Musings on Motherhood: My baby is a year and a half!

And the worst part is he is not a baby anymore. Perhaps I will have to rename my blog, but then surely he will always be my baby?

So what do I want to remember about him for the last few months?

I want to remember how sociable you are and how everywhere we go you charm everyone. You really do attract attention and will sometimes just toddle up to complete strangers and touch their knee and beam up at them. Very endearing and they can't help but smile back. You are very tactile. The childminder says you play really nicely with the other children she minds and are particularly chummy with Caleb, who is a month younger than you, she said babies your age don't usually play together but you two definitely do. In fact she said you both love her play kitchen and she spends the whole day restocking all of the plastic pots, pans and food as you both love throwing it everywhere, or transporting as she kindly calls it!

I want to remember your new words like 'buh bye' 'hiya' (a firm favourite accompanied by a wave) 'what's day' 'oh wow' 'uh-oh' 'dada' 'nana' and 'baby.' You first said 'wow' when daddy proudly showed you his carved out pumpkin glowing in the dark. You are saying around 12 words at the moment. You have also taken to pointing when you wants things, like your bottle or a toy, but it's sometimes difficult to work out what you want and this is why it can be a frustrating age and can end in tantrums. Luckily your tantrums just involve throwing yourself on the floor and are not accompanied by screams...yet.

I want to remember your boundless energy and how you fly from the sofa to the chair and climb right up onto our laps. Or how you climb all over us - not always welcomed when we are trying to chill out. You climb up the stairs no problem and have even managed to go back down them on your tummy - although we don't encourage this!

I want to remember how coordinated you are and how well you negotiate levels, steps and obstacles in your path. It is often commented on by others how advanced your physical development is. Your childminder is always commented on your strength, stamina and balance. You love doing the toddler squat as you play with all your toys.

I want to remember how you're finally interested in books and love to sit on the floor surrounded by all your board books and turn the pages. You have a lot of texture books and so you tend to swipe the surface of every page just in case. Your favourite bedtime book is 'Patch of Black' and you often want it read to you again again...perhaps you are just delaying bedtime! Recently you have enjoyed reading about Peppa Pigs Christmas and also Fancy Dress Christmas where each of the animals is dressed up and you have to turn the flaps - you love doing this over and over again and I often don't get to finish the page as your so keen to flip it over.

I want to remember your love of sausages, pasta and anything sweet. More often than not your food is thrown in the floor when you've had a few bites, but the few times you get chocolate buttons or sweeties not one is wasted. In fact you tend to shove them all in five at a time and keep cramming more in. (We're working on your table manners.) You always preferred finger foods and I even make your porridge chunky so you can eat it with hands, however in the last few weeks you've been asking us to load up your fork and enjoyed feeding yourself. It takes twice as long and our dinner gets cold but hey ho! In Belgium you loved the frites and waffles and are showing your affinity to the culture through your sweet tooth! You love attacking the mound of whipped cream on top of the waffle too.

I want to remember how happy you are and how happy you make other people. Your smile is infectious and it lights up your whole face. You've started playing a lot more games with us and enjoy peek-a-boo, wrestling with daddy, feeding us your dinner and giving us kisses (only when you feel like it!)

Your favourite toys are definitely your cars and anything with wheels. Your building up quite a collection - especially after Christmas. You make 'brmm brmm' noises and run your cars along the carpet or up the sofas. You love opening the doors and putting cargo in the back of your trucks. You also like the brio set grandad glued onto a piece of wood and painted like grass. You most enjoy sitting on it as you play with it. You enjoy watching In the Night Garden, Peppa Pig and Baby Jake but recently have liked anything on the big screen! 

Being your mamma is exhausting and relentless, especially since your still not the best sleeper in the world and are a little bit too obsessed with your bottle for an eighteen month old. However there is never a dull moment and you enrich our lives so much.

(NB: These photos were taken between September - December 2014)