Monday, February 16, 2009

month eighteen and nineteen: in review

I had been intending to write this post for the past month. And just as I was about to sit and recapture some of the moments from your 18th month ... you go and turn 19 months. Time, come she will.


I try not to blink and still, time flies.


One day my newborn baby is lulled to sleep in his sister's doll cradle.


The very next day he is hoisting himself in to that same cradle and rocking it until he squeals with glee.


You are such a baby to me. My baby. But you are growing so fast. Too fast.


Per toddler standard operating procedure, you are in to everything.


One of your favorite past times involves pulling random things off the counter. Why just last week, in the span of 10 seconds, you grabbed a telephone and called our neighbor on speed dial, before scattering an entire bag of granola cereal across the floor.


You watch and absorb everything your siblings do. And sometimes it shocks me just how much you emulate them.


Although I probably shouldn't, I actually trust your capabilities. I know that you won't put small things in to your mouth and 7 out of 10 times, you listen to me better than your older siblings do.


You have mastered climbing our play fort and are almost too fast for me to catch.


You know how to sit and go down the slide.

And you know how to hold on to the rope on the climbing wall, until I realize that you are dangling holding the rope on the climbing wall, and run to rescue you.

With three tutors, you are mastering the English language. You have a repertoire of words that include various foods, body parts and the entire cast of Toy Story.


You love Toy Story. Not so much the movie, as the characters. Currently, your favorite character is Buzz Lightyear. Not surprisingly, it is your brother's favorite character as well. And I am just tickled that the Halloween costumes that I bought five months ago are getting so much use.

At the moment, we only have one hard plastic Buzz Lightyear, which happens to be the most coveted toy in the entire house. Coveted by you. And your brother. Unfortunately, during a recent trip to Target, we learned that the hard plastic Buzz Lightyear is no longer being produced. So until we find another one, we must share, which brings all parties involved much consternation.

Several times throughout the day, you will disappear in to your brother's room, where you will sit and quietly play with Buzz Lightyear and Woody for a half hour or more. Quite often, your older brother tends to get a little crazy when you are playing with these toys - which tends to make me a little crazy - because not only is he hyper-possessive over the one hard plastic Buzz Lightyear, he is going through a phase where he likes to stash any toy that he is not playing with in various hiding places so that you can't find them.

(But rest assured, I always help you out.)


Even though they aren't always the best with sharing, you adore your siblings.

And they continue to adore you.

Your siblings have helped to teach you so much. You know where your nose, eyes, ears, fingers, toes, legs, arms and tummy are and you have mastered eating cereal with a spoon and spaghetti with a fork.

You will work alongside your siblings whenever they do home school activities, contentedly stacking blocks or reading books.


But because you are so determined to keep up with them, you do not like to miss any of the action and will resist naps until you pass out cold.

How it is that your siblings on any given day and if provided the opportunity, will take up to a three hour nap and still sleep a solid 11 hours at night, while you nap no more than 45 minutes during the day and sleep no more than 8 hours at night, is beyond me.

Even though you have robbed, and continue to rob, me of a good night's sleep, I cannot imagine loving you any more than I do. The two of us have such a strong bond that your father will hold one of his hands up high and say, "There is Mommy..." then holding his hand down low to the ground add, "...and then there is everything else."

It often happens when I hold you, that I will think, "This is the best moment of my entire life. This one, right now, this is as good as it gets." So thank you for making my heart so full that it warms my soul. Thank you for making me feel so blessed, that my vision often blurs with tears.

Thank you for coming in to our world and for taking my breath away, on a daily basis.

17 comments:

  1. So beautifully gorgeous.

    I love how you love your son. What a treasure these posts will be to him (and you) one day!

    Leeann
    niccofive.blogspot.com

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  2. I love these posts about Henry. He is adorable! It is so obvious how much you love all your children. Please don't take this the wrong way - it is in no way meant as criticism or anything negative for that matter - I was just thinking that you might want to consider writing such posts for the triplets too, just so they won't feel hurt later on when reading these posts to Henry. They WILL know you love them just as much, I know they will. But I'm sure it would mean a lot to them if they had such posts about them (individually, of course).
    Thx for these posts. They make me teary eyed every time I read them and they help me enjoy my twin toddlers even more.

