Almost 22 months, which means almost 2 years!

Where has the time gone? My little baby has turned into a walking, talking, negotiating, thoughtful, mischieveous, talented nearly two year old! Was it overnight? Not exactly, although I still do have moments of realization that come on like a lightbulb, where it seems that he's overnight outgrown something, whether a toy or an outfit. The feeling that, all-of-a-sudden, he's "too old" for this or that. But for all these bittersweet realizations, there's also the excitement that with each day or month that passses, Chou-chou is now old or big or capable enough to try something new, and these firsts are truly worth celebrating. Yes, in retrospect Chou-chou's babyhood is starting to blur and feel like it happened in the "blink of an eye", but honestly I assume that's why we thought it was okay to have another baby! As precious and squeezable as he was in his earlier months, and as fondly as I look back at the thousands of pictures, we worked darn hard to survive through that first year or so, and I've been so amazed at how much he has transformed over his second year. He's a real boy now!:) Our parenting challenges are no less perplexing these days, and they definitely require a whole new type of energy and thought, but maybe we're more seasoned and less obsessive about them, or maybe we just prefer them to the babyhood challenges for now because he makes us laugh so much. Sometimes I see a little one content on a blanket or in a stroller and I wish to have those days back when Chou-chou would just CHILL for a minute on a blanket (and stop tearing my house apart for the 30th time in the day)... but then I'm brought back to reality and remember that Chou-chou never was that content baby!!:) When we put in our order for baby #2, we made sure to check the "sleeper" box, the "happy baby" box, and the "no reflux" box... wish us luck.

Anyway, onto Chou-chou at 22 months! Chou-chou's current faves are, in no particular order:

• buckles, as in fastening them and then asking to get "down" so he can refasten them (think grocery carts, carseat, booster seat, belts, etc.;


• torchons/dish towels... we don't quite understand the fascination, but it started at my cousin's house last week, where he starting carrying around a blue dish towel, and now he wants to sleep with one and wear them around like capes;


• going "vroom vroom" in a real vehicle, which he asks to do and moves his hand as if on a steering wheel. If he finds a set of keys on the table and the front door is unlocked, he takes it upon himself to walk out to the car and try to go "vroom vroom" by himself. If Daddy's in the mood when he gets home from work, they'll sit in his truck for a half hour playing "vroom vroom";


• getting into the refrigerator and/or freezer and scattering condiments around the yard, frozen corn in our bed, lemons and half-eaten fruit all over (I went to get my haircut last night for less than an hour and returned to a house with crayon on the front door, smooshed plum on the floor, fridge door open, tiling spacers sitting in pee in his potty, and crayon all over the bathroom walls... Daddy was busy grouting the shower it would seem!) BTW, if anyone knows of a babylock for a fridge with vertical doors, I'd love to know where to purchase one. So far the ones we've found (and mistakenly bought) don't work on our fridge;


• pulling Zoe's tail, even though he's been scratched multiple times;


• his best friend Odessa... when we left Odessa last week for like 30 minutes, he cried "Odessa" the whole time they were apart. The funny thing is that, once they're together, they usually take a little while to warm up to each other. They have so much fun laughing and making a mess together, though;


• This last one isn't a favorite, but it's the absolute most hilarious thing that Chou-chou does: Chou-chou thinks he should be able to get "dede" (dedans... inside) anything he wants, and especially with toy cars lately, he'll try to get his foot inside the door (envision him trying to get inside a hotwheel) and then get frustrated that he doesn't fit! I wish I had the picture my cousin took of him doing this last weekend! This is similar to how he'll see a picture of something in a book, such as ice cream, and grab at it in frustration that he can't have it! He does this with everything, from airplanes in the sky he wants to touch, to doll shoes that are too small for his feet. SOOO funny!!!

