20 Months

Carver and I have had a really good month. I'm not sure why things have seemed easier in general, but it is probably due to a number of things. He spent most of the summer teething which led to a complete set of teeth but were accompanied by a lot of fussiness-- which was new for us. (Fussiness due to teething that is, not fussiness in general-- we are somewhat familiar with that). These last few weeks have been calmer and I think it is largely because he feels better. Daniel has also started being around a little more regularly, which is fun for Carver, and gives me the occasional break from single-parenting. And, I've had a three week break from teaching which has no doubt changed my overall temperament as well.

So, month 20 has been good for us.

The fun facts:

1) As mentioned, Carver has a full set of teeth now. Crazy how fast they all came in at the same time.

2) Climbing has become a true passion for him. He climbs on everything. Last week he learned to climb up onto our tall kitchen chairs. Said chairs now reside in the garage. Visions of Carver falling and splatting on the tile led us to move them immediately.



Carver also learned to escape from "baby jail." Fortunately, it has only happened once so far. Unfortunately, he was able to lock me out on our back deck during his one successful escape. I had a ridiculous moment of telling Carver to "push the latch up...Carver, push the latch up....Carver-- unlock the door!", before accepting that I would have about the same amount of luck if I was asking Delia to open the door. Which wouldn't work anyway since Delia was outside with me at the time. Thank the Lord for an old, barely used, almost forgotten, spare key. The thought of Carver loose and unattended for any length of time in our house makes me shaky.

3) We are getting close to needing a first haircut. Sorry Daniel, we aren't quite there yet. On good hair days his hair looks totally fine. On bad hair days, well...



4) New words: "stick," (occasionally) and "please" (regularly). Please sounds like "dees" so it took me a little while to catch on. So, Carver technically has 20 words or so now. He tends to not use them very often and to completely drop words for weeks at a time. Which can be a little frustrating.

5) Can I just say that naptime and bedtime are two of the easiest times of my day? I'm not referring to his actual sleep time which is, obviously, not hard. But, rather putting him down for naps and at night. For naptime I just say "Ok Carver, it's time to take a nap" and he stops whatever he is doing and heads to his room. We turn on his music, sing a song or two, I lay him down and he wakes up 2 (or so) hours later. Piece of cake. Bedtime is about the same. I tell him it is bedtime, he runs to his room and immediately sits down on his rug so we can read our bedtime stories, turn on the music, turn off the light, sing some songs, lay him down-- see him about 12 hours later. No fights, no fussing, no struggles. This is an incredible blessing, and I promise I do not take it for granted. Especially considering he never napped without being held until he was about 4 months old and he didn't sleep through the night until 10 months old. We fought hard for a schedule to work for us and I am so very thankful we are here.

6) We had our first MOPS get-together of the new school year last week. Carver spent two hours playing at the park and ate his first popsicle. And, I burned a lot of calories chasing him while he ran around like a maniac. Win-Win. I'm looking forward to the biweekly MOPS meetings-- I love for Carver to get to interact with other kids his own age (Ellen, maybe next time we visit you Carver will know that it is NOT OK to steal Emerson's food). And, I like a reason to get dressed and leave the house.

7) Carver and I have started taking some walks in the evenings. Usually up to the mailbox. He has really become a lot steadier on his feet though he runs most of the time now, which inevitably leads to tumbles. Last night we walked around the upper circle in our neighborhood and were greeted by an elderly man who brought us each a Klondike bar. Seriously. I have never seen anything so sweet in my entire life. I feel like my opinion of humanity has been reaffirmed. There really is good in the world.

8) We've also spent some time out at camp, visiting Daniel on days when he would otherwise not have seen Carver that day.

"Helping" clean up after dinner.

Carver's favorite part of visiting Daddy at work...

Classic Carver-- he has made a variation of this expression since birth.

9) Carver adores playing outside.



Well, I think that about sums up this last month. We've got some fun things planned in the next few weeks so his 21st month should be really fun. Oh how I love this stage, but how I hate inching closer and closer to the big 2. No longer will I give his age in months, but rather in years. It is inevitable, but the thought stings a little, I won't lie.

Carver Jacob, you make every day worthwhile for me. Every single day.