MEC

I need to pause and note some of the cute things that MEC is doing right now, because I'm afraid the time is going too fast.  Tonight I was up late working on a lesson I teach tomorrow in Relief Society and I heard him cry out for me.  It was a heart-breaking sob interspersed with "Maw-Meee" that came on so suddenly, I wondered if a bad dream had woken him.  That alone made me realize that he's inching more and more out of the baby stage--that he could have a bad dream, wake up sad, and know to cry out for his mom.  When I went into his room, I found him standing in his crib, still crying.  He has had a sore bottom recently, and I think that was what was bothering him, so I changed his diaper and held him and sang to him for a while.  He was still whimpering, not quite settled down from all the crying.  I told him he was okay and reassured him with some of the phrases that we use enough that I knew that he understands.  I sang the songs that I sing all the time--the ones he's heard over and over.  The same songs I've sung to five babies now.  How did I get to the point where I can say that?

MEC, now nearing 19 months old, is talking and laughing and expressing himself more and more like a kid.  He furrows his brow and says, "Oh no" with a serious look on his face several times a day.  He loves to look out the window or to the back door when TEC comes home and exclaim, "Daddy!"  He often pretends to talk to Daddy on the phone, and sometimes to "Ma ma" (grandma).  He gibbers about all kinds of things, every now and then slipping in recognizable words like "car" or "keys."  He is pretty obsessed about all things related to cars right now and tries to open any car door he sees.  When I let him out of his carseat, he tries to sneak back into the drivers seat to sit behind the wheel.

 He seems to understand that he's part of this crazy family.  He laughs along with us at the dinner table.  He knows his brothers and sisters: Ra-doh, Saah, Ca-eee...he doesn't say TLC's name still, but points to him whenever I ask.  He loves his "key key" (blanket) and lately it is the only thing that calms him down when he gets really upset (along with his fingers, which automatically slip in his mouth whenever his blanket is in sight).  He knows what goes on all around the house--how the light switches work and how the faucet turns on and off in the bathroom.  He knows that we spit into the sink after brushing our teeth and that I sometimes put water on his head to comb his hair (he tries to do it himself when he's standing on the toilet seat playing in the sink).  He knows that we dance to music and he loves to give high fives.  He loves slides and swings and shoes and hats.  He goes "up" and tries to get "out" and keeps going and going all day long.  I want this all to last...