Do you ever have a 1 year old?

When a baby is first born, you give his age in number of days: My son is 3 days old.

After the first couple of weeks, you shift to giving his age in week: My son is 11 weeks old.

Somewhere around the 3-4 month mark, you typically start giving his age in months: My son is 6 months old.

Right now my son is 19 months old.

Of course we had the big birthday party when he turned a year old, but the very next month we went back to defining his age in months. This seems to be the common method amongst most moms I've met, to answer the favorite question: Awww, how old is he?

So, he's more than a year and a half old already and I still don't refer to my son as a year old. I fully anticipate saying he's "two" after his second birthday, but to say he's a year old right now just doesn't seem descriptive enough. He's a lot older than simply 12 months given how fast they grow and change at this stage in life. There is a huge difference between a 12 month old and a 19 month old.

So, do we ever get to have a one year old? Babies grow up so quickly, can I somehow get an extra year after we finish up with this months business so I can properly refer to him as a year old? Probably not, huh? :(

My son, the fisherman

So while we were having lazy nap time the other day, and Grant was laying on my lap, a random commercial came on, encouraging parents to support their children's career choices. (I believe it was one of the military commercials/Army actually.)

This is something Craig and I have talked about often. It's no secret that Craig would love one of his sons to follow in his footsteps and enter the Army, preferably through West Point. I, on the other hand, think Grant may have the mind of an engineer, given how he plays with things and enjoys figuring out how they work. Grant apparently has other ideas, even at the tender age of 19 months. :)

After the commercial, I told Grant he could be whatever he wanted. The only thing I asked of him is that he grow up and take care of his family. I told him that I wanted him to be a man who is proud of providing for his wife and children whatever path he takes. He grinned at me and said "feesh."

So maybe a job with the Army Corp of Engineers?...he gets to be in the "Army" which will please dad, he gets to be an "engineer" which will validate mom's suspicions and best of all he can play in the water with the "feesh!"

Knowing God

One of the things I find most daunting about being a parent is the responsibility to teach a child about God. I mean, accepting Christ as one's Savior is paramount for our salvation and if I fail then my child is doomed.

That being said, one of the things that having a child has taught me is that babies have an innate knowledge of God, an intimate friendship, from the moment they are conceived and this continues past birth. I suppose it's possible to lose touch with this relationship over one's life, but there is such an obvious connection when children are still tiny.

Grant has this board book that we call the "Baby Bear Bible." It came from the Christian book store and was to be his first Bible. It's furry with a bear shape and he loves it. At times he sits and "reads" it for 15-20 minutes or more which is significant for a 19 month old. I think he also likes it because he sees Craig read his Bible regularly and by sitting quietly and reading his Baby Bear Bible, he is acting like daddy.

This morning, Grant was reading his Bible and Craig sat next to him so Grant could "read" to him. It was all very cute. At one point Craig asked Grant if he knew God and Grant, twice, purposefully, looked upwards. Yes, I realize I sound like every other parent who makes a big deal out of some random coincidence. However, a couple minutes later Craig pointed to a picture showing Jesus with children and asked Grant who the man was, and I kid you not, Grant responded, Jea-sus (said like a southern Baptist preacher all riled up in a tent revival!) Craig and I both looked at each other, quite stunned, but both clearly heard what Grant said.

I'll add that while we do look at his Baby Bear Bible quite regularly, it's not one we usually read so we haven't taught him the items on the pages like some of his other board books. There really is no reason for these events to have happened like this.

Another odd moment today (Grant has been full of them!) happened when Craig was burning a DVD of Dillon when he was a baby. Our DVD burner has a tiny (2 inch) screen so you can see what is being burned if you are copying from a VCR tape or television. Grant, while in Craig's arm, looked down at the screen and said "D", his name for Dillon. At the moment, the screen had an image of baby Dillon when he was about Grant's age. I can't imagine how Grant would have recognized him.

I think we don't give kids the credit they deserve sometimes.

Sneezes and car horns

So who knew that sneezes can cause car horns to blare?

This morning, during our daily ritual of walking daddy out to the car so we can wave and blow kisses, Grant suddenly sneezed (blame it on the ridiculously high pollen count over the last week!) Craig honked the horn when he saw Grant start to sneeze. Grant giggled, and as he typically does, he immediately sneezed again. Craig again blew the horn.

Grant then scrunched up his face so it resembled the way he looks when he sneezes. No car horn though...can't fool the Nitro I guess. ;)

On a side note, it must be hereditary. Craig sneezes about 47 times in a row generally...to the point that I fear one day he might rattle something loose in his brain. Grant has the tendency to sneeze at least 3 times in a row once he starts. I'm a single sneezer...and I'd always been told it was physically impossible to sneeze more than 3 times in a row. An old wives tale I suppose.

So, I've never really understand blogging. Why do other people want to read the mundane thoughts of complete strangers? My husband reads dozens of various blogs, mostly political ones...and despite all the blogs that he has sent me links to, as well as those sent by friends, I've just never found a blog that I clicked with. (With one exception, Clio, a blog about a couple's journey in domestic adoption and ensuing motherhood.)

However, reading Karen's blog (Clio) has given me a bit of new perspective. She uses her blog as a way to chronicle her daughter's growth and adventures.

I've been pretty lousy with keeping up with a baby journal for Grant, so it occurs to me that a blog might be just the ticket.

So, here's my attempt to be a better mom at documenting my wonderful son's growth and development. I shall start with a cute anecdote from yesterday, after noting that he is 19 months old now.

Grant was standing near his toybox and dropped his sippy cup on his foot, straw piece facing down. It apparently jabbed his foot enough to hurt and he was crying while holding his foot off the ground. I scurried over to him, made sure he wasn't truly hurt, and then kissed his foot to make it "all better" as any good mommy should. It seemed to work. The tears dried and toys became a distraction once again.

So, after playing for a bit I asked my typical question of "Can mommy have a kiss?"

Grant responded by holding his foot out to me.