eLLe - sweet 16 months, part II

Oh, Bubba

Your seventeenth month was not very welcoming.


I know... Grrrr. For starters, or maybe for starters and middles and everything in between, you're teething. I mean, teething. I had no idea teething could really be so bad. You've had your two little friends, Pokey and Buddy, in your bottom gums since month 11. And then suddenly four top teeth are descending from your upper gums and two more are protruding on the bottom. And you're a mess. And suddenly your mouth has eight teeth instead of two. And then you had a runny nose that lasted for about 2 weeks. But, because of this runny nose, you've learned to use a tissue to blow your nose, and it's actually quite hilarious.

I'm sorry I am so late in writing this post. I've been kind of preoccupied. With the wedding. Which is two weeks from tomorrow. As you know, sine you've been living in Tissue Paper Wonderland for the last six months, I'm doing almost everything myself for this wedding, which is going to be in our backyard. The invites, save-the-dates, flowers, favors, gifts, programs... anyhoodle, I've been busy. And I've been putting of the blog. But I'm back.

I have to admit that as excited as I am about the wedding and the following honeymoon to Mexico (hooray!), I find that I can't think about it too long or I get really sad. About leaving you for nine days. You're going to be awesome and amazing for your Grams, who is coming up from San Diego to stay with you, but I feel the pain of missing you for so long is going to make things really difficult. So I guess I should think about it more, and think about how much fun you're going to have with Grams and with Tutu, and how they're going to shove you into my arms at the end of nine days, and then go take a long nap.

Because you're a fireball. You're a nonstop motor boat steam engine firecracker bucking bronc. Your days are filled with exploration, games, screeching, and learning, and you fall asleep readily each evening at 6:45 and don't wake up for 13 hours or more.

You still nap every day for a couple hours, too, which is what you're doing right now. You still take your binky to sleep, and you are officially attached to your green "blanky."


Over Labor Day weekend we went with our friends the Highlands and their son, Jenner (your future husband) to their family's acreage in Eastern Oregon. We went last year, too, when the two of you were only a few months old and we plopped you in a playpen during the day and used the generator in the evenings to listen for you on our baby monitors. This year was quite different, with the two of you walking around in the dirt, but we had so much fun.

You are still not using many words, which isn't to say you're not communicating. Oh yes, you get your point across very well. Besides the squawking, you've learned gestures, my favorite of which is when you turn your palms face-up and shrug when I ask "Where is it?" And while there are some thing about you I can't understand, like why you grab a fistful of food and then run your hands through your hair, or why you like to poop in a fresh diaper that I've just finished fastening, I can certainly understand your wants and needs, and which game you'd like to play next.

And the night before last you initiated a game which still brings happy tears to my eyes when I think about it. You were in the tub, splashing around as is your favorite thing to do,

when you hefted the soaking washcloth over to where a rubber ball was floating. You placed the washcloth over the ball and picked up both items in one arm. Then you looked at me and turned your other palm up, and I realized we were playing Where's The Ball? and so I asked you that very question and you let the ball drop from the cloth and squealed with delight. We were playing peek-a-boo! And you kept doing this again and again, always hefting the big washcloth because it kept getting more sodden, and sometimes you couldn't quite cover the ball, or the ball was just on top, but each time you'd turn to me without a sound and make that gesture, and I'd say, "Where's the ball?"

That very same day you made another remarkable achievement: you told me you pooped! I've been working on bringing attention to the fact that you're pooping each time it's obvious that you are, and the other day you stood there are grunted for a bit then turned to me and said "bhuuf," which, naturally, is "poop," and then you led me into your bedroom and waited next to the changing table for me to hoist you up and change you. Time to get a potty seat!


My Luciya, I hope you know that even though I have been busy as a squirrel in an autumn oak tree the last few weeks, it is you who brings me sanity and joy and strength and calm. And you don't even know it.

I love you, Luciya!!

Love,

Mama