Abraham at nineteen months

Our little son is nineteen months old today!

It seems like a lot of changes have been taking place in our little boy as he moves from babyhood to toddlerhood. He finished nursing about six weeks ago, making this the first time since Rilla was born that I haven't been nursing one or the other or both. It's also the first time in more than two years that there weren't two babies reliant on my body for nourishment. No wonder I suddenly feel so liberated, even though I am still growing another little boy on the inside! But enough about me... this is supposed to be about Abraham.

delighted about any chance to be outside

He began walking a few days before turning 18 months old. This makes a huge difference! He can help with chores better now... putting away his books when he is finished with them, putting toys away, helping me with putting other little things away. He can help himself better in pretty much everything. It's just so amazing to have him finally be walking! It finally feels like we have two toddlers instead of a toddler and a baby. He is still a bit unstable at times, but seems to be better at walking every day. He loves to walk around and around the table in the kitchen or just back and forth through the house, testing out his new skills. He is also delighted to be able to join Rilla in sort of jumpy dance moves or learning how to stomp across a big gymnasium.

He's saying more new words every day, and stringing more and more of them together. He seems to know most of the words in most of his books, and is newly able to complete my sentences when we read stories together. I will say something like "brown as a...?" and he will say "chipmunk!" (or, more accurately, "chummuck!") as we read "Brown as an Acorn." (The Community of Color books are some of his favorites. Keith and I don't love them so much, but they seem to be particularly enamoring for the 18-21 month set.) He says sentences like, "Mommy up please on counter?" and loves to help me cook and bake. I am pretty sure that he would be happy to help me bake all day long, actually. He says "Ridda" and "Amma" for Rilla and Abraham, and he absolutely adores his sister. His first words to her in the morning are usually something like "Ridda! Hug!!" as he holds out his arms wide to hug her. They are wonderful buddies.

posing for a picture together (Rilla set this up)

Abraham's favorite animals right now are dolphins, owls, and bugs. We're reading a lot about them, and reading a lot about pretty much everything else too. We spend at least an hour a day reading together but he is never ready to be done. He loves letters and loves to identify them and point them out whenever he sees obvious capital letters. "O" is his favorite. For a while he would pick up a book and spell out the letters to himself like this: "B! O! B! O! B! O!" Now he just kind of guesses at what letter it might be. I also catch him unshelving and reshelving his books several times a day, one at a time, very carefully.

grinning over the last page of this book

One of the things that really cracks us up is his tendency to tell himself "no" when he is tempted to do something he is not supposed to be doing. Here is a scene that happens every day: Rilla will be in the bathroom using the potty. Abraham will walk by, stop, and then shout, "NO! No! No potty! No potty! No!" before continuing on his way. He knows he is not supposed to go in there while she is using the potty, but he has to continually remind himself (and everyone else) of this fact.

One day I heard him yelling desperately "NO! NO! No potty! No potty! No potty!!!!" while I was in the kitchen and he was out of sight. I found him in the bathroom, holding the removable part of the potty chair, apparently scolding it for tempting him and trying to make it get out of his hands. It's sometimes hard to discipline him for things like this when he is so clearly trying to exercise self-control of his own accord!

our sweet-tempered little guy

I keep finding that as much as I love the bondingness of the first year, I really love this phase when our little ones are old enough to communicate well and old enough to obey (or disobey) on purpose. I love still being able to snuggle and cuddle together, but I also love that they are big enough to come up with their own games and provide their own entertainment for periods of time. Abraham is able to sit and concentrate on playing with something like legos or Rilla's tea set for a good twenty minutes by himself. I love seeing him grow in those ways!

I still rock and sing Abraham to sleep for naptime and bedtime, something which Rilla was ready to be done doing at 14 months but which Abraham still seems to need. He still wakes up once in the middle of the night to come to our bed. He occasionally sleeps all the way until dawn in his own crib, and I think he is making more progress that direction. At any rate it's better than early summer, when he was still waking up three or four times a night. At this pace, he will likely be out of our bed just in time for us to bring a new baby into it. Not exactly ideal, but that's okay, it's working for us and if there's anything I'm learning, it's to stick to what works! On a better note, Abraham and Rilla have finally consolidated their sleeping times in the last few months, and so I now get an hour to an hour and a half every day when they are both sleeping (thus why I have time to write this). It is an amazing thing, let me tell you!

"reading" the Bible at breakfast

A few more little random things: Abraham's eye color is changing from the smoky blue of his first year. Today was the first day that I was absolutely sure of it, but now I am positive that they are changing to be like mine! Brown on the inside, then green, then rimmed with dark blue-gray on the very outside. It somehow makes me really, really happy to be able to look at my little boy's eyes and see my own eye color there! We also had to turn his carseat around in the last few weeks, sadly, because it doesn't fit rear-facing in our truck or the borrowed car. I am hoping that when we find another vehicle, I will be able to turn him back around again.

Everyone lets their children read on top of the washer, right?