Seventeenth Month

It has been quite a month, and I am struggling a bit to recall it all. It was full of events of importance, of my first leaving and what will be your daddy’s first time away without us coming up this weekend. Here are a few things I am thinking about :

::The way you both drop onto your tummies in the bath when I tell you to ‘swim’. You squiggle down and kick all the way across the tub, you know, all 10 inches left. You are both so big now.


::The way you run Matchbox cars over every windowsill. Great incentive for cleaning the window sills.

::The park accomplishments which include climbing a vertical ladder without ‘help’ and going up the stairs with the rail. Not down though, when you go to get down I say “careful” and you turn around and go down backwards. And you climb up on the play horses and Jeeps and rock them with great abandon and then climb off, usually with success. There still are a lot of biffs on the playground but it is getting better.


::The joy your red wagon brings. Owen, you love to push it everywhere and Mason, you love to ride so we have actually had moments of cooperative play/fun that soothe my heart.

:: Airplanes.


::The way you both understand toys now. Months ago we found those old school cube shape sorters. You liked them but had very little success. Now I find you with them, holding a shape and turning the cube to find the correct hole. You are not terribly accurate and still need some cues, but you understand the concept. And the stacking toys, the blocks, well, endless possibilities. And then there is always dirt. Ugh.


::The fun of ‘reading’ with you. This currently entails finding every ball, car and dog in each book and repeatedly reassuring you that you have found the ball/car/dog. Trains are ramping up in popularity, babies still receive sloppy kisses, and stories are still never finished because you do not sit still long enough

I have to admit, there are a lot of things you still do not get. Mason, you do not understand the need to share things. You are quite content gathering every little car, or every block in play and you tend to keep them away from your brother. You are a determined little man with a mean scream when I interrupt you and attempt to ’encourage’ sharing. You also do not understand the need to damper your banshee scream…a sound that has driven me a little mad due to the inhuman pitch. Owen, you just recently decided you do not get the need to sleep through the night anymore. Oh, the night wakings.

It is not crying, no, it is talking, rambling on in your husky voice. Then comes the kicking, the crib kicking, the wall kicking (mind you, your room adjoins ours and your kicks land squarely and rattle me a bit). Then sometimes the crying. I am thinking you decided to start your 18 month sleep regression early. It is all the rage in the twin blogging world right now, wouldn’t want to be left out.

But this too shall pass, into what, I have no idea. At least I am getting six hours of sleep most nights. Always has been enough for me, gives me just enough energy to do the day and a good excuse to lay down with you at nap time if need be. And that is saying a lot considering the energy it requires to keep up with you.

The other day at the park we played with a boy named Joshua. He proudly announced to me that he was four, asked if you were girls or boys (it’s the hair that confuses people) and displayed his impressive rock climbing skills. And it made my heart squeeze a bit to realize that sooner than I thought, I will be writing your 47th month letter (well, maybe not that soon once I break it down to months). Part of me cannot wait and the other wants to freeze time. Ah, the juxtaposition of being your Mama.

Love you, boys, Mama loves you so very much.