Month 19

Dear Corbin,

You turned 19 months old a week ago. You are a running, climbing, throwing, yelling little boy who loves to push things around. You laugh when we play peek-a-boo, and chase you around, and wrestle with you, and tickle you. You like to dance, and pound on things, and color with crayons or sidewalk chalk. You love to read books. In the morning, you have to look at a book while you get dressed. At night, you have to look at a book while you get in your pj's. The other night, you made me read you, "Baby Bear, Baby Bear" three times in a row (one of them backwards).

You love balloons. Another little boy once gave you a balloon that he had blown up, and the two of you played with your balloons together for over half an hour. One day, you insisted that Grandma Lam buy you a balloon that you saw at the dollar store, and you spent the whole day bringing that balloon with you. You even held on to it when you were napping, and Grandma and Grandpa had to keep checking on you to make sure that you hadn't strangled yourself with it. We made the mistake of walking past the balloons in the grocery store the other day, and they had a balloon with dinosaurs on it. I thought we were going to have to put you on the conveyor belt when it was time to check out, because you did not want to hand it over to the cashier. Luckily, you're willing to sleep with this one across the room from you. I blame your balloon mania on the number of times the Lams let you watch scenes from, "Up."

We spent Labor Day weekend in Madison, cutting back bushes and shrubs at the Lams' house. You had fun helping us pile up sticks and Dad even let you help use the machete a little bit, because he likes to give me heart attacks. It was all fun and games until you were showing Grandma some toadstools and she tripped over a stump. She got a pretty good cut on her leg, and you cried and cried about it until we got a band-aid onto it. You didn't care that she landed on your doll stroller and bent it all up, which I think is a good sign. People are always more important than things.Your quest for independence these days means you want your own dinner now, your own serving of whatever is on the table. Sometimes you actually eat yours, but sometimes you don't believe us when we say its the same thing and you insist on eating off of our plates anyway. You still like fruits the best, but pasta seems to be a close second. And of course, any time we say, "ice cream" you run right over.

You still like to help us do whetever we're doing. You help us feed the dogs. You help us sweep the floor. You help us unpack the grocery bags. Grocery shopping with you is really funny, actually. You want to look at whatever we're buying, and when you're done looking at it, you'll turn around in your seat and drop it over into the cart with no regard for what it is or what's under it. So, for anyone taking you shopping in the future: just, you know, keep the eggs out of the drop zone, okay?

This month it definitely became fall instead of summer. We got out your long sleeved shirts and immediately lent half of them to Jaden down the street because they were already too small for you. We have to pack this week for our trip to California, so we've been checking the weather in King's Canyon. It seems to be very similar to our weather here, so it shouldn't be too hard to guess what we'll need. I'm really looking forward to this trip. It will be nerve-wracking to be the one officiating for your Uncle Alex, but fun to see them and the other relatives coming out. And I can't wait to go see the big trees. I think we'll have a lot of fun. Of course, the last time I said we were going to have a week of fun, it ended up being a heat index of 104 degrees for the week. Maybe I'd better stop with the predictions.

Love,
Mom

(The Sandbox one was actually from back in June)

1.5 Years

August was hot! And humid. You're growing pretty fast, mentally and physically. This month it seemed like you have really been able to process a lot of different things that we say to you. "Hold this." "Can I have that?" "Let's take a bath!" "Are you ready to eat?" We say these things to you and it's beginning to feel less like talking to ourselves. You say "Hot" and "Out" and "Eyes" and you almost say "Down." You can make some appropriate noises too, you make car noises with the car toys, and you emulate the DING when your food has heated up. You're taking an interest in other children as well, so I hope to have a chance to get you playing with some. We met with Doug and Cindy and Adrian for breakfast the other weekend, and you played with Adrian. Your Grandma says you like to play with the other children at the park as well. We may find some part-time daycare for you, or possibly some structured activity to get you socializing and to give your grandparents a break. Who knows, we'll have to find the right thing. We heard you're going to have another cousin - Aunt Erin is pregnant again. It's a boy, and he's due right before Christmas.

Here's some pictures... - Dad

Month 17

Dear Corbin,

You are 17 months old today. This month, you seemed to truly become a toddler. There was a day this month where I put you down for your morning nap, and when I picked you up two hours later you felt like you had grown in your sleep. Fortunately, we rediscovered a whole 12-18 month wardrobe thanks to a small, localized flood in the basement, so your wardrobe is still keeping up with your growing.

