15 Jun
14 Months
T1,
A few months ago I celebrated the end of your monthly letters. Hoo-rah! I felt like I had released myself from some sort of self-assigned torture. It wasn’t torture to write about you, or take pictures of you, or simply revel in how marvelously cute you are, it was the idea that I felt I absolutely had to do it each month and that if I missed a month I was a failure of a mother. Or at least, a failure of a mommy blogger. Do you think it would be possible for you to live life in a way that you don’t spend as much time as I do comparing yourself to others and feeling like you come up short? I would highly advise doing so.
Last week we went to the park to play and I realized that I really wanted to write one of these updates again. Was releasing myself from a schedule really all I needed to do to make this fun again?
I don’t have many photos of you playing with the other kids because you’re still in that stage where understanding and exploring the world around you is more interesting than interacting with others. Your favorite thing at the park that day was the garbage truck, which you chased around the park and excitedly pointed at. You are walking everywhere now, with very little of the stumbly babyuneveness left in your gait. You never, ever want to walk holding my hand for more than a few steps, and once you learn to talk I imagine you will frequently let me know that you can “Do it myself!’
You are wearing your pajamas here, something you do quite often because they fit your skinny little body the best. I think you look so sad drowning in normal daytime clothes for kids your age because they seem to be made for babies twice as wide as you. You are currently in a weird stage, where 12 month clothes are just barely too short, and 18 month clothes look like you are draped in a potato sack. So I buy a lot of pajama sets made by Carter’s and pair them with jeans during the day, and switch you to pajama bottoms at night. This system is so easy!
We very recently cut your hair again, after talking about it for weeks. I actually love the way the short locks really let your blue eyes shine.
And yes, your blue eyes are still here! Can you believe it? I can’t. I hope your hair grows in dark and your eyes stay nice and blue, because that is trait I dreamed of having in a child someday. You also are very attached to your bottle, something which I hate, but don’t have the patience/inclination to wean you off of. It has turned into a pacifier of sort for you, and I don’t look forward to the day when we officially have to say goodbye for good. You’re so busy though that I can’t imagine you sitting still long enough to get the nutrition you need without a bottle stuffed in your mouth! I guess we’ll face that beast when it comes.
I very rarely get headshots of you like this, because you are always running, running, running. Sonmetimes I stroke your head over and over and tell you “You’re so beautiful” and “You’re so pretty” because you really are so unbelievably sweet that I have a hard time believing I made you. I admit you don’t look or act anything like I imagined you would, but that’s a good thing in your case because I like you even better than I liked my old imaginary baby.
Funny/cute things you do include:
Talking nonsense, and responding so excitedly when I talk nonsense back to you
Waving your arms up and down in the air and making noises like a monkey
Stopping whatever you are doing and messing your pants, sometimes embarassing me with how public your display is
Leaning forward and touching our foreheads together
Posing for pictures (hooray for you not being sick of my camera yet!)
Hours of Peek-A-Boo Barn played on my iPhone/iPad
Placing a blanket over your head and waiting for me to say “Where’s T1? Where’s T1″, pulling the blanket off and laughing when I yell “There he is!”
You eat all of your vegetables, and pretty much everything that I set in front of you and it makes me SO PROUD. I hope you grow up to be open-minded and willing to try new things throughout life and I feel like this is a first step.
Not so awesome things you do include:
Whining about everything. You whine a lot, and even your aunt and grandpa have mentioned that they are surprised by how worked up you always seem to be. If you don’t get your way, you let me know how unhappy you are
Using your bottle as a “paintbrush”. I don’t know if there is any surface in the house that isn’t covered with milk
Whining for food, and then taking said food and breaking it up into tiny pieces and throwing it on the ground
You still aren’t talking yet, but I have high hopes that it’s going to happen soon. I can see you thinking about it, and I can see you trying to figure out how to make the right sounds to let me know what you want. I’m going to be right by your side, cheering you on every day until that happens (will you please start with mama?). Then, you’ll meet that elusive talking goal and we’ll move on to a new one, and I’ll be right next to you as your biggest cheerleader once again. Thanks for being patient with me as I figure out this new mom thing. You’re a roller coaster for sure, but I don’t want to get off this wild and crazy ride anytime soon.
