transition

Last week I got to meet a new little person. He was a tiny, 7 pound, 5 day old wonder. As I sat marveling at his perfection, Mr. Baby came up to inspect him. Suddenly, my little guy looked like a GIANT! His head was absolutely MASSIVE next to Levi’s little noggin. Funny enough, by the time we got home and I had been climbed on and wrestled to the ground by my two older kids, Mr. Baby seemed small once again. My little guy.

Mr. Baby is at one of my favourite ages. He’ll be 20 months old tomorrow. I love watching him grow and learn. He is such a sponge right now, absorbing everything around him. Everyday he is learning new words, ways of communicating and how to climb higher than the day before! His confidence is growing so it is not as hard for him to meet new people or be in a crowd. Occasionally he will even greet a fellow shopper with a smile instead of his usual stink eye (or sad tears). He is so much fun. I really can’t get enough of him (that’s a lie… some days are MORE than enough!).

I love watching Mr. Baby play with his brother and sister. He wants to be just like them! It is so cute to see him try to keep up with them and copy their every move. He tries to have conversations with them by copying the intonations of their voices. We have no idea what on earth he is talking about but he makes it sound very important indeed! The other night I found him tucked up in bed with his sister. They both had their heads on her pillow and were giggling away to a secret joke. It felt really special to be able to witness their relationship developing.

A couple of weeks ago I took Mr. Baby for his vaccinations. There was a poster of a baby crying on the wall (I think it’s a “don’t shake your baby” message). He looked up at the poster and said, “Bee-bee cwy, cwy, cwy.” I said, “Is the baby crying?” and he responded, “Yeah! Cwy, cwy, cwy! Bee-bee Mama?”. “Does the baby need his Mama? Would that help him?”. “Yeah! Bee-bee Mama!”. I loved that he could tell me what he was thinking and that he wanted to help (and that the only logical help he could think of was to find the poor kid’s mother!).

One of the things I like about this age is the constant flip flop between big and little. Mr. Baby spends his days climbing, discovering, learning new words and chasing his older siblings around. He likes to be independent and do things on his own, thank you very much! He sits in a booster seat at the table because no one else in the family sits in a stupid high chair! Ditto for the bib (although I’m still insisting on that one!). He uses proper cutlery, drinks out of a regular cup (without spilling!), puts on his own boots and throws his laundry in the hamper.

In the midst of all this big boy activity there are still flashes of him as a baby. He likes to snuggle and will climb up in my lap, rub his cheek on mine and hum “hmmm-hmmm, hmmm-hmmm” over and over. He gets overwhelmed in new or busy situations and hides in our shoulders. And when he sleeps, he looks just like he did as an infant (only the sleep lasts much longer now!).

These are good days of learning and growing and letting go, of saying good bye to infancy and embracing what is before us. I just try to soak it all in because I know that all too soon he will be 7 years old and I’ll feel like I can’t slow him down long enough to hear about his day at school.

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