Those are all the favorites I can think of right this minute. In other news, Chou-chou has been repeating everything for about a month now and is spewing out all sorts of funny stuff, such as "Hey Mom", "I dunno", "Coming" (as in "I'm coming"), and still my favorite "Donald Duck & Goofy". He also came out with a "maison house" a couple times the other day, which is interesting because he said both the French and English at the same time. He's doing better with separation anxiety finally, and had no problem when I left him with my dad for the day last week (of course it helps that it's Gampa and Gampa has lots of vroom vroom stuff at his house), and did fine when I left him at the gym daycare this morning. Now I have no excuse to not go! He's doing awesome on his potty progress, and we upped the ante to an M&M for successful pottying the other day because I thought that might help with poop (see below).

I'm really looking forward to all the fun crafts Chou-chou and I can do together come holiday time, as he loves coloring and having someone write his name (he says "Onan" for his name), and thoroughly enjoys creating with playdough and cookie cutters too. I'm thinking sugar cookies at Christmas will be fun!

Okay, naptime is nearly over now. I think this update was long overdue, though. Our Chou-chou is the light of our lives and he is more fun with each passing day. We love you, Chou-chou!!

Caca!

Chou-chou hit a big milestone yesterday... caca in the toilet!! We were so excited for him, because he's been peeing like a champ for some time and couldn't seem to get the timing right on the caca business (we've had caca pretty much everywhere in the last two weeks... the yard, the wood floor... luckily we have wood floors and can clean it up easily... FUN!!). So here he is, proud of his first big boy caca, and especially happy about the TWO M&Ms he got for it!

Baby #2 is on his or her way!

11 weeks, 2 days

We had our second ultrasound yesterday (the first was just to make sure that bleeding wasn't a sign of a problem at 8 weeks), and it's so amazing how much our gummy bear has changed in three weeks! The ultrasound tech at the last one said she thinks babies look like gummy bears around then, and I thought that was quite fitting. Although I must say the gummy bear-ness has all but disappeared, with real legs and arms having replaced the stubs of last month. This little boy or girl was apparently sleeping when we first turned on the camera, but once the tech got to pushing and prodding, he or she responded with turns, kicks, punches and all. It was quite impressive. My mom came along to help with Chou-chou and to see the baby, but unfortunately they were running so late that she only got to see a little bit of the show. She was still awed, though, since she had never seen an ultrasound of a baby. It actually ended up working out for the best that they were running so late, because by the time the radiologist showed up to go over the results, Jarod had arrived and got to see a sneak peek with the radiologist at the wheel. That was extra special since Jarod couldn't take any more time off work just right now. I didn't anticipate Chou-chou freaking out so badly at a medical professional having a look at his mama (he must have thought they were hurting me), so it was lucky that my mom was there to help calm him. For our big ultrasound at 18 weeks, I'll have to find a sitter. When I made the appointment for the 18 week ultrasound this morning, they assured me that they wouldn't be so late next time, and they said I could look forward to a 4-D show! What is 4-D?? I guess we'll find out! I'm sure it will be very impressive! I don't think we'll have any extras along for the next ultrasound, though, as I don't trust either of my parents to not peek at the gender!! My dad seems to think we won't be able to wait til the big day to find out (honestly it's he that can't wait!!), which is of course, all the more motivation to hold out. Obviously I would love to know whether we're having a boy or girl, but it's a once in a lifetime experience that I'd love to have to push the baby out and find out then. And you really can't have it both ways, how I see it anyway. With Chou-chou it was great to know he was a boy, because I so wanted a girl and knowing he was a boy allowed me to get over that disappointment and be happy for him when he came. This time, I think either a boy or a girl would be great, so what's the rush? Anyway, I've heard from others who haven't found out the gender that it's other family members who have the hardest time with not knowing. I'd have to agree:) Our friends Caroline, Clint and Hannah are expecting a boy or girl any day now, and I can't wait to get the call to know whether Maxime or Margot has joined their family!

Okay, enough rambling. Here's our gummy bear, in all his or her 11 week, 2 day-old glory!

Broken nose, four days out

Turning green...