a reflection

2009 is about to come to a close and I am reminded of how much Eddie has grown and developed this year as I watch my nephew Noah today. Back in January Eddie was where Noah is at; playing on the floor, sometimes rolling over, grasping at small objects and gnawing on everything with that animalistic vengeance only a teething baby has. And now...well he is officially running around, climbing on everything in sight and trying his best at imitating whatever his Dad does. At 16 months he is now, well, a sort of menace at times. He unplugs the Christmas tree lights, grabs at the blind cords and pulls them hard, taunts Marty with his food and tries to steal her food, plays in the toilet, i.e. flushes it repeatedly, tears toilet paper into little pieces and then splashes in the water and is into biting us, amongst other pesky behavior. But, on the other hand, he has developed into this sweet little cuddling machine. He has these moments throughout the day where he will just come and climb into your arms or sit right next to you and nuzzle. His big thing now is that he can climb onto the sofa and chairs and he will do so and just chill for awhile, or grab the remote and try to turn on the tv or change channels. He will also nuzzle on our bed and in Marty's dog bed. His movements are more like a little boy and less like a baby. Lately he has become sort of clingy though, always wanting to be held. But it is mostly because he wants to be a part of our world, a world that exists at 5 feet high and above; he wants to grab at anything on the counter, such as pens and paper, San Pellegrino bottles or a cell phone or remote control. He wants to sit at the table and eat with a fork and knife; he has his own forks now and has mastered them pretty well. He wants to drink whatever we are drinking, and eat whatever we are eating. He is still a good eater, most of the time, but several times a day he seems to just give away half of his food to Marty. He is still not saying any recognizable words, although DOG seems to be close as he points to them in books and says "DAW" or repeats this when he hears a dog bark. But he understands so much. I can ask him to get his boots, and he will retrieve them. or you can say, "where is the ball?" and he will go find one. There are so many other examples of such that I cannot list them all, but it is a huge milestone when your child responds to your words, even if the response is an action and not in actual language yet.

In 2010 I look forward to our new music class which starts next week, learning to ride a tricycle (a gift from Grandma Bonnie that arrived today), planting our veggie garden in the spring and playing with worms, going to the zoo (we never made it in '09), swimming with cousin Noah, a trip to LA (for Uncle Charlie's wedding and to meet baby Alex), another summer in Maine and words, spoken words...this is what I am most excited for.