Months Thirteen and Fourteen

December 13, 2020

Titus,

If there weren’t video or photo evidence of some of your exploits these past two months, I’m not sure that we would believe them, even having witnessed them. For each of the three of you, it’s as if it’s the same, but completely different as you’ve each learned to walk, learned to talk, learned to get into the cabinets, to climb, and to everything else. Each day brings new words and new awareness of the world around you. You’re pointing out everything around you, from the pictures to food and everything else. When anyone says the word “basement”, you have to run over to the basement door to say “bounce!” with little knee action up and down and “down! down!” to go down and play (we have the trampoline in the basement you love . Since it’s your older brothers’ play area, it’s full of little things to pick up and taste. Fortunately for our sanity, since you’re walking now, there’s less eating things off the floor.

You got the walk down this month, moving around the house with your hands in the air for balance. A few weeks later, you figured out how to stand up in the middle of the floor from your knees, and now you’re starting to get that foot speed to run after your brothers. It’s so much fun to watch the progression.

With the confidence and strength to walk has come the confidence and strength to climb on everything. You can flip open the ottoman, climb into it, climb onto the lid, and right up onto the couch. We’ve found you standing on your play table to look out the window, and found you figuring out how to climb onto chairs and…pretty much everything else that’s down at your level. You’ve recognized that door handles are important, and we find you stretching on your toes to try and reach them. You’re racing up the stairs at any opportunity (read: the gate is left open). We are very happy that you’ve also recognized that you can turn around and slide down, as well as sliding down off of couches, chairs, beds, etc.

From the stools in the kitchen, to the shelves in the playroom, to the crossbar on the gate, you’re climbing everything to reach anything. That includes the block bin to reach the higher shelves, as well as the bottom drawer on the shoe bin. With the big climbing skills have also come the small skills, from stacking blocks, to doing the shape puzzles. You love to sit with Mommy and do puzzles and play with the shape ball in your playroom. Dinner is just another excuse for this. You flipped your water cup over and proceeded to stack pieces of hamburger on top, while saying “up! up!”

If this month had a report card, it would read that “Titus has greatly increased his verbal skills, and is already has an extensive vocabulary.” Each day has you saying a new word. Daddy gets home from work to find out that you’re saying “Cheese!” or “Ball!”, “Dog!” or “Bunny!”. We’re getting two and three word combinations, from “I do it!” to “Get bunny!”. Bunny is your favorite, right alongside Molly. You love to see Molly and chase her around the house for snuggles and pets, saying “dawg, dawg!”. Molly is pretty forbearing, as long as she gets some love from Daddy or Mommy in addition to you.

With the boys back at school, a shifting of schedules resulted in numerous nights where you decided that your 8-10 PM sleeping was a nap. So, we get you chattering away in your crib, and wanting to come downstairs and hang out with Mommy and Daddy for a while. With all the energy in the world, you’ll race around the living room chattering, squealing, and getting into everything you can.

The two words we hear most often, though are “uh oh” and “no”. We’re trying out “uh oh” to warn you about dangerous things like light socket plug covers, or yucky things like the dog water. You’ve quite quickly picked up on the fact that “uh oh” means something that you think is fun, and that you have our attention. So, you’re all about saying “uh oh!” and heading right for trouble.

“No” is also well understood.
Mommy: “Do you want spaghetti?”
Titus: “Spa-get-i.”
Mommy: “Did you just say spaghetti?”
Titus: “No.”
We regularly get “no” when we ask him to repeat his new words, as if to say “you heard me the first time.” Not one for verbal performances, at this point. You’re going to use your words to communicate and get what you need, but not just on command.

Mommy: “Instead of squealing at me, can you say please?”
Titus: “Plea!” with a hand-swipe across the chest pseudo-please sign.

The last two months have gained you lots of teeth, including getting five teeth at a time at one point. Despite the pain, you’re still pretty good natured, if chewing on everything from stuffed animals to the piping on the couch cushions. Lots of teeth means that you’ve been able to get after all the food. We’ve tried out lots of new foods with you, and you’re all for that. If Daddy or especially Mommy is eating something, you have to try it out. From cheese, to crackers, to sandwiches, pizza, ice cream; it doesn’t matter. You need one for each hand, no matter what it is. Even if we have to break it in half, you’d like to double-fist it. This included Thanksgiving morning cinnamon rolls. You’re thankful for all the foods, and we’re very thankful for a kiddo who doesn’t have any food allergies. You are not shy at all about asking for a handout.

Mommy’s phone is identifiable for one thing, and that’s FaceTime. either Nana, or Daddy, if he’s out of town. At least once a day, you have to grab the phone and say “Nana! Nana!”. If Daddy’s been traveling, it’s a few days afterwards that any sight of the phone brings a “Dada!” with a point at the phone.

You love to be in the kitchen with everyone, from helping with the dishwasher (once again, pulling things out), whether the dishes are clean or dirty. Noah would appreciate it if you did a little more putting away after the pulling out of clean dishes. You love to climb up on a stool to help cook, and are great at getting out the pots and pans.

You had fun helping to decorate for Christmas this year. You helped put up the tree and pull out all the ornaments (pulling things out is one of your top skills). After we got everything put up and done, you were still all about taking a few of the ornaments off the tree. So, we put a gate around the whole tree. About 3 minutes after that, you figured out that only one side was secured. So, we velcro’d the other side to a chair. Not long after that, you figured out that you could undo the velcro to get into the tree area. Ingenuity, thy name is Titus.

We love to have your joy for life as part of our family. As I sit here writing this, you’re in the playroom blowing raspberries as you wander around with your toys. No matter the time of day or night, we can almost always count on a big smile. Even when you’re not completely happy, you bring passion to everything that you’re doing, generally with a heart-tugging “Mama?” when you need to snuggle and sleep.

We love you lots and lots!

Daddy and Mommy