump a mile, and then you'll laugh hysterically and croon out "booooooo" in a very non-scary voice, but I pretend to be scared. Fun. You like to spin in circles until you get dizzy and crash into the wall. Not so fun. Since I gave up on banning TV from your life, you have a current love of Sesame Street, Arthur, and the Backyardigans. We have to hide the remotes from you though, because you know just what they are for and will stand insistently in front of us shaking them at us like you're saying, "Come ON guys. You know you're going to give into me the end. So let's just do it now, I'm missing Spongebob!"

"Booooooo"

You are still very sweet and cheerful almost all the time. You definitly have a sensitive side, and its easy to hurt your feelings. The few times recently that I've used a sharp tone with you (steak knife incident and when you tried to turn the stove on) you responded with a look of pure devestation, a crumpled face (and heart, I presume), and a load of real tears. Very hard on me!!! You also get upset when people leave, especially your Dad. Sometimes, if I take your food away before your finished (without realizing) I will look back and you have the big fat lip out and a single tear rolling down your cheek as you stare at the empty tray. Good God. I hope you never figure out how powerful that look is!! For now, its VERY easy to tell when you are seriously hurt and when you're just throwing a tantrum because you didn't get your way, like when I remove all the paper from the printer to prevent you from throwing it all over the kitchen, sheet by sheet.


But most of the time?? You're just a big goof. Happy 16 mo Buddy.