Joyful and Chai-umphant (18 months)

Chai turned 18 months old on December 7th. He, like Pearl Harbor, will live in infamy. My obsession with my baby boy has surpassed all reason. He is my funny, dear little friend and I love him. Jonathan and I were watching videos not even a year old of Chai when he was a fat, gormless bald baby and we couldn't believe it was him. We thought we adored him last year; now we keep telling each other, this, this is the true Chai! I don't think it would be possible for us to enjoy him more deeply. I appreciate his loving nature and all the beautiful things about life that he brings to my awareness. Here are some things I want to remember about my tiny good man at 18 months:

*He is a wonderful dancer! Whenever he hears music, at the store, in the car, and even during a movie or TV show, he bops around, tiptoes, waves his arms and shakes his shoulders and booty. He is able to recognize tempo and when it's a slow song, like Christmas music, he closes his eyes and sways with long, graceful arms. We always say he is "feeling artistic." It is hilarious and as Jonathan says, he "charms the pants off everyone." I wish I had some great video of his dances but I have this condition where I'm scared to delete anything off my SD card so whenever I record video it's only a few seconds' worth. But Chai dancing is pure joy to me. He is so expressive and so sweet and funny. Lately, he does this little celebratory dance whenever we come home from work, he starts rocking out and yelling when we walk in the door. I DIE every time.

*Chai is incredibly affectionate. I love that he is so active and independent but also so cuddly. He loves to sit backwards in my lap and rest his head on my chest. He always joins in whenever someone is rubbing my poor aching back and he will come rub my back on his own if I ask him to or if I'm ever kneeling down. 

 I can’t get enough of his deliberate, wild hugs and his sweet-smelling face and his trotting steps and his mischievous smiles. He is also great at giving kisses when the desire strikes him. He puckers his huge lips and leans in very slightly, about 5%, the recipient has to go the other 95. When he decides to kiss someone he typically kisses everyone in the room. Sometimes when he is feeling particularly benevolent he will pucker up to cashiers and the like. On mornings when we sleep in, (that's right!) he crawls over to me and will fall back to sleep with his hand on my arm or chest. 

*Chai loves aunties and uncles. His auntie "Moh" lives with us right now and every morning when he gets up he goes to look for her. If she is home, he runs to see her and calls her name over and over while his whole body shakes with happiness. If she's gone to class, he waves sadly into her room and says, "Bye...bye...Moh!" She is such a kind and playful auntie. She lets Chai wear her jewelry and indulges his demands to ransack all her possessions. She is always willing to take him on walks or dance with him in her arms. Chai has become really close to my brother Doug and his wife Emily lately as well. They come over once a week for our Wednesday "dinner party" and Chai loves having them around and falls into despair when they leave. He knows that they are the owners of "Pie" (Chai's name for their dog, Penny) and if we ever say their names around him he begins to yell for "Pie" and look around as though she might suddenly appear. I want my siblings to know that I'm so grateful for their kindness to my little boy and I don't take it for granted. Every child deserves lots of people that love them and I'm so happy my baby has that. 

*Chai loves ice. Jonathan always feeds him tiny pieces of ice from his own mouth, like a baby bird, and Chai beams and is generally full of glee. It's like his favorite treat. The first time it snowed, we gave him a tiny icicle to suck on  and he went mad with happiness. He kept crying to go outside for more until all the icicles were gone. 

*Chai is a little word sponge. I can't even keep track of all the words he can say now, and he surprises me with new ones every day. Some of the new words from the last two weeks or so are "up" "wash" "toys" "cow" "monkey" "mokey" (milk) "tankoo" (thank you) "Pie" "dance" "winky" "booger" "clothes" "book" "down" "pretty" "lights" "baby". He learned to ask for Yo Gabba Gabba and does so often: "Gabba gabba gabba!" He can identify all the parts of the face and make dog, kitty, bird, and cow sounds. He likes to name the animal immediately after making the noise, like "Hohohoho!" (barking) "DOG." He also talks in his sleep. He will roll over, sigh, and mutter, "Chai-Chai-Chai" or "shoes!" Last night he laughed in his sleep. 

*Even though it's gotten colder, Chai is still obsessed with taking walks outside. We've had so much fun with him the days that it snowed. He gets so excited when we put on his shoes that his whole body shakes. He asks to go outside constantly, even when it's freezing or late at night. He loves exploring.

*Chai is obsessed with taking baths. A few times a day, even if he's had a bath only hours before, he will become frenzied with the idea, look at me all wide-eyed and say "Bath! Bath bath bath bath!" run to the bathroom and knock on the door (which we try to keep shut all the time because of Chai's penchant for throwing things, like his bottle, into the toilet), all full of hope. If I tell him the bath can't happen right then, he collapses with despair against the door and weeps, "Bath! Baaaath!" When he actually does get in the tub, it's a serious business. He's figured out all the ways to stay warmest--huddling up against the  running faucet, or, when it gets deep enough, floating on his stomach and blowing bubbles. He also enjoys throwing all the shampoo and body wash bottles into the tub with him, and then out of the tub on the floor, and attempting to drink bath water out of various cups. 

*Chai loves to pinch us when we're feeding him a bottle. We always try to ignore it, but he gets the smallest amount of skin possible and twists. Sometimes, he also pinches in vengeance. Sometimes we call him "Pinche Chai" :) 

*Chai, like most of the good people on Reddit, likes to watch videos of kittens falling asleep and doing other cute things. Sometimes we use kitty videos as a distraction if he is getting cranky or demanding an inopportune bath or walk and it works every time. 

*Jonathan is always buying and selling tech parts and building computers. Chai loves to copy everything he does. He pulls tech parts out of boxes and blows on them and loves to "fix" computers with tools whenever he can get his hands on them. 

 *Some people have asked if Chai is aware that another baby is coming in a little while. He has started calling my belly "baby!" and he definitely knows what babies are, but I'm not sure he's put it together yet. However, he has been more attached to me lately and always wants me to snuggle and comfort and feed him (before he was less discriminating . I don't know if it's an intuitive awareness that things will be changing soon or if it's a developmental stage, but it means so much to me to be able to have extra closeness to honor the time we have left together, just us. I am so aware all the time that one day the little boy I know now won't exist anymore, he will never curl up in my lap and gently pat my face and my hair again. There won't be as many kisses, he won't always stretch his arms out to me with pure delight. Hopefully we can have a different kind of relationship that is also sweet and fulfilling, but I know I will miss my sweet baby. I remember it every time I hold him. He has my heart.