Right now he looks so little and so big at the same time. He will be two in just a couple months. He strings words together into phrases and short sentences, with little grunting "uh uh uh's" in the spots where he knows other words belong (for example, "Uh uh car day uh like auntie's car." (We saw a car today that looked like auntie's car). He's growing up so fast and yet still seems like a baby when he melts down or just needs cuddles from Mommy when no one else will do.
His light-up cowboy boots were a Christmas gift from Benjamin's family. He asks for them frequently. I was carrying him the other day when he wore them, and he said, "Coming off!" It took me a while until he finally said, "Boots! Coming off!" before I got it. One was slipping off (they're a size too big still)....
He closes doors and toilet lids if he finds them open.
I was singing to him at bedtime one night, a song with names of Jesus. I sang, "Emmanuel," and he said, "Animal. Lion." Haha.
These word mix ups keep me laughing. I was filing my nails and he came over. "Nail file," I told him.
"Fire. Hot. Dangerous." he responded.
He loves to run up to me and say "Hug Mommy!" or "Cuddle Mommy" or most recently, if someone else is attending to him, "Want Mommy!." He is extremely affectionate, coming up to me to be held or cuddled or hugged more times than I can count.
He is still nursing at bedtime, nap time, and wake-up time in the morning. The wake-up time is about 5am. He sleeps in his crib from about 8pm until 5am, then when he wakes, we bring him into bed with us, he nurses, and goes back to sleep until somewhere between 6 and 7am.
I love our nursing cuddles, and he is rather attached to "nee nah nurse". Every time I think about trying to wean him, I decide that neither of us is ready yet.
I used to say I would nurse a baby until they were old enough to "help themselves." I didn't realize that would happen by about five months old. At that age, he was able to pull down my shirt and latch on all by himself, if I let him and was wearing a stretchy shirt. That was definitely too early to wean.
Now my answer is that I will wean him when either he or I are ready to be done nursing. Some days I feel ready, and other days I'm not ready. It is still so comforting to him to cuddle in and nurse for even thirty seconds if he gets hurt, or is sleepy and grumpy and having a melt down. If he starts throwing a bit of a fit, just a short time of nursing calms him down immediately, like a magic switch. Most of the time I comfort him in other ways, but nursing always seems to do the trick if he's really upset about something.
He can run and jump and throw himself down in the grass and roll, and climb things in the park and go up and down steps without holding my hand - but if I'm there he wants to hold my hand anyway.