You have two more teeth coming in on the top, and possibly even two more on the bottom. You never did like the teething rings that I got for you, but you're perfectly happy to chew on the screen door while watching Dad mow the lawn, or on a wash cloth when I'm trying to wash your face, or on my shoulder when I'm holding you. You're also happy to chew on food. Dad has started following a rule of feeding you at least two times for each one time that he eats, and you seem perfectly happy with this arrangement. You also started brushing your own teeth this month. Grandma and Grandpa Lam got you a toothbrush shaped like a penguin and you liked it so much you even started brushing with the plain old boring toothbrush that I got you a long time ago.

You continue to demonstrate a strong understanding when we talk to you, but so far the only real word you say consistantly is "eyes." Grandma Lam thinks you also say, "Hi" and I believe her, because I swear the other day I heard you repeat me when I said, "Hi, Arrow." Oh, and you say, "hot." You have started really enjoying it when we sing to you. I have been trying to teach you, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," and you play along a little bit, but mostly you just enjoy the song. When I stop singing, you sign, Please, which has become your default sign for both More and Please and Yes.

We survived the 4th of July for one more year. We had a very baby-friendly grill out, which meant everyone left at 8pm. You went to sleep just fine, and slept through the fireworks which kept me up until 2am. That's the only day of the year when I wish we lived anywhere else but our neighborhood. Our neighbors light off so many fireworks, there's enough smoke to make you think the whole block was burning down.

You spent some time in Madison twice this month. The second time, you got to ride in your brand new front-facing car seat. You grew too tall for your infant seat, but the first time we put you in the new seat, you looked so small again! You seemed to like being able to see more, but you weren't as comfortable when you wanted to nap in it. We'll have to get you one of those little neck pillows or something, since we've got at least two more road trips planned this year.

We had some happy news from the Spencers this month--you're going to have another cousin! Erin is due in December, and they're having a boy this time. We're going to send them most of your wardrobe, because nothing says family quite like photos of two cousins wearing the same clothes in two different years. If you suddenly start getting birthday presents of really expensive clothing, I guess we'll know why!

I'm looking forward to next month. I'll be done with this show, so I'll have a chance to catch up on some chores and projects. Plus, Grandma and Grandpa Lam are going camping for a week, so we'll have a long weekend at the Cottage with them, and then I'll have you all to myself for the next week. I will finally get to do all of the fun things that they do with you, like go to the zoo and to the playground. I'm sure you will make me totally exhausted by the end of the week, but I plan on having a lot of fun and you should, too.

Love,
Mom





So much for that eating with a spoon thing:

Adventure Corbin

Month 16

Dear Corbin,

You are 16 months old today. This month, you started climbing. You climbed up onto the couch in the living room. You climbed up onto the couch in your bedroom. You climbed up into your climbing cube and went down the slide. Then you turned around and climbed back up the slide. You are almost running and almost catching a ball. You are so much fun to sit and play with, or just watch as you play.

You have also started feeding yourself with a spoon. We started handing you a loaded spoon and helping you actually get it into your mouth. But it didn't take long before you wanted to do it all yourself, so I gave you a bowl with some mac and cheese and you fed yourself the whole thing. Which is kind of amazing on two fronts: using a spoon successfully for a whole meal, and eating a whole serving of any thing at one time.

Dad gave you a real haircut this month. He studied up on some videos on YouTube, strapped you into your high chair and snipped away. You were pretty patient and sat about as still as you ever do. I was afraid you'd end up looking like one of the Three Stooges, but you didn't. You look just as cute as you always have, thank goodness.

You became a theater orphan this month. I took a stage management gig so I've been missing out on bedtimes for a couple of weeks now. Grandma and Grandpa Lam took advantage of the situation and got me to agree that you could go on a trip with them. (They were like wolves: they sensed the weakest one in the herd and went in for the kill.) So, you went over to the cottage with them for a couple of days. Next week, they're taking you to Madison for four days, and I'm sure by next month they'll have just moved you in with them. Hopefully, they'll let you live at the apartment with them, so I can babysit for you sometimes.

