It’s almost unbelievable my little boy is twenty months old. Not with respect to his actions, since every move he makes and tantrum he throws is pure two-year-old, but in the blink of time it took to get here. The other day I found myself thinking back to this time two years ago when Bennett was debuting his soon-to-be liveliness with nonstop kicks inside me and the excited nervousness I felt to bring a baby into this world hoping I’d be a good mother. It’s strange to recall that at the time we were living on Cape Cod, confused and uncertain about what the future would hold, knowing it was no longer the right place for us with our home up for sale and a hope that we would be settled into a new home before Bennett’s arrival. I had nightmares that I would be bringing my baby back from the hospital to an extended stay hotel.
Buts it’s almost transcendental how things just work out. And here we are, nearly two years later. We couldn’t be happier living and bringing up Bennett in Brookline, a community we fell in love with instantly after moving here. And now Bennett is a beautiful energetic twenty-month-old. He is wild and curious in the most amazing way. I love absorbing his energy the days we’re home together, and although I am seriously spent at the end of the day, I have never had so much fun.
A couple weeks ago we drove up to Crane Beach in Ipswich. It was one of my favorite days we have spent as a family so far. We walked down to the water which couldn’t have been above 60 degrees. When the waves crept up and hit my feet the shocking cold literally took my breath away. But all Bennett did as the water rushed past his ankles was laugh. He did not want to leave the water and all Brian could talk about on our drive home was how our kid was so tough. When I took him for his flu shot a few days later and he didn’t shed a tear, I began to second Brian’s judgment.
Bennett’s sleep schedule is unchanged although we did transition his 3-In-1 crib to a toddler bed. After his bath and story he goes to bed around 7:00 at night then wakes up at around 5:30 the next morning. He’ll typically babble to himself and turn the pages in some books before he climbs out of bed at 6:00; then we go grab him to start his day off with a little Peppa Pig and some milk. This kid loves his morning routine.
Bennett still doesn’t talk, but we currently have him enrolled in speech therapy. He has his ways of communicating with me; however these methods apparently don’t fit into the standard norm. He doesn’t point to things he wants, but he takes my hand and brings me where what he wants is kept. He’ll take me to the cabinet where his bubbles are kept if he wants to play or the cabinet where his fruit and veggie pouches are kept if he wants one of those. He’ll even open the refrigerator and grab a yogurt if he wants a yogurt or will go in his closet and pick out the shoes he wants to wear that day. He seems to have his own opinions and to be developing normally on every other level, but I will be ecstatic when I begin to hear him form words and think I will just melt on the floor when he’s able to tell me he loves me.
He loves bubbles, dancing to Disney radio, climbing on anything and everything, jumping on our bed, anything with marinara sauce, waffles and being able to run without restriction. He has the most amazing spirit, and I sometimes wonder how I could have created something that is so exceedingly better than myself (thank God for Brian’s DNA). He is truly my greatest contribution, and I can’t wait to see this boy continue to resolve the world around him.