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  3. This post was so warm to my heart. It is beautifully written from the unconditional love of his mother.

    It remindes me to stop and watch my daughter play as I snap pictures of her as well and create a story that one day she will trace and hope will treasure all her life. You capture the moments and words so vividly and tell the story so well. My Monday is full and it's beacuse of you. Thank you for this chocolate-warm-like-tingle-your-heart-post.

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  4. Anon: I don't take it as criticism. I actually have a lot written about the triplets on PAPER that I haven't put on the blog. I also have pulled together NUMEROUS slide shows that I haven't posted.

    I'm not worried, in the least bit, that they will ever feel left out or unloved as they grow older. Although I haven't written about each of them individually the way I write about Henry, I do believe that I capture an abundance of stories and pictures of what they are doing as they grow.

    With three children, the same exact age, I consider it a little overwhelming to write everyone's "milestones" on any particular month. (Especially since I have a lot of other things that I want to write about.) This post last night took me almost three hours to sort through the pictures, upload all the pictures, and to pull together a story.

    I don't know how long I'll keep up these monthly posts about Henry because they really do take a lot of time. But I know that at THIS age, he is rapidly changing and that's what I want to capture.

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  5. I just told Charlie about Anon's comment and after some discussion, it's been determined that if I was a better mother > I would write a post each month about all of our children.

    Darn. I thought I was doing enough!!

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  6. Now go run 5 miles in the rain... just kidding!

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  7. I so GET this. We have our #2 coming and I worry constantly that I won't feel the bond that I feel with our firstborn. He made me a MOMMY! He might be the spitting physical image of his father, but his soul is like my soul. I just "get" this child, good, bad, and ugly.

    And I love how you worded it...taking your breath away. Because that is exactly what my son does!

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  8. Jen, Please continue with your "Oh Henry" stories! He is adorable and in my opinion, totally entitled to his share of the spotlight. Now, regarding the commentary left by "Anonymous": The Blog IS entitled "Amazing Trips" so I seriously doubt the three of them will ever get together and write a "Mommy Dearest" novel.

    Anne Marie

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  9. Henry is going to be the coolest kid ever. Seriously, get ready because in about 12 years your phone is going to start ringing, and ringing, and ringing...the girls will be calling for William and Henry and the boys will be calling for Elizabeth and Carolyn. And you will still be getting no rest!!!

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  10. Beautiful and OMG those gorgeous blue eyes!

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  11. I love this quote:
    There is Mommy..." ... "...and then there is everything else."

    I think I'll record my voice and play that one over and over to each of my kids in their sleep! (James 19, Alexander 8, & Brian 6)
    ;-) Really sweet.

    The last picture is so beautiful.

    Love, Marg.

    Thanks for the call this morning such sweet voices! You made my day. And tell the girls that if YOU Run the entire 26.2 miles --I'll Buy 'em a horse!!!!!!!!

    (...okay maybe not) ;-)

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  12. Henry is beautiful and I can see why you FAVOR--him, I did the same thing with my son FRANK.
    How do you like that controversy?
    Also my daughter Beth who was my most calm and kool baby.

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  13. I can see why you do the seperate posts about Henry. Almost every single one of your posts has at least some reference or picture or story about the triplets, but not every one has something about Henry. My daughter is one month older than Henry, so reading your reviews about him are like reading about my daughter (right down to sitting on the potty with toilet paper!), so I personally love the reviews! Henry is a cutie as usual!!!

    Kelly(Houston)

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  14. Henry is just scrumptious. Must be the "second" child thing - my daughter is almost two, she loathes sleep, is a daredevil, and is still nursing (Na Na's, NA NA'S!)- every time I read about Henry, I think he and my little one would get along very, very well. Oh and try Ebay for the Toy Story characters - there are LOTS to choose from!

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  15. I totally think that is more than fine to write these little Henry posts. I love 'em! Plus being a singleton living in the shadow of triplets he deserves it. Plus you do write about all the triplets all the time! Keep it up :)

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  16. so, so, so sweeeeeeeet :)

    he is so adorable!

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