Fifteen Months

Dear Patrick: My big, darling boy, you are fifteen months!

This toddlerhood phase has completely thrown me off my game. I just had the infant thing down. You had a schedule, a great sleep routine. We made homemade purees to feed you. You were just mobile enough to be interesting. You slept the whole way to grandma's house.

Then I turn around and see a little boy at my feet. With all these beautiful, surprising new skills. I don't know why I'm so surprised. Most teenagers know where their head is, and how to climb on the couch. Guess you had to learn it somehow.

Grandma asked me yesterday, "What is Patrick doing?" And I had to stop and think. Sometimes your new skills catch me off guard, and sometimes they creep up on me so slowly I can't recall when the change occurred. Like eating. You are feeding yourself 85% of the time, spoon, fork and all. You are fascinated by our drinking glasses and want to drink out of one yourself everytime you see us with on. But you aren't a good candidate for sharing...all that baby backwash. And while you do a perfectly fine job with your kiddo silverwear from IKEA, you want MINE. You want to sit on my lap, eat my food, with my silverwear. This is why I have no nice clothes anymore.

With a few small exceptions, you eat what we eat. You love the typical toddler bribes (cherrios, goldfish crackers, animal cookies), and we just offer you stuff over and over again. Friday at daycare you devoured your watermelon. Must have been saving the appitite for that, since you refused it the last five times I gave it to you. Veggies are always a challenge, but I've got lots of tips. When all else fails, cover it in cheese sauce. I won't tell you until you leave for college that the cheese sauce uses frozen squash.

You have lots to say, just not many words to say it with. "Dat" is a multi-use word that could mean airplain, the toaster has popped, or Danica. Your Mama and Dada isn't very distinctive yet, but you are getting there. Up and Down are in the bag. And you say (kind of) "All Done" when you are done eating. This is a major improvement over throwing your cereal on the floor. You babble to yourself, and get very frustrated when were aren't catching on. However, we did teach you a few signs. Daddy and I were always fairly skeptical of this, and frankly rebelled against it since everybody asked us if we were doing it. So we have signs for eat, drink, all done, please, and the toddler classic, more. It's so cute when you do more unprompted, like for more marshmellows.

Patrick, you are a delight. You are a non-stop tornado of play and discovery, and when I pay attention, we can really get each other. And if I need to keep you busy while I put some mascara on, I sit you in the sink and let you play with inappropriate objects. Thanks for cooperating.

I love you, my sweet toddler!
Love,
Mommy