Sparkles at almost 18 months
When Sparkles was a tiny, unformed infant blob, we objected to vehicle-themed clothing as too stereotypically boy. Now we have a toddler who identifies buses, trucks, airplanes, helicopters, and trains by sound (nevermind sight), greeting them with a glad cry and saying, "Bye bye" as the sound dopplers away. (The garbled consonant cluster at the beginning of "truck" just slays me. It comes out something like "gluck" only more gurgling.) He's also starting to identify the pictures on his clothes and express preferences. So now I think that a tshirt imprinted with a London bus full of pigeons is quite appropriate. To pick a completely non-random example. He really loved the London buses.
I put his airplane/helicopter bodysuit on him one night at bedtime, telling him I was doing so, and he was so clearly pleased.
Still, I'm treasuring his innocence. He doesn't know that other people would say that pink, purple velvet and flowers are not for boys, so he wears and uses his pink, purple and flowered things quite happily. I really hope to instill in him the courage to continue liking those things when the other kids tease, but I know that peer pressure is a powerful force. For now, I'm thrilled that he loves his purple velvet diaper and his pink, flowered doll stroller.
The longer attention span that allows me to try different and longer books at story time thrills me. The flowering of imaginative play really thrills me. Alas, these things are combining to inspire daily raids on Mommy and Mummy's giant cabinet of plush and books. Some of these things are toys he can keep. He can have Grover. He can have the chicken. He can have the monkey. Mommy's cats and Mummy and Mommy's great apes are quite another story. We perhaps need a plan for prevention and control.
Meanwhile, he takes his cues from us and is learning to animate the plush. He hugs them. They hug each other. The baby pigs in his barnyard set drink milk from their mommy. And he has quite the collection of Sesame St. and other Fisher Price figures. Who knows what worlds he will build with them?
On Saturday we took him to a Philadelphia Family Pride playgroup at Sister Cities Park. Water play! He loves water. Then we took him to his grandparent's house. He loves his grandparents. Then we ate dinner out. I prepped him with restaurant rules, and he ate the noodles from our pho with relatively little fuss or mess. On our way back to the car, we stopped in the fire station. He got to sit in the drivers' seat of the big ladder truck and push the buttons. We were thrilled. So, on a day like this, out and about with lots of new things to see and do, and his parents around all day, he was golden.
Sunday he was home with me while Mommy was at work in the morning. Not in our routine. And then Mommy went out and did yard work in the afternoon. Alas, also not in our routine. He was wild. He threw toys. He made repeated anxious queries. He was a mess.
So, high liking of novelty and stimulation while away from home, check. High liking of predictability when at home, also check.
Some people, when talking about their son, say, "He's a gentle soul." Sparkles is a very sweet kid, with tons of charisma, but no one is ever going to call him "a gentle soul." He's a very vigorous little person. Tiring, even. But fun.
Want to add a picture but I'm not at a useful computer. Later!