July 18, 2012

This Boy


This boy is quickly growing into a little guy. Each day he is less baby and more child.

He is still slow with words but can identify most animals by sounds or sign. He flutters his hands for fish and butterflies, pounds his chest for gorillas, and tries his best to blow for elephants. I will see him seated in the shopping cart at the grocery store, silently blowing his lips and then realize he's spotted a cartoon elephant on a box of crackers. It's an amazing thing to watch him develop his own ideas and even more staggering that he can communicate so many of them.


He loves his stuffed animals and dives on them to give them hugs, especially his monkeys that he sleeps with each night. His collection of night time pals is growing and when he wakes up he has to re-introduce us to each one; meet monkey (ahh-ahh-ahh), dog (dah), and alligator (scissor hand motion).


He is obsessed with books and will drag them onto the couch or our bed, entertaining himself by looking at the pictures and pointing to the smallest airplane or moon. He almost always reads them upside down and will protest if corrected.

Each day he gets more daring; climbing to the top of the tallest slide, hoisting himself up on the big-boy swings, balancing on a stool... still he is a very cautious boy. He studies each step, ledge, and slide before he tests them.


He is very attached to both his father and to me and has taken to shouting 'maamaaa' and 'daaadaaa' whenever one of us leaves his sight and nearly non-stop in the car. He is happiest when we are all together. It's heart-breakingly sweet and also very loud.

He is so funny, his laugh is literally intoxicating. We roll around making each other giggle and hick up without even really knowing why.

Almost every minute of the day is filled with running, jumping, and rolling... but when he is very tired or grumpy he will wrap his little body around mine and rest his sweaty head on my chest; nothing is more peaceful or beautiful.


It's an astonishing privilege to witness this tiny person discover more of himself each day. I try to linger on every milestone... but there's never time. It's all racing by and I am slowly learning to love the speed.

10 comments:

  1. He has the most gorgeous smile, now I'm smiling :)

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  2. Such a sweet post. He's an adorable little boy, and it's fun watching him grow online! Rowan loves her stuffed animals, and the amount she needs in bed keeps growing, too. Sometimes I hear her shouting at night, "Where is bug???!?" when she loses one!

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  3. It is unbelievable just how quickly these little people grow and change and develop. I look back to just a month ago and Alice seems like a different baby. So much more interactive and fiery. And I know it will speed by and all of a sudden she'll be a tween and mouthing off to me.

    Let's hope it doesn't go too quickly. ; )

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  4. Oh, I wish any of my boys would warm up to a stuffed animal! They never did, though!

    W is looking more like a big boy every time I see a new picture of him. It's crazy stuff. He seems like such a thoughtful little guy!

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  5. He is adorable! This blog will be a nice record of his growth. They certainly do grow up quickly, but I will never forget the sweet baby stage and the feeling of a silky head under my chin.

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  6. A real tribute to this stage in his life-- there are sooo many great ones to come!

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  7. I just stumbled on this blog and just love it! I'm 9 months pregnant now and feel just so excited for what's in store...

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    1. Thank you- and congratulations on your pregnancy, you have a wonderful adventure ahead of you!

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  8. "It's heart-breakingly sweet and also very loud." Oh I know how that goes!! :) Little Smith sounds like quite the character. Those eyelashes and eyebrows are so intense. He has such a precious smile, too! It does go so fast, doesn't it? I wish I had the time to tell every story for every picture, but I guess we'd be missing out on the present if we tried to keep up with it like that. Fast paced babies!!

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  9. It is truly mind-blowing how such very small people can communicate and understand things happening in their surroundings, and pick up on even subtle moods of others. The idea that someone so small can already be such an individual is so amazing that I can hardly get my head around it.

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