Catch Up

As usual, time passes by. I know you're all thinking, "How very profound - I now remember why I visit this blog." Okay, that was supposed to be funny. Was it? Or is my shameless effort at humor funny in and of itself? Or am I failing miserably? I know this is not my complaining blog anymore (visit www.becomingabetterkelly.blogspot.com later tonight for complaints and vents) but let me just say this: I am tired. It is hard, hard work caring for a toddler on your own. James gets back in 1 week, 2 days and I can not freaking wait. Thank goodness for my friends Nathalie and Kate, and both sets of grandparents. Graham and Jenny watched Dorian the first 2 days James was away. Nathalie & her husband took Dorian for part of last Sunday (along with their 2 kids!) and Kate watched Dorian 2 six hour days for me this week. My parents are going to help out this week-end and I have Kate and another friend lined up to help out next week. I simply can't do 14-16 waking hours every day (plus broken nights) for 19 days straight on my own. I don't know how people do it. I would literally go insane. Anyway, enough complaining! Poor little Dor has been cutting his last two teeth the past week so I know that added to the poor sleeping. And he does miss his Dad - he keeps running around the house, opening doors and calling out "Dada." It's very sweet. When James talks to him on the phone, he calms right down and just listens wistfully. I am so glad those two have bonded. I really do feel like James and I are equal parents now. In the beginning, it was all about me because I was the milk machine. I liked that at first, to be honest, but now that we have temper tantrums and still sleep issues to deal with, I'm glad James is as responsible for him as I am!

Dorian is a handful right now because his sleep is still so wacked and temper tantrums can be plentiful when he's tired. But, let's put all that aside for the moment and focus on the wonder that is this child. He went to the pediatrician this week for his 18 month check up. The pediatrician was very impressed with Dorian - he told me Dorian was without a doubt the smartest child he'd seen in years and a bonified child prodigy. Dorian measured 34 inches long, which is more than half my height now, and the 90th percentile for his age. He was 26 pounds which was about the 50th percentile for his age. Nice and healthy. He got a couple shots, the last to come for about a year or so.

Dorian has a vocabulary that grows by the day. Today he said 5 new words! Amazing. I'm sure I'll forget some but his vocabulary now includes: more, dog, duck, owl, chocolate, apple, cracker, cookie, banana, poopoo, uh oh, chair, book, guitar, car, ball, cup, bowl, bubble, eye, nose, bottom, hair, ear, shoe, sock, hat, light, choo choo (for train, obviously), up, down, hot, cheese, cream cheese, waffle, Teletubbies. He can point to all his basic body parts (I'm working on teaching him the major bones now: femur, tibia, clavicle, etc but he doesn't seem to be catching on yet). He puts his hands on his bottom and says "Uh oh" and/or "Poopoo" when he has a bowel movement. Sometimes he'll also go grab us the wet wipes. He's started doing this when he pees too! (We're going to start potty training when James returns.) He makes a lot of animal noises too - dog, cow, sheep, tiger and bird noises. He sings songs now - he actually sings the melody to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and does all the hand movements. He understands so much now. We can give him directions and he'll follow them like the obedient child he always is - ie "Get your shoes," "Close the door," "Turn off the light," "Sit down," "Arms up," "Bathtime," "Please get me a pen," etc. He is so sweet - he knows I need my glasses first thing in the morning, so the first thing he does when he gets out of bed is find them and give them to me. He plays games all the time now. He was pretending to pluck the spoon out of the bowl of mush in "Goodnight Moon" the other night and then pretended to feed me with it while making eating noises. He kisses his stuffed animals all the time and tries to feed them real food. He loves giving cuddles and hugs. He has been happy as a clam in the jogging stroller so I can run every other day. He is really a joy to be with when he is rested.

I will post a series of photos over the next few days. First one to come tonight.