My Toddler

Not too very long ago, I was able to regale you once weekly with the handful of new things Paxton was learning. Now, there is neither enough space on the page, nor memory in my mind to tell you all of the new capabilities he's daily demonstrating. I assure you that I do not talk up his mounting skill set to brag. Since I have very little previous experience with toddlers, I don't know what is exceptional and what is simply par for the course. I, of course, assume that everything he does is incredible. But I'm mom, so that's to be expected.

Slightly less biased is my mom, Paxton's beloved Tizzy, who pulls from her past speech therapy experience to assure me that the fact that he's using two words in a small sentence is very advanced for his age. "More crackers". "Bye, Tizzy". "Go, car!". The kid is a decided chatterbox. Sometimes he's succinct and makes his point with few words. When he's ready for a person to move away from him, he simply says "bye" to the offender. But other times, as when we're shopping, he says hello to strangers and then makes up a series of random words to tell them about his day and how much he enjoys his life, etc. "She-shaw, gib, jib, oooooh!". Sometimes he inserts an actual word--"puppy!"--to the delight of his new friends. Like every kid in the world before him, he looks confused and slightly offended when people don't understand what he is trying to convey. On the flip side, when he repeatedly asks for crackers and I pull out the bag of Goldfish, he screams like I just drove through the front gate of Disney World. Toddler glee is the greatest thing in the world.

It is awesome to me when Paxton does something I had no idea he knew how to do. Yesterday, when I went to undress him, I said, "Arms up!" and he threw his arms above his head. When I ask him if he's ready to eat, he runs to his highchair to be seated. When I tell him it's time for bed, he runs to the stairs, saying "night-night". These are all things that he experiences daily, but the moment it clicks in his mind, it just stuns me. I have the unique pleasure to watch this little person learn. I'm honored by my role in his life.

Besides all of Paxton's verbal advancements, he is showing more and more of an interest in pursuing an eventual career in stunt work. He careens around the house pushing his riding train. His steering is quite impressive. He could easily slam into any number of obstacles crammed into our small living area. But he rides that train like it's on rails, zigging and zagging around the dining room table and the oversized couch and the spiral staircase. When he gets stuck for a moment, he's sure to let us know with a loud whine. But mostly, he's the master driver.

Today, when Carmen was here, we were visiting in the living room and Paxton was wandering around, entertaining himself. He was quiet for a moment too long and I called out for him, asking him what he was up to. I stood up to see him balancing on the dining room windowsill, Spiderman-style, clinging to the window. How he got himself there, I have no idea. The kid is a menace to his own personal safety. At the playground today, he climbed a giant, steep, wet wooden ramp up to the tall top of the playset. When he got to the top, happily accepting accolades from Carmen and me, he then proceeded to climb even higher. My heart was racing. The days of sitting and happily chatting with the other moms are long, long gone. I'm on active duty now. I'm the mother of a toddler, for better or worse.