Life as a mom of a 1 1/2 year old - never turn your back

I finally have a free minute to write a blog entry. It's been a while and so much has gone on. Matty (who is now 18 months, 21 pounds and 33 inches tall) has been constantly wanting to color, swim, watch a movie and play with pillows on our bed or simply walk around the house trying to find something to climb - all which require immediate supervision. The movie on the bed used to be something I could have him do while I emailed, but this throwing of pillows and jumping up and down has caused me to have to be in there. So now I'm up early so I could get a shower in. That has been eliminated from his awake time unless Daddy is home because he had been happy playing in the pack n' play watching a movie until I found him climbed up to the corner about to jump out after a shower last week. Needless to say, I've been a little smelly lately.

I also increased the amount of time I have in home day care with my best friend's daughter (now 6 months and crawling and pulling herself to standing like crazy) from 2 to 3 days a week. I figure they're only this little once, so enjoy the chaos now and do things like shower and write on the computer when they start school :) I used to get computer time in when Matty went to sleep at night, but now I'm so exhausted from the day, my bed time has been about a half hour after his.

I should mention that Matty is not an out of control or dare devil child. He is just exploring and finding ways to get higher. He's pretty cautious as compared to some stories I've heard about more reckless, accident-prone children. He is learning to get down stairs and he always holds on the rail or holds his had up to Mom or Dad to take it. And I'm so excited about the language he's developing. He's in that "copying stage" where he'll attempt anything we ask him to say. My favorite is, of course, "I love you Mommy", which comes out a little muffled, but I know he means it as he repeats it over and over while saying goodnight. He had a couple of weeks where he protested going in his crib, but thankful that is over while he's going for the "say night night to red bear and doggy and lamb (stuffed animal pals)" and then we put him in the crib with them and stay to rub his tummy and say prayers and night nights and I love yous until he calms down to the point of letting us leave the room so he can curl his hair and listen to his music till he's asleep. What a procedure. This replaced reading books and rocking in the chair which he figured out to be his nighttime routine a couple of weeks ago and completely refused to pick up a book anytime after 8pm. I am glad we get reading books in more during the day now, so it's not associated with sleep. We'll have to see how long this saying goodnight to the animals game is going to last though. He's on to our antics :)

Hope all is well with everyone out there on my blog list. Drop me a line and let me know what's going on with you. Blessings. Francine