Cohen is 19 Months Old

Dear Cohen,

We were so busy last month with the babies that I missed your 18 month day. And we have been so busy having fun this month that I almost let your 19 month day creep past me. I guess to sum up our days, I would say that we are busy, busy, busy!

First off, you are 1 year and 7 months old. That means you are closer to your 2nd birthday than you are to your 1st birthday. And all your closest friends are turning 2. And you are sticking your toes into the Terrible Twos yourself. And some days you make me feel like I'm losing my mind.

You have recently revamped your tantrums. They are stronger and louder and carried out with more passion than any of us were prepared for. You are a boy who knows exactly what you want, and you are not afraid to let the entire world know it. You do not hesitate to throw yourself to the floor and cry when you don't get your way. I am learning how to best handle these tantrums and how to discipline you in love, and you are (hopefully) learning that there are better ways to express your dissatisfaction than melting into a giant toddler puddle. We'll figure this out together, I promise.

That's the only negative thing I can find about you inching toward 2. Your vocabulary is growing daily, and it's so much fun to hear what comes out of your mouth. You can repeat almost anything we say, and you remember so much. When you are playing by yourself, you talk in your own baby language, but when you are with people, you use real words. You are also starting to string words together into phrases and sentences. You say "Night night, daddy" and "I don't know" and "What is it?" and "I love ____ (usually chocolate or trucks)". You know how to ask for water and milk and juice. You test everything to see if it's "hot".

You love to play in water, and you get so excited when you know it's bath time. You would play in the bathtub for hours if I let you. You have your own outside swimming pool that you like to climb in and out of, but you aren't keen on sitting in the pool or playing with the water. You adore your water table and have learned how to climb through the doggy door in order to get to it.

You are still very much obsessed with cars. You have a ton of toy cars, and you usually always have on or two in your hands. You also really love tractors, and anything that doesn't look like a car or truck is a tractor. We have a lot of fun in parking lots pointing out all the cars and trucks.

You are a master at pointing out body parts. You can point to your hair, head, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, knees, belly button, toes, and fingers without hesitation. You also like to show others where their body parts are. You can identify red cars and green cars and blue cars and yellow cars. You can find cows and fish and dogs and kitty kitties.

This month, you fell and got a major boo boo on your head. You learned very quickly that you could milk sympathy out of people by looking pathetic and pointing at your bruise and saying, "Hurts." You also know to say "medicine" when you need some Tylenol for your teeth. Speaking of teeth, we're completely done with molars, but are now battling the worst of your teeth: your canines. Poor guy. I promise one day it'll be all over. I think the thing you like most about your teeth is that you get to brush them. You love brushing your teeth. You love it when I brush them for you, and you love when you are given your toothbrush to do it all on your own.

You are still about the same weight, but you've grown a bit taller. Your clothes (especially your shirts) are fitting a bit looser these days. That doesn't surprise me since you are always on the move. I can usually count on you to eat a good breakfast (usually half a banana and a Nutrigrain bar), but you're not much of a lunch or dinner eater. You will eat pretty much anything -- especially if someone else is eating it -- but you don't eat a lot of it.

You are such a big boy, and you are constantly learning how to do big boy things. You are so smart and loving and playful. Some days I look at you and find it hard to believe that I am the momma of such a big boy. Some days you change so much that I almost don't recognize you. But everyday, I love you more than I ever imagined I could love another person. You are my treasure, little boy. You always will be.

I love you to the moon and back,
Mama