Joey: 15 Months

Someone said to me recently that her teenage son had said to her, "You know that baby who sits in front of us at Mass? I can't believe how much bigger and older he looks every time we see him. How can he change that fast?" She replied, "That's what they do."

A couple weeks ago when  it seemed as though Joey had given up that morning nap for good, I decided at Tim's suggestion to avail myself of hourly daycare on base once or twice a week just to have some time to myself in the mornings. Registering him there necessitated a trip to the doctor to have a form filled out. I thought we were right between the 12 and 15 month checkups but we were closer to the 15-month than I realized, and he treated it as a regular checkup instead of just filling out the form based on his last visit like I thought he would. Joey was weighed and measured, and I was pleased to hear the doctor say that he had grown a remarkable inch and a half in height (he added that three inches over the course of a year is considered acceptable) and had gained at least a pound. I might have been tempted to think there'd been a little error on the part of the people measuring him, but I had been noticing how much better his 12-18 month clothes were fitting, and how he'd been filling out his footie pajamas. I actually thought I'd been shrinking his clothes, but this is great news! It felt like getting an 'A' this time. I had the exact numbers jotted down on scrap paper which has since disappeared, so I'll have to get them next time I go to the naval hospital.

We did the hourly care a couple times after that and it went well enough, but in the last week or so his nighttime sleep has taken a turn for the worse again so he's been needing a morning nap. He's napping right now as a matter of fact and that is the one good thing I get out of this. I'm thinking maybe teething is to blame. Every time I look in his mouth I see glimpses of all the teeth he's getting and all the ones he's just gotten. He won't let me look and feel for more than a split second or two, but it's so many teeth and swollen gums. It's like he's getting all the remaining teeth at once. I'm like OK, let's just get this over with then! It's torture. I give him a dose of ibuprofen before bed. He wakes me up anywhere from one to three to maybe even five or six times a night. I go in there, cover him up, tell him to go back to sleep and leave. Then at 5:30 this morning he woke up and would not go back to sleep, so he's already adjusted to daylight savings time. I am so, so tired. Fatigue is my constant companion. I am such a wimp when I'm not getting adequate sleep. Then I torment myself by looking at Facebook and seeing all the fun things people are doing on the weekends while I'm just enjoying not getting up at 6 and not schlepping the kids around to and from various things. Weekends are about what I'm not doing. It's been a challenging time for me, that's for sure, and I gave up complaining for Lent but I'm being sorely tested. He's been taking great naps, though, and I am grateful for that.

I remember Tim saying to me when he was a few months old and just coming out of that colicky phase, "You've loved him into submission." Well, that battle is ongoing but I have plenty of help around here. His dad and siblings love on him every chance they get and it's easy because he's so cute and because he pays back the love when he's not being an ornery little booger. He gives out his adorable open mouth kisses, hugs and high-fives on request. He plays 'ring around the rosy' with us and laughs when we all fall down and he doesn't. He loves when Annie holds him and I pursue him and she trots him away just out of my reach again and again. I love to see him bouncing on her hip and squealing in delight as they go around the corner.

He folds his little hands at dinnertime when we sit down to say grace and it melts my heart. He loves the playground behind our house and can climb up and go down the tall twisty slide backwards on his own. He can also go down steps backward, but wants to try walking down them (which he can't and that's scary). If I chase him, he can't run so he staggers like a drunk and then lies down and waits for me to get him. He loves to dance and his favorite song is "Cake by the Ocean", which Annie plays on my phone for him. Then I want to take a video but I can't because it's playing on my phone, so I go to get my camera but the moment passes.. :( I'm making it my mission to get that video now that I think of it. I'm always going to want to look back at that sweet baby dancing to his favorite song.

He's getting to have a temper when things don't go his way. He screeches, falls to the floor, hits the floor with his hands, and puts on quite a performance. He has zero ability to entertain himself and will not play with any of his toys. What he wants is to empty out the top desk drawer that has all our staples, paperclips and that kind of thing. Otherwise he wants me to carry him around on my hip all afternoon. He never wakes up from a nap happy.

He's been eating really well, and I guess that would account for the growth spurt. Lately he's been loving strawberries. He gobbles them up as quickly as he can. He likes most things, but not breakfast foods. He doesn't care for eggs, cereal, pancakes, toast, any of it. He's a funny little man.