Wow, I forgot how quickly our little people change at different stages. This past month I feel like Marek has just changed so much! When did he turn into this full-blown toddler?
I had to trek off to work on this day, so Daddy had the task of taking his birthday pics...
This look makes me smile - he gets this look, and if you do it back at him he just busts out laughing...
Still very difficult to do a true photo shoot. :-) Plus, Sissy still vies for some good shots, too. Every single month when we take these, she grabs her camera, too, and takes her own shots. I love that.
The biggest thing I have to say for this month is how unbelievably well he communicates suddenly. He will often tell me what it is he wants, and when we ask him questions, he understands them perfectly well and answers "yes" or "no" appropriately. It's crazy! I remember thinking the same thing with Ellison when it suddenly takes off. For example: "Marek, do you want to go take a bath?" He'll pause for just a moment, then say, "Yes," and nod his whole body (he doesn't nod just his head). :-) He will tell me, "Hunga" when he's hungry, and tell me either "no" or "yes" when I name off a couple of different foods. He understands so much now, and says all kinds of things. A lot of his interactions involve him instructing, "On", "Off", "In", and "Out", "Up", and "Down". The other thing that has blown us away is that he will say "thank you" (or "tain-too") when we hand him an object or get something for him. Nuts!
I am completely in love with the fact that when you tell him it's time to "go sleepy night-night", he will just snuggle up in your arms and lay his head down on you. It's heaven. And most of the time you just rock or sway him for a few minutes, then he's ready to turn into the crib, and you lay him facedown on his "M" blanky (with Monka close by), and he snuggles right into his blanky.
He is SUCH a big eater! I feel like the kid can out-eat me on occasion. He's starting to get a little leary of some foods when you bring a bite up to his mouth. I'm trying not to sweat bullets as I immediately think of Sister's picky judgemental attitude toward the appearance of cuisine. I can usually finagle in a bite, but ooooh, I'm praying he sticks with being fairly open-minded. I'm not trying to feed my family tripe, for pete's sake. He absolutely loves corn, peas, and canned grean beans... loves chicken and meat... loves him some rice and bread (and is constantly begging for "bed" the second he spots any). I still think his tops is the good ole banana. We hadn't had any in our house for over a couple of weeks, and when I finally bought some more, he spotted it, begged for it repeatedly even though they weren't of the greatest ripeness yet, and when it came near him, he had the biggest grin on his face. He still gets spoon-fed most liquidy things, because he will only use the spoon himself for about 2 bites before he gently places it down, then uses his hands. Even little people food involves him ditching the utensil, grabbing a FISTful, and shoving as much as possible in his mouth. Does not know the meaning of one or two pieces at a time. I feel guilty for not allowing him to feed himself more often, but I know the kitchen will be peppered in cereal with milk (or whatever). I guess it's good that summer is coming. Perhaps we'll relax a little about messes since we can feed our children outside. And then have an ant problem.
He's totally into throwing objects down the staircase through the gate. Wish I had a photo of the one day: our bedroom TV remote, Barbie's lamp split into two separate peaces, socks, my cell phone, and the house phone. As soon as he throws it, it's "Uh oh!". Now he's even turning on our master bathtub faucet and throwing my various skin products, even Ellison's beloved Teddy, into it to watch them get wet. He's been a climber for some time, but now when I push the little step stool in our master bath far under the vanity area, he pulls it out to where he wants it, then steps up, and gets his hands on anything that appears forbidden on the countertop. Seriously, I cannot keep up with the trail this child leaves behind. When I clean up one mess he makes, he's already made 3 others.
Marek's such a character! His little personality has emerged so much, and we just adore it! He loves to smile and laugh, and make others laugh. Silly faces, acting over-the-top like he's about to get in trouble, and so much more make him just giggle. He smiles so easily. He loves interacting with people - flirting, making cutesy faces, saying "hi" and waving, BUT he suddenly this past month has really gotten some stranger anxiety if he thinks we're leaving him with someone. He would go to anybody for so long, I guess it just kicked in with him later. He screams now (and breaks his mama's heart) when we leave him in the church nursery, or with a babysitter, or if he thinks we're going to pass him off to someone and he hasn't warmed up to the setting yet. Now, he's more than happy to explore places, but only with the assumption that we're going to stay close by.
Marek, like Ellison, has become completely attached to Daddy. Yep, he's Daddy's boy. He just completely lights up, grinning and repeating, "Daddy!" over and over when he sees him. The second he hears that door open and Daddy walk through, his legs move so fast they seem like a blur. He just wants his Daddy to hold him.
He's an outdoorsy little man. I have witnessed a complete 2-year-old tantrum this past week. And it's usually over the same thing: "outside" (or "ah-side"). That's all he wants is to be outside. He will cry to the point where I'm thinking "OK, take a breath or else you're gonna pass out...", arch his back, become floppy in my arms yet somehow have the strength of a bull trying to wiggle out of my arms, and scream repeatedly, "Ah-side!!! Ah-side!!!", followed by those pathetic little sniffs following the full-on crying episodes. He just wants to tool around. He will tinker around exploring in the garage, play with his Diaper Genie endlessly, get in and out of the Barbie jeep (just checking the gauges, he assures me), try to walk in the more non-kid-friendly areas of the yard, try climbing anything that resembles a step or something he could use as a step, etc. Just wants to be out there. Sister thankfully loves to be outdoors, too.
Brother finally loves him some milk, though I cannot bring us to get rid of his bedtime bottle yet. Haven't even tried. Don't even want to. It's the 5 minutes of the day where we still get to hold our sweet baby and let him be just that. I figure he'll put an end to it himself when he has his buddies sleep over, so I'm not gonna sweat it.
[March 18, 2012]
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