The Best Things about Carl (at 21 months)

1. I love how *cute* he is when he talks. He has such a sweet baby voice but speaks in complete, grammatically correct sentences. It just melts my heart.
2. I love his sweet smile.
3. I love that he can pretend already. He especially loves to "cook" and "serve" imaginary "food".
4. I love that he uses the toilet.
5. I love it when he copies Soren, especially when it makes no sense. He recites the planets and their moons, asks me how to spell words (even though he doesn't know the alphabet), and memorizes the primary songs and scriptures.
6. I love the way he dances. He likes tapes of lullabies and has a gentle, expressive way of moving.
7. I love that he is getting into coloring.
8. I love that he is learning prayer etiquette.
9. I love to snuggle with him on my lap and read a book.
10. I love to hear him sing. He is singing "I love to drink, drink, drink apples and bananas" right now.
11. I still love his beautiful blonde hair and his clear blue eyes.
12. I love to watch him go down the slide. His joy in this simple pleasure is very sweet to me.
13. I love how cheerful he is the morning.
14. I love that he can feed himself so that we can really eat our meals together.
15. I love that he has favorites: favorite foods (almonds and strawberries), favorite songs ("Waltzing Matilda" and "I am Like a Star"), and favorite books (Birds, The Lorax, and anything about Frances).
16. I love to ask him for a hug. He wraps his arms around my neck and lays his head on my chest.
17. I love that I can still carry him on my back.
18. I love the way his relationship with Scott is blossoming. He is excited for his daddy to come home from work and loves to play with him on Saturday mornings.
19. I love to see him play with Bunnicula, just the way Soren played with Rabbit (who has since been named Peter).
20. I love that he is mine and that we have many many years to share together.

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Our Potty Training Journey

February 2010 GOAL: My initial goal was to introduce Soren to the toilet and make it a fun place to sit. I have to admit that I also hoped that we would have some fortunate "accidents" that would lead to potty training success. STRATEGY: My plan was to sit Soren on the toilet once a day and read him a couple of stories. If he peed, I was planning to give him a candy. THE BAD NEWS: The candy totally backfired. The one time that he peed on the toilet, I gave him a candy and he had a full-on tantrum begging for more. If I ever told him "When you pee on the potty, you can have a candy", he would begin screaming for the treat and be unable to focus on the toilet training. THE GOOD NEWS: Soren was not afraid of sitting on the big toilet. He actually really enjoyed it (when I was reading stories and not pimping rewards) and started asking to sit there any time his butt was bare. J June 2010 GOAL: My goal was to potty train Soren within the month of June

Cake for Breakfast!

I was getting dressed when it suddenly got very quiet out in the living room. Soren had been contentedly babbling a moment ago and now it was silent. I'm sure you can imagine me, rushing half-panted down the hall, hoping nothing horrible had happened. At our last visit, my pediatrician filled my mind with horror stories of infant death; now gruesome scenes were flipping through my mind like a slide show on speed. Or like the scary tunnel in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Expecting a disaster, I was relieved when this was what I saw in the living room: The night before, I'd left a slice of left-over cake on the arm chair. We'd had company and Soren had been in bed. When I'd forgotten it at the end of the evening, it had been far from my son's greedy grasp. But this morning, when it was still left behind, it was within easy baby reach and too unusual for him not to explore. No wonder he was so quiet! He'd been experimenting with an unk

Milestone: New Syllable

This feels like such a silly thing to report about but it's got me tickled pink. Today Soren learned, what I feel, is the most important of all the English syllables: "ma". And it's about time. After months and months of hearing nothing but "da da da da" all day long, it's a refreshing change. I'm pretty sure that "da da" and "ma ma" don't correlate to anything in his mind yet. Still, he's that much closer to calling me his "mama" and I can't say the approximations don't warm my heart.

Mom Remembers

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