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
I’ve been surprised at how early the whining/fit throwing has started. Brady is 12 months and I just didn’t envision it happening for another six months or so. I’m feeling weird about how to handle it because he is much too young to discipline but also want to make sure I nip the behavior in the bud.
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1He is so beautiful, but you already know that
I can’t wait till I have a little one. By the way, I’ve been following your weight-loss journey and you look amazing! I always thought you were so pretty, but now you just look hot! 
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2I love the last pic the most of the two of you together, so sweet! I can’t wait til my little girl gets here so I can take tons of pics of her too! ps. I like T1′s haircut.
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3Those pictures of him on the ground are gorgeous!!!! Dang.
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Jenna Reply:
June 15th, 2011 at 9:17 am
I saw the cloud cover and it was just the right moment when he was fussy and willing to stay on the ground for a minute. As you know, you have to move fast when they are this age!
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He is such a beautiful, happy little guy!
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5Those headshots are great. And I love the last picture of the two of you.
I find that when I release myself from a rigid schedule, I’m more likely to freely decide to do whatever it was I was trying to force myself to do. I think random letters are more fun anyway
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6My daughter still has a bottle before bed at 18 months and I’m not planning on taking it away anytime soon-she enjoys it and like T1 never had a pacifier or sucks her thumb. My brother drank bottles for a LONG time, he used to be able to make his own! While living in the UK the heavy cream came in the same bottle the milk did. Once he went to the fridge and made himself his own bottle, but then went running to my Mum screaming “baba not working!” He couldn’t suck that British heavy cream through the nipple!
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7Oh Jenna,
he is absolutely stunning. And you look so lovely together. I am so glad for your happiness.
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8He is too cute! Love those blue eyes! My kid is doing exactly the same things yours is doing! I relish those times when he does stop running to let me snuggle him for a minute (or longer!)
I love your writing style and sense of humor!
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9This was so sweet and loving, Jenna. You seem like such a good mom! I really like your honesty when it comes to all aspects of motherhood.
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10He has so many teeth! I can’t even imagine.
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11I love your photography work, Jenna, but these pictures are particularly stunning!! Maybe it has something to do with your eloquent writing skills as well. Just a wonderful post all around.
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12The last pic of you looks like the pics of you before your wedding. Good job!
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13He is so handsome
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14This was such a sweet post. He is looking so much like a little boy now! I think he looks a LOT like you, which I didnt think a few months ago. You make motherhood look easy Jenna! And, I too wish that I spent less time comparing my life to that of others. But it is hard! The grass is always greener right? I really enjoy this type of post and I’m sure T1 will someday too. And how fun for you to be able to look back on his life in such great detail!
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15Absolutely beautiful shots as always. I really, really love the last one of the two of you. Gorgeous.
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16Love the pic of T1 crying…that’s how most of my pictures turn out these days. My 20 month old is going through a stage of as soon as he sees the camera come out he yells “no!” and runs away!
Clothes are a funny thing. We spend most of our day in pj’s too! I bought my son some shorts the other day, 18m, and had to return them because they were too big! I bought him 9 month shorts and they have room to grow!!! But for pants he needs at least an 18m in length!! So frustrating. I’m thinking of buying some dapper snappers to see if that will help!
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17I love this post! You will be so glad you put all of this hard work in when he is older. I also love that I find good baby apps from your blog
Just downloaded peek a boo barn and my boy seems to love it already! Anymore recommendations? I got the rattle one too.
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18aww this made my heart melt. the balance that you have in this letter teetering between being honest and loving is just so geniune and real. Im sure T1 will apperciate it when he is older.
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19The time will come when he won’t stop talking. By the way does TH speak to him in Polish? I’ve heard that kids who are learning both languages take longer to talk in a sense because they are assimilating both language.
