crushedcorn (jonesing): The Growing Mimic and How Not to be Scared

This weekend my mom and I combed through bags and totes of my sisters' kids' old baby clothes. I set aside a heaping mound of clothes in the hopes that baby #2, whenever she comes along, is a she. I now have a good-sized stack of clothes for 'Rad once he hits 24 months and a laundry basket full of 18-24 months clothes for the little dude in preparation for his next growth spurt, in the hopes that it won't leave me reeling and digging through his drawers for something to wear that doesn't make him look like I'm dressing him in doll clothes. I don't know that I'll ever be able to look at clothes smaller than the size he's currently wearing that won't my the corners of my mouth turn down and elicit an "awww," no matter how small or quiet.

Quiet is something that 'Rad is not. Take the pacifier out of his mouth and he is a constantly-dictating stream-of-consciousness tumble of words and sounds. He has taken to becoming a true mimic, too. After clearing my throat at the grocery store, it sounded like I was pushing a gremlin through the aisles - Poorly annunciated "ahems" and "hmmhmmhms" all around. My parents are sure that he'll be talking by Christmas. For now, his favorite words are "Mama," (so clear and cute!) "Dada," and "Nana" (we used to call him NaNa and I think he thinks it's a real word). This is probably when we really need to watch what we laugh at, how we talk, and what we do. Yeah, still working on that.

I still get the weekly e-mails I signed up for when I was pregnant, but I find myself paying them less and less heed. They tell me what Connor should be doing at this age, they talk about the difficulties I may be encountering with him at this week in his development, but most of all them seem intent on freaking me out. "12 Symptoms to Never Ignore!" "Does Your Baby Have a Developmental Issue?!" "Your Baby's Stuffed Animals May Be Trying to Kill Him in His Sleep!" (I might have made that last one up). As if parents aren't worked up enough about what we're doing wrong, how we might be failing, or what might be silently suffocating our kid's progress and development. When I was pregnant I looked forward to those e-mails to find out how big my baby was and what new amazing thing he was doing. Now they seem to be primed to freak you out and get the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up for fear that your kid could be just a little behind his peers. Enough already. *Clicks unsubscribe* I think we're doing fine so far, thank you very much.

Today is Z's first day of work at his new job (Hallelujah, the man got a job! I did too, by the way :-)) That means the force of Grandma (Z's mom) and Lola (my mom) have been called upon to help pick 'Rad up on time from Jean's. That also means that we had to find another car seat. In true Goldilocks fashion, we found one that was too small, one that was a smidge too big, and the only one that's just right is the one in our car. We have it worked out now, and thankfully 'Rad had fun trying on some new seats for his seat.