As we prepare for Christmas, we need to recap the last month since the baby was born and get some updates on Billy and the house guests that were in town over the Thanksgiving break. Billy is plowing head first into the infamous Terrible Twos, which is that wonderful time in every child's life when that little bundle of joy begins to develop an urge to make decisions for himself for the first time. No longer is he content to just do what you say without question. Now, an independence streak emerges. The trick here is making sure your child does what you want him to do without stunting his developing ability to make decisions for himself, which is a skill that will take decades of refining. Now, don't take this the wrong way. There is no lack of discipline in our home, and when all is said and done, what needs to be done will be done, but this is also a great opportunity. A chance to begin to truly develop your child's ability to think for himself and do so in a way that still has him doing what you're asking him to do.
The Twos. Well, they are reflected in changes in mood, attitude, indecision, conflicting feelings and emotions, emotional outbursts, and any other host of possible manifestations that can rear their ugly head. The phase begins at one a half and generally lasts until the child is about three, so Billy is just entering the Funhouse for the first time. Because of that, the battle of wills has begun and with it, a battle of psychology.
So now that we've touched on Billy's emotional development, let's take a look at some of his physical changes. He's still a relatively tall child for his age, coming in at the 75th percentile. The online calculators we use seem to predict his ultimate height will be about 6'1", so we'll see if that pans out. A.J. is also in the 75th percentile in height, so I wonder if that prediction will hold true for him, as well. Billy is noticeably stronger, sturdier, more agile on his feet, and for some time now, we've been playing a game where he walks on my back when I lay on the floor. Because of that constant need to hold himself upright on very tricky surfaces (curving back and slippery shirts), Billy's balance is exceptional for a child his age. He'll walk up and down my back without falling off for quite a while and can hold his standing position until he intentionally feels the need to jump down. At a recent birthday party for a neighbor, Billy was very nimble in the jumping jack, moving quickly from rounded slippery section to rounded slippery section, while the older kids were falling down.
From a mental aspect, he's beginning to string words together in 2-3 word short sentences or in full blown dialogue where 90% of it is clearly gibberish, even though he's fully convinced he's having a conversation and that you'll need to respond to whatever he's just said. His comprehension is exceptional, or at least it seems so. You can give him complex situations, such as "take the office chair and put it back in the office" and he'll do it without any direction beyond the verbal request. While that might not seem like much, that task requires him to steer that chair across three rooms, around obstacles, across various surfaces, and into the position it began in right in front of the desk, face forward. He does the same with his bedtime routine, understanding four to five directions when given to him at one time. Not bad at 19 months old.
We've also started working on his alphabet and Billy can repeat nearly every letter and actively identify about half of the letters when asked to point them out. We've also been working on counting to 10 both forward and backward. Part of that language development and understanding of the alphabet is Billy watching Daddy type on the keyboard. We often find him in the office with the keyboard drawer down, the keyboard slid out, and hear Billy playing with the keys like he's typing something.
The same bit of comprehension comes with our Iphones. We both have them and Billy can't put them down. At first, he was just touching anything that would move, but now, he's developed a sound understanding of how things work. He knows to hold the icons down to trigger the ability to move them around, and then how to drag them around the page. He knows how to get into his favorite games and videos, how to make a video of himself, and how to unlock the child lock on the phone that will supposedly stop him from accessing the inner workings. He's deleted several apps that Antoinette and I were certainly not trying to delete just yet.
Some other things that Billy's been into lately include his cars and trucks, most of which are pretty big and light up, taking walks with his Grandpa when they were in town, and watching Space Shuttle launches on Youtube so that he can say "BOOM!!!" over and over and over again. Never gets tired of those shuttle launches.
We also had Thanksgiving at our house as my parents came in to see the new baby and with Thanksgiving happening to straddle the time they were in town, it only made sense to have it all at my house. My cousin and her boyfriend, having recently moved here, welcomed down my other cousin and her boyfriend, so we had the four of them over to hang out with the family, watch some football, and enjoy what turned into a sizable Thanksgiving turnout. My Mom cooked the meals with the help of my cousin as Antoinette tended to the little ones and I entertained the rest of our guests.
For my parents, the trip to Jacksonville gave them an opportunity to spend some of the first moments of his life with A.J. and finally get some one on one time with Billy, something we've been trying to setup for some time, but circumstances made that nearly impossible. Before long, Billy had his Grandpa trained to take him for walks around the block and even after they left to head home, we would find Billy laying in bed with his shoes on in the morning as if the first thing on his mind was more of those great Grandpa walks.
As for A.J., Billy and the little guy get along great. Billy can get a bit aggressive with him from time to time, but that's really kept to a minimum. His minor attacks were more tests to see how the baby would react and the response was surprisingly mellow. Sometimes, A.J. would just look at him like "what was that for", but not give Billy the satisfaction of crying. Now-a-days, the extent of Billy's attacks are typically a non-stop showering of head kisses for little A.J.
The little guy seems to have learned quickly that he needs to pack on pounds to survive in this house. He's a voracious eater, packing on two full pounds by his two week doctor visit and leading the doctor to let us know that we can slow the nighttime feedings. A.J. went from the 30th percentile in weight to the 75th or so in just two weeks. On top of that, the doctor gave him a clean bill of health and asked that he come back at 8 weeks so that he can get his first shots.
Speaking of night time feedings, this kid head faked us out of the gates with 3-4 days in a row of 5-6 hours of sleep, but before long, he "regressed" back to the 2 hour windows so common with newborns. Antoinette has done wonders keeping these guys on a pretty tight schedule when they are this age to get them to sleeping through the night within a 12-13 week time frame. For A.J., we wondered if it wasn't taking. Just a week ago, at about a month old, he was still sleeping just 2 hours at a crack, but all of a sudden, in the past couple days, A.J. has been catching 4-5 hours in a row without waking. We wonder if all of Antoinette's hard work and effort are starting to finally take hold of his night time cycle. Either way, she's enjoying it when she can and keeping her fingers crossed that this is a long term change.
With his extra weight, A.J. just feels sturdier. He's no longer the skin and bone toothpick he was at birth. Now, you can move him around quite a bit more without the worry of hurting him. As the weight comes on, his face and little body are beginning to fill out and he's starting to look a lot like his Mother. He has her eyes (color too), fingers and toes, her ears, and several other minor items that we catch every now and then. He's also using that developing face to begin to smile back at Momma and Dadda, who he can finally begin to recognize. And he watches Billy like a hawk. He loves Billy's squeaks and squeals and their high pitch seems to catch his attention.
Antoinette tries to get him down for tummy time when she can, but with a one and a half year old who doesn't seem to know where his own feet are have the time, putting him on the floor was a bit dangerous. Tummy time usually takes place on Momma's chest for a nap and he's already pushing off to pick his head up regardless of where you ultimately decide to put him.
One of the best attributes about this little guy is that he very well behaved. A.J. is not a colicky baby by any stretch. Instead, he is extremely calm and only seems to really go nuts with his crying when he's hungry, tired, or needs to burp. He seems to lack that "for no reason" crying session every now and then that many babies, including Billy, seem to go through at some point. In the coming weeks, A.J. will have his first Christmas and get his first shots, which are clearly two totally different experiences.
Finally, last but never least, is a little update on Antoinette. Since the delivery 6 weeks ago, Antoinette has dropped about 25 lbs and has just 5 or so left to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight, which of course she finds very exciting. She's still operating on little to no gas due to sleep deprivation staying up with the little guy, but that's to be expected to some degree. For Antoinette, her own 6 week checkup is right around the corner and she should get a clean bill of health to return to her normal activity.
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