Joey: 19 Months

He's got a lot to say but still uses just one word at a time. For example, he'll take my hand and say, "Me", which I take to mean "come with me" or "help me", depending on where he's taking me and what he wants me to do. Just the other day he beckoned with "Me", and plopped down on the floor with Little Blue Truck, wanting me to read it to him. If I ask him where something is, he says, "Know" for "I don't know." He also knows now that I'll often happily comply with his requests. While I'm wiping his bum he might say, "Bah!" (Bath. A lot of times I will just let him have a little soak after a #2 if I'm not feeling confident about how well I've cleaned him up, and he's always anticipating it.) Come to think of it, he does say one two-word phrase: "Dandoo" (Thank you). He is very talkative for a boy with few words. On a recent ride in the car he and Tim had a conversation that went like this:
"Da-dee? Da-dee?"
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Car."
"Da-dee?"
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Car."
"Da-dee? Da-dee, car." He pronounces the "r" in car too. (What happened to Worcester?)

He wants to figure out how everything works. If it has a plug, he wants to plug it in and turn it on. He put a glove on one hand and took a screwdriver in the other and tried to "fix" an office chair. He's figured out the lock on the trash can lid. *Big frowny face* But he still doesn't know how to open doors. Once he does I know those covers will fool him for awhile too. He also brings me my flipflops and puts them on me, which is adorable. He really likes to be doing things. He needs to be busy with a job of some sort. To that end, he takes things from the place they belong and puts them somewhere else. So, during the last week of getting ready for movers, we had the situation where I was doing a lot of rearranging, he he was rearranging things his way, and it was kind of maddening for me at times. Again I relied on the base daycare to spell me for a few hours here and there. That was a real sanity saver.

I was just reading through Timmy's 19 month update and marveling at the similarities between the two of them. One big difference, though: I was having to wrestle Timmy into his carseat to go places, and he was doing that arched back thing every time! Having multiple errands was hell. Not so with Joey at all. He loves going for rides and never gives me any trouble about being strapped into his carseat. That was one of my saving graces with the rest of the family gone for several l-o-n-g days. How funny, since I remember Timmy being the easier baby. Then again, while he may have been the easier baby, he got to be quite the handful once he progressed through the toddler and preschool stages.

Joe is not much fun as an only child, and I now remember why it was harder to have just one than two or more. With his siblings away he has been very restless, bored, and gets feisty with me a lot. Every time I take a step in any direction he thinks I'm abandoning him, and he follows me, crying. He wants me to hold him all the time, but he doesn't want me to hold him and he squirms to get down. He tries getting into things he knows he shouldn't. He's been inside a lot too, which isn't helping matters. It is SO hot down here, and the mosquitoes are vicious all day long, not just at dusk. The 'black flag' siren goes off each morning as early as 9:30 or 10 (black flag means it's so hot the recruits can't train outside.) The 'no longer black flag' siren doesn't go off until around 7 p.m. usually. It's the dog days of summer, and kind of a challenging time for us.

With the older three kids away, Tim and I are having the novel experience of appearing to be a family of three again when we're out and about. We went to Mass last night and many of us were stuck in the back and it was mostly older people who smiled in our direction, probably thinking, 'They're one of those couples who wait till later in life to have a baby. Bless their hearts.' Joey got very restless and Tim had to take him outside and try to contain him on a bench since he wanted to run off to the parking lot. As people started to trickle out after Communion and saw the two of them there and Joey wailing, they would try to give Tim some encouragement as they passed, like, "Oh don't worry, he'll get it one of these days." Tim just smiled and nodded, but inwardly was like grr..

Coming up next -- one of the most eventful months in his little life.