He looks like a happy boy. Hopefully the fussiness will go away. You both look healthy and happy. And I like the formal letter format.
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20I’ve just had an interesting discussion with Grant’s speech therapist: Kyle isn’t crazy behind or anything with his speech but it does seem that most barely 2 year olds like him are saying more (you try so hard to not compare, but it’s difficult!) Of course, Kyle’s only peer model is Grant - a child that is at almost the same level developmantly and struggles with speech apraxia (due to DS). We aren’t around other children that often, at least not on any kind of routine schedule anyway. I’ve been thinking that this has effected Kyle’s speech.
She informed me that no matter how much mom and dad talk, it’s often the peers that children learn the fastest speech from - - which explains why often the second child will speak a little quicker than the first. Add to that the tendancy for boys to pick up language later than girls. She said that other than her special needs patients like Grant, most of her typically-developed patients are first born boys that just need a little extra help for awhile.
I’m not saying that T1 should see a speech therapist at all though - just sharing something I learned that I found very interesting. I’m even thinking of having Kyle attend a sort of daycare/pre-preschool for just a few hours 2-3 days a week until he picks up more language (and idea the therapist told me to consider). I’ve heard it’s worked well for some other parents I know and though I don’t love the idea of having him away from me too much during those days, if it will help him move along and make up for not having a good-speech older brother model, then it might be worth it!
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allison Reply:
June 15th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
I’m a speech-language pathologist, and I’ve always learned that typically developing kids naturally acquire language from the environment, whether they have an adult or a peer model. I wouldn’t say that their acquisition is faster by having those peer models, but clearly there are benefits to having that social interaction.
I’m also going to look into the birth order thing because I’ve never heard that before.
I agree that I can’t say whether or not T1 needs speech therapy. There’s no way I can make that determination based on the little snippets of information you’ve shared, Jenna. I can with certainty say that he is freakin’ cute!
I was actually planning to comment on your “Maid” post to address some of the other comments about speech/language development. I even wrote a draft of the comment on notebook paper (how nerdy is that?), but then I got too busy/tired to post it. Basically, I was going to say that I found the stories of “so-and-so didn’t talk til they were X years old, but they turned out fine” to be concerning. Obviously that’s not the case for every child or I would have a much smaller caseload!
It’s important for parents to know those developmental milestones so they can have their child assessed if necessary. Early intervention is SO important.
This is a great website for anyone out there that wants to learn more about development of communication skills: http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/chart.htm
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That last picture of you both is so precious it’s seriously making me tear up. I’m glad you found joy in writing another one of these and I’m sure you’ll cherish it forever.
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22Totally shallow comment here - you look SO THIN in that last photo
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23Your writing brings me to tears. Seriously, I don’t think I’m going to end up having children, but the way you write is so honest. I love it - what a special memory for your kids to look back on, you commemorating these moments in their lives. I love watching you on this journey of motherhood. You and your little boy are beautiful.
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24Such great pictures & words. I love the picture at the end of you two together, so precious! I love that you obviously adore & love T1 but you are also honesty and don’t sugar coat that it can be difficult with a little one.
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25SO STINKIN’ CUTE!
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26Does TH only speak to T1 in polish and you only speak to him in english? Children who are raised in bilingual settings take longer to talk because they are working out both languages.
I have experienced this and it is so nice to finally hear what they have to say
in two languages!
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Jenna Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 9:47 am
He doesn’t do it as frequently as he should, but he tries. I hope T1 will be able to speak in Polish when he starts talking!
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i love this post!
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28Do you have any pointers on helping with vowel pronunciation? I have an almost 5 yr old daughter in speech during the school year. But I want to help her more in the summer. I have plenty of things to work with her on regarding consonants, but not vowels. It seems like she has the most trouble with “a”.
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Jenna Reply:
October 3rd, 2012 at 11:41 am
No, I’m sorry. Have you looked into the speech therapy options available to you in your area?
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