Dear Lili:
You are now 19 months old. I’m hoping 18 months was a tease to motherhood like, “Hey, didn’t that totally suck? Well guess what. It gets better.” Much like newbornhood was for us where right when I thought I was going to lose my mind you did things like roll over, giggle and be super cute. Don’t get me wrong. My love for you never fades. My patience however can get a little dim.
For whatever reason 18 months was a beast. A month of nightmare battles of will in all areas including eating, sleeping, etc. You hated your stroller. There was a lot of yelling. Throwing food. You nearly injured yourself over 8 times a day by crying, kicking, screaming and nearly rolling off your diaper changer when getting your diaper changed. You insisted on only drinking water from a plastic bottle. You hated tubs. There were a lot of fake boo boos. No interest or patience for books or stories. Many full body tantrums. 5AM wake ups. The capper was the end of the month where you insisted on holding everything in site at all times even if it was too big for you. Like when we were at Trader Joe’s and I bought a bag of tortilla chips the size of your entire body which you INSISTED I let you hold and eat from the bag our entire walk home. I considered taking side streets so as not to run into other Mom friends wondering, “What mother in her right mind lets her child hold and eat from a giant oversized bag of tortilla chips in their stroller?” Me. That’s who. Tired old me.
A friend with a newborn created the best phrase ever recently. She called her kid a ‘two person baby’. I am now stealing the phrase because it literally describes you as a baby from the moment you were born. The good news is I imagine all this will is going to be channeled into something great as your progress in life like climbing Mount Everest, sailing around the world, writing a novel, saving lives…
When I was a lazy student teen in high school my poor mother was at wits end and finally ordered a video series off the internet that she forced me to watch called, “Where There’s A Will…There’s An A!”
Babe? We will not be ordering this series. Why? Because you already have your will. And I give it an A.
xo
18 months is SUCH a hard time! It gets better from here out, though :)
huh, you know now that you mention it, 18 months kind of sucked over here, too. weeks of weird sleep and random tantrums. and then -poof – it did get better. 19 months, so far, has been much more pleasant. but don’t blink, because in an instant it will all totally change again…