It's been interesting being back in the theatre life, but also incredibly hard. Before you were born, when rehearsals got boring or tiring, I would think to myself, "This will be worth it when we are actually doing performances." And it was, and I would be a little bit sad when the show closed. But now my thoughts go in a different direction, and I think to myself, "I could have been home with Corbin," and I have discovered that no amount of anticipation is making up for that disappointment. I think my best bet is to wait until you're in highschool, and then direct your highschool plays. Don't you think? What do you mean you want to play football?

Love,
Mom

Month 15

Dear Corbin,

You turned 15 months on Saturday. It has been a busy month. We started with a trip to Missouri to visit your Dad's family. Then we went to our first cookout of the season, at Jody and Mary's house. (You had fun pushing your "car" up and down their driveway and eating your first hot dog. Their dog Scrappy spent some time licking all over your face, until you figured out that if you held your had up, he would lick your hand instead.) We went to Dairy Queen one day after doing yard work. We celebrated Mother's Day by taking Grandma Lam out for breakfast. We went to a birthday party, and I even let you have some cake. Yesterday, we went to a softball and grilling party at Wyndom Park in NE. And the night before that, Mom and Dad actually went out at night together! Crazy!

For Mother's Day, Grandma and Grandpa Lam gave me a great present--portraits of you. They even framed one for us, and we hung it up that same day. We all marveled that the photographer got you to smile for her, but you did, and the pictures are great.

It's definitely turned into summer this month. We had some rainy days, but now it's hot and humid. The afternoon that we were doing yard work, Grandma Lam filled up a Tupperware storage bin with water for you to wade in. You waded for about 30 seconds before you sat right down in it, shorts, diaper and all. After you were done playing in the water, Grandma got you all cleaned up, but when she started using the same bin to wash off some lawn chairs, you climbed right back in it, this time with your shoes on, too! I guess that's what we get for putting you in swimming lessons so young.

You have four teeth now, two on the top and two on the bottom (all in front) and you've discovered that Cheerios are crunchy. You've started wanting to use a spoon to feed yourself, which you might imagine sometimes results in you eating and sometimes results in the dogs having a treat. It also sometimes results in a good immune system, since I also caught you eating dirt off of the trowel the other day, as if it were just a big spoon.

That's just part of the independence that you want to exercise. You like to do whatever it is we're doing, which is fun. You help me pick up your toys. You help me sweep up the kitchen floor. You want your own napkin to wipe your own mouth. But along with this goes your temper, and when we hold you back from doing something you let us hear your frustration. Being stubborn is nothing new in this family, though, and you were born in the year of the Ox, so you definitely come by it honestly. Luckily, you're still easy to distract, and at heart you're still very easy-going. Besides, when you're insisting that you'd rather read books than play with something else, it's pretty hard to disagree with that.

Love,

Mom

MO family

Last weekend, we spent 26 hours on the road to spend 2 hours at a wedding and reception. It rained the entire weekend. Please take a moment to imagine the horror.

Okay, that's enough about that. The best place we stopped, each way, was a Mexican restaurant in Bloomfield, IA. The food was really good, reasonably priced, and the place was huge and not very busy. Corbin spent our time there walking around, smiling at the two other tables in the joint, and playing with his favorite toy car underneath the high chair. This was all fine with me.

The best part about the trip was spending time with the Grandparents Thorne and the Spencers. Charlotte is going on two and is talking now. We got some pix:

Month 14

Dear Corbin,

You turned 14 months today! You have at least one tooth coming in on top, and it looks so strange that we actually had to ask a couple of people if they thought we should take you to a dentist. It turns out that top teeth simply look that crazy.

This has been the month of Mom drops you. One week, you leaned out of my arms while I was putting you into your car seat (which was already in the car) and you knocked your mouth into the car seat, scraped up your chin and bit the end of your tongue. Then the next week I was carrying you while you were in your car seat, and I twisted my ankle. I tried to catch my balance, but ended up just staggering around into the patio table, then setting your car seat down hard on the ground and kind of falling down next to you. I also spent your college savings putting a new bumper on the van after backing it into a parked car, so if you've been wondering where your phobia of car stuff comes from, look no further.

You and Grandma Lam and I went over the UP for my birthday weekend, the end of March. You had a fun time playing with Aunt Alice and Cousin Diana (who does a hilarious bear imitation, by the way), but for some reason you were very shy around Aunt Cele. Grandma Lam thinks it's because she and Cele look too alike for your comfort. In any case, we had a fun time going to the little zoo and playing around Aunt Cele's big yard. The next weekend, we hunted for Easter eggs at the apartment. You went to the MN Zoo again and petted some animals there. You had your last swimming lesson until this fall. You gained three new pairs of shoes, and some summer pjs. You're a busy kid!

