Months Seventeen and Eighteen

April 10, 2021

Titus,

So…busy. We have truly raised and released an independent force of nature on the world. You’ve figured out how to climb, so we find you on the kitchen table, on the counters, on the _______. You’ve also discovered that the chairs move around, which pretty much gives you access to most surfaces in the house, along with the light switches. You can swiftly pull out the chairs and climb up to the table or the counter. Seth fixed the problem by putting a post-it on your back that read “Take me off the table.” Not sure that’s a long term solution, but at least your brothers are looking out for you. We’ve found you bridging from your chair to your high chair, climbing over the tray and into the seat in a precarious maneuver. Thank goodness that baby equipment comes with straps and buckles.

You like nothing more than to just wander and explore whatever environment you’re in. If you’re in the basement with your brothers, we just listen to the sounds of you knocking on the walls with a ball in your hand as you wander around to look at and touch everything. If if the backyard, you just walk all over checking out every little thing. That doesn’t mean we can leave you unattended, by any means. Between tossing rocks on the AC unit to dumping bags of crackers out on the table, you’re keeping everyone on their toes. Seth in March: “We should make a list of all the things Titus can do when we’re not looking. Climb on the table. Climb on the chair to get to the water dish. Dump out an entire bag of goldfish”.

From words to actions, you’re learning everything by copying, everything that we do. You can reach the drawers in the kitchen now, so you love to pull out the oven mitt and put it on just like we do, and then wander the house with it on. You grabbed the kitchen cloth, and then proceeded to climb up on the table and wipe it down for us. We hear the little hop-skip of your toddling run all around the house, keeping up with everyone to see what is going on.

You’re a little parrot this month. Your favorite word is still “Mama” or “Mommy”, closely followed by “no”, which is the default (and clearest) response to all questions, often accompanied by a determined shake of the head. Even if you don’t know the word for something, you’ll indicate it with the sound, like pointing at the lamp and saying “click!” It’s hard to even capture all the new words you’ve been learning and using every day.

We get lots of other sounds, too. From a whole range of animal sounds, to sounding out car “ca-ca-car!” from the back seat, you’re listening to everything we read and say. You love to run through the sounds from the animal book, as we ask you what a cow, elephant, sheep, horse, cat, dog, etc. all say. Finally, when Mommy asked you if you were a sassy monkey, you responded with a definite “ooh ooh!"

We use “bummer” on a regular basis for various things, so you’ve picked right up on that as well. It’s quite funny to hear you say “bummer!” after dropping your cup or some other perceived small problem. More talking has also added “peekaboo”, from popping over the arm of the couch, to covering your head with a blanket.

You continue to surprise us with how observant you are of all the things going on around you and how things go together. Seth left his glasses on the backyard table and ran out in the yard to play football with friends. You toddled over to the table, picked up his glasses, and then walked right out in the yard to hand them to Seth. Clearly you’ve picked up on all the times that Mommy and Daddy have asked Seth where his glasses are. Of more concern, those observational skills have extended to opening doors, fence gates, the sliding door lock, and other barriers, which makes it harder and harder to keep and eye on you.

Of our boys, you’re the first one to be willing to admit that you’re actually tired and ready for bed. You’ll actually say “yes” when we ask if you’re ready to go night-night, or will just tell us “night-night”. If we go upstairs in the evening, we will often find you having grabbed a book and crawled behind your rocking chair to read.

As with your brothers, it seem that each day your learning and growing is accelerating, from new words to new skills. It’s so hard to capture all that’s going on. We cherish being your parents, and look forward to seeing your smiling little face each morning.

Love,

Daddy and Mommy