Wednesday, March 7, 2012

18

I'm not going to lie. The past three months with Mattias have been... not great. Someone took my sweet lovable little man and replaced him with a very angry midget. A very angry teething midget. Who never actually got any teeth in, so I'm wondering what all the anger was for.

It's a good thing that even his temper tantrums are cute, because I was privy to one on a daily basis. Some days there were 9:00, 11:00, 12:30, 4:00, 6:00, and 8:00 showings. All that was missing was the popcorn.

It would go like this; Mattias would believe that some gross misjustice had taken place (diaper needed to be changed, he ate all his snack, the dog looked at him), so he would run screaming towards a wall. Stop. Turn around and look at me while he hit the wall and said, "UH". Then he would stomp his feet, mutter "UH" a few more times, then run screaming towards another wall to start the whole process over again. This would last about a minute, and then something bright and shiny would distract him.

All the while I would firmly tell him no, then ignore him, holding back crazed giggles that threatened to erupt every time the angry midget appeared.

I had no idea what was causing this behavior. He had just gotten over croup, and his gums were very swollen, but nothing ever broke through. But quickly as it started, the tantrums have pretty much dissipated and I have my sweet boy back.

At 18 months he still only has 6 teeth. He's just now fitting into the proper size of clothes (when he was 12 months, he was wearing 6/9m clothing, at 15 months he wore 12m). He looks like such a little man now.

He takes one 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon, nurses twice a day and sleeps through the night (oh dear LORD it was about time). He makes us laugh with his silly antics and love for dance. He loves to sing "jingle bells" and "jingle bell rock", and can actually sing the melody, just substituting la-la-las for the actual words. I sense the music is strong in this one.

He has a language all his own, but says; hi, ola, Mama, Papa, Gramma, carro (car in Portuguese), ao-ao-ao (what a dog says in Portuguese) bela-ba (belly button), agua-wa (a hybrid of water in Portuguese and English), and begungh (bird in ?).

He screams with delight when his Papa comes home. Or if you ask him if he wants to go outside. Or listen to music. Or have a bath. Or if he wants his chucha (pronounced shusha - it means pacifier in Portuguese). He does everything with enthusiasm.

Especially eating. It's hard to believe that a year ago, he wasn't gaining any weight and pretty much refused to eat. He's making up for it now. The boy can put away 4 bowls of steel cut oats in the morning. Then he wants to help himself from my bowl. He'll try anything and recently stole a spring roll off of my plate.

I miss my baby, but I dearly love this little boy who is now running around. Now if he would just stop for a moment and let me snuggle him.





Mr. Independent... the look on his face is him protesting Elise's help



Already a great little soccer player




His teeth... all 6 of them





Someone needs a haircut


Love








4 comments:

Kelly said...

OMG...could he be any cutier! Happy 18 Mattias...keep on growing and keeping Momma on her toes. xoxo

David and April Vinson said...

I can't believe he's already a year and a half!! WOW! He's adorable! I'm so glad to hear you say he'll eat anything now even after being a picky eater.... Andrew continues to be quite particular about what he will/will not put in his mouth! He sounds adorable! We really need to get our kids together! (And us too, of course)

shannon said...

ahahah those temper tantrums sound hilarious! i'm glad they were short-lived though.

and i'm so relieved for you that his appetite has increased. when mine was that age, there was nothing more satisfying than watching her finish a meal and ask for more. phew!

thanks for the update and pics. :)

Hi This is Erik said...

Hilarious description from you and cuteness from M = perfect.