The weather has been really nice, so you've been doing a lot of playing outside, in the yard and up at the park. We got a little climber for you, and we put together a sandbox on the front porch for when it does rain. You also like pushing your "car" around, and you're much better at steering it now, except on the grass. There's a little boy down the block, Seth, who came over to play for a little while last Saturday. Whenever you're around other children, your normally cautious approach slows down even more. It makes me think that we should find you a play group pretty soon, so you start getting used to people who move faster than your parents and grandparents.

You also like playing with the dogs outside. You and Arrow play fetch sometimes, which means you walk around with a tennis ball for a minute and then "throw" it. Arrow will run over and pick up the ball, run around in a circle with it and then drop it by you. I watched you do this for almost 20 minutes one afternoon, and it was pretty darn cute.

The biggest thing that happened this month was that you started using signs to talk to us. The breakthrough was when you learned "more." Once you learned the basic concept of signs, you picked up a couple more very quickly: please, drink, and all done. You do modify them, however, which is alternately simply fine and completely hilarious. For more, you tap your fists together, instead of your fingertips. For drink, you tap your fist against your mouth or cheek, instead of opening your hand into a C. For all done, you turn your hands palm up instead of palm down. But by far the best one is please, which I taught you in the bathtub when you wanted me to wind up your wind-up frog. I said, "Mama, do the frog please," and tried to get you to pat your chest. Instead, I accidentally taught you to pat your belly. So now when you're eating dinner and I remind you to say, "More please," it looks like you're saying, "More...in my belly!" and it makes me crack up every time.

More...in my belly!

Love,
Mom

With your Easter bunny from Grandma and Grandpa Thorne:



You still won't let Arrow eat in peace:


Hey, Mr Teeth.

Month 13

Dear Corbin,

You turned thirteen months old yesterday. To celebrate, Dad cut your hair in the bath again, and you cried and cried about it. Pretty soon, we’ll have to take you to get a real hair cut. Soon. Pretty soon. Any day now.

Your uncle Alex and soon-to-be-aunt Lena came for a visit at the beginning of the month. The last time they saw you, you did nothing but cry, so this visit was much better. It was very nice to see them. We’ll see them again in California in October for their wedding, and we might even get to do some sight-seeing along the way.

The snow all melted this month, and the weather has been sunny and mild. That’s good, because you love being outside. You want to go on walks as often as you can, even if you only walk ten feet before stopping to explore something on the ground. You have brought home a couple of rocks, from your walks with Grandma and Grandpa, so we started a treasure box for you on the front porch. Hopefully that will keep the whole outdoors from coming to live in our house. This past weekend, I was doing some yard work while you were having some outside time. You were mainly playing with the dogs, “throwing” the tennis ball for them and playing with sticks together. I won’t be surprised if by the end of the summer, all you want to do is play in the yard with the dogs. Maybe we can get you your very own kid sized pooper scooper.

Grandma Lam and I went to a big consignment sale of kid’s stuff last week. We found you a summer wardrobe and some outdoor or front porch toys. Based on your love of stomping in puddles, though, what you really need are some rain boots. Your winter boots were waterproof when you were walking in the snow, but they were defeated by the puddle stomping. Hopefully we can find you something before we get any rain.

You have also started figuring out how to climb things. Mainly stairs, of course, but you also try to climb in and out of the tub, and you’ve actually become pretty good at climbing down from the couch. Sometimes when we’re going upstairs for your bath, you make us hold your hands so you can “walk” up the stairs, instead of crawl, and that always makes me laugh.

Other than that, it’s been a pretty quiet month for us. By quiet, though, I really mean uneventful, because you do

have your yelling moments. The other night you were walking laps around the house yelling, just because you thought it was fun. You make a lot of noise, and use a lot of syllables, but you haven’t started talking yet. You haven’t even been interested in using any signs, even ones that you made up yourself. You just do a lot of hooting and pointing, which is only to be expected. One of the books I was reading said that kids your age have more behavior in common with chimpanzees than with adult humans, so I’m not surprised when our interactions go something like this:

You: Hoot! Hoot! [point]

Me: That’s a banana. Ba-na-na.

Love,

Mom