Timothy, 19 months

Poor neglected blog.  Not that I care much about the blog itself, only the fact that I tended to use the blog as a sort of online baby book, and so this poor fourth child of mine is going to look back and think himself neglected!  Well, life is wildly different when you have one child and when you have four, and I guess blogs and baby books are both casualties.

The prompt to write this time: the excitement of Timothy discovering the joy of stories!  No more does he flip pages faster than you can read three words - now he listens, and then points to interesting pictures, and waits until we are both quite ready to go on before turning the page.  He regularly brings me books throughout the day, asking to be read to.  And although it usually isn't an opportune time, I'm making it a priority to drop whatever it is and take those five minutes to read his story.  He is precious, and little, and those moments with him snuggled on my lap, "ooooh!"ing in excitement are ones that I don't want to miss no matter how many other things are calling my name.

On average, too, Timothy is a decidedly self-sufficient little guy.  He loves to put his shoes on first thing after breakfast and head outside with Mitya, and I often won't see him inside again until he gets hungry!  He loves to explore and wander and I'm so grateful that we have this amazing back yard for him to enjoy.








Speaking of shoes, Timothy is developing a genuine sense of humor.  His current favorite joke is to ask to go outside, find his shoes and socks with me, and then promptly run away, stopping only to peer over his shoulder to make sure I'm chasing him.  Mischievous little imp. :)

So far Timothy has found words to be entirely unnecessary.  He's been making a few more babbling sounds in the past month, but words...who needs them?  We'll be working with the Regional Center again in the coming months, for play-based speech therapy, to help him in that area.  I'll be glad to hear "mama" someday!  (I'll also be glad to know what "uuuhhh!" means when he wants - something? - in the kitchen!)






Back to the self-sufficiency - I think it is interesting that Timothy seems to desire/need the least focused mama attention of any of the boys during the day.  However, he is still nursing, happily and often, at this point a full 5 months longer than any of my other babies.  I wonder if this point of connection is what gives him the confidence to explore with a longer leash, or if it the exploring that feeds a need for the nursing connection.  Perhaps a mix of both - it is rather a chicken and egg question.  Sometimes (like today, after a night of many wakings) I think that it is time to night wean; all my other boys were in their own bed and sleeping mostly through the night by this age. And yet I treasure the nursling attachment, and I'm not sure I want to force distance at night if he isn't ready for that yet.  Perhaps the night nursing is what he needs to fuel the daring exploration by day.