Months Twenty-One and Twenty-Two

August 13, 2021

Titus,

Big changes this month! We’ve moved from Nebraska to Virginia, moved everything out of the old house, moved into a new house, and gotten pretty settled. Whew! Fortunately, that came with a couple weeks in Colorado with the grandparents and cousins, and a couple of plane flights. 18 months of COVID quarantine means you haven’t done nearly as much flying as your older brothers had at the same age. Inexperience might mean a little bit of chaos in this case. Fortunately, we were all able to fly together from CO to VA to close on our new house and meet the moving truck.  The house is pretty well settled now, and your playroom now has a door. That’s pretty nice for when you’re all about pulling everything off the shelves. I think we’ve left it for a few days now without picking up, since it’s out of sight of the kitchen now.

You were quite confused by the process of our old housing being packed up. You walked around and watched the movers packing all the boxes, and then went looking for your toys and books in your playroom. Looking at us, spreading your hands, with a confused look, “Books?”. “They’re all in boxes, baby.” “Boxes.” Lots of excitement on the other end seeing everything come back out of the boxes to go in your new playroom. You were all about taking the inventory stickers off of items. For about a week, we’d turn around all the time to find that you’d brought us another little red sticker.

The process of moving has brought lots of new things, along with all the new things that growing up brings. You’ve moved up from the high chair to a booster seat, and pretty much taken over your own fork and spoon. Even for spaghetti, which is surprisingly clean. We painted and set up your new room, which you love. You were so excited to try short-sleeve jammies for the first time, and raced around the upstairs to show your brothers the fire trucks on them. “Seth! Seth!”.

Getting out in the world after 18 months of mostly not seeing anyone means picking up on all the fun colds and RSV you hadn’t gotten before. We’ve been back to church a couple times, and we’re all passing around colds now. You’re not too bad when you’re sick, just passing out on the kitchen floor wrapped up in a blanket. Poor little guy. It still doesn’t do too much to damp down your happy spirit, though. You’re back at it, smiling and chasing your brothers around pretty quick.

We are hearing new words from you every day, and you’re excited to communicate about all sorts of things. Numbers came quickly this month, and you like to count 1 or 2 things everywhere. 3 works as well, but then it’s just about always a skip to five or six. But each time you see more than one thing together, we hear “1…2…3…6!” At some point you also caught on to the 3..2..1 countdown, which is your go-to before jumping, diving, or otherwise executing acrobatic maneuvers. The new rocket picture on your bedroom wall also gets a “3..2..1..liftoff!”

You’re also all about those colors this month. We hear blue and green for almost everything at first, but if we ask again, you can identify red, yellow, orange, white, and purple. Given the new house and Mommy’s decorating preferences, blue is a pretty good guess anyway, so you do well.

Each time we’re headed downstairs and you want to come, though you are perfectly capable of coming down yourself, we hear “carry you?” With your little arms outstretched and a cute little question on your face, even if we’re half or all the way down. If you’re tired and it’s bedtime, we’ll even get that on the way back up the stairs, too.

Speaking of those acrobatic maneuvers, you’re all about the pool and water this month. It’s completely unsafe, but you’re a big fan. You head straight for the side of the pool, and walk right off, trusting that one of us will be there to catch you. Which we will, as long as we never let you near a pool unsupervised. Down the full length of the slide in our friends’ backyard, as well as jumping off the diving board, you’re fearless. A jump off the board also might necessitate a “3..2..1”.

You have implemented the cutest new surprised face this month. With a big round O of a mouth and wide eyes, you bring it out every time you see something new or fun, as well as any time you’re surprised by life.

Conquering anything climbable results in a resounding “Did it!” That list of things includes playgrounds, bar stools, chairs, beds, slides, ottomans, couches, more chairs, ladders, and many other things that we probably aren’t entirely comfortable with you climbing. Still, we’re all about getting a picture first before you come down.

In the morning, you’re almost always up before your brothers, so you get a little extra snuggle time with Mommy. Sometimes Daddy, but mostly Mommy. Inevitably, though, you pop your head up and yell “Noah?” Then you have to slide down, and run down the hallway to both brothers’ rooms, which are across from each other. If the sound of you running into the door doesn’t wake them up, shouting their names when we open the door certainly does. You are always so excited to see them in the morning.

The favorite toy right now is the turtle that has multiple different buckles on it. You like to buckle all buckles, pretty much wherever you see them. “Buckle!” We will leave you with any buckles and you will have them clipped together in no time at all. Multiple times on every car ride you swing the fully-buckled turtle over the edge of your car seat as a request to have them all undone again.

Made it 22 months without a trim of the hair, but it was definitely time this month. You got your first haircut, courtesy of Mommy. Don’t you look sharp!

This month marked the first time you really said “Love you!” back to us. You definitely say it to Daddy. Mommy gets “much”, since she likes to say “I love you SO much!” You are getting possessive about your parents, pushing your brothers away if you want to snuggle. Even pushing Daddy away, since you are definitely all about your Mommy. But Daddy gets Facetime hugs when we’re apart. You love to run over to the phone, and wrap it up in a big hug.

It really feels like you’re transitioning to being a toddler these last two months, and moving completely out of the baby phase. You are growing so fast and seem so big now! We love you very much.

Daddy and Mommy