Crista Acosta Photography »

It hasn’t been going so well lately.  We’re in the midst of popping some molars through, and despite the fact that his mood has been alright in general, naptime usually lasts about a half hour before L.A. wakes up crying and with this face pleading to be removed from the torture that is his crib.

He will however sleep for hours on our chest, on the couch.  This rendered C and I rather useless for hours at a time this long weekend.  Honestly?  I would have paid to press the pause button.  Rare is the time either of us just lounges for more than 5 minutes unless the boy is asleep, and then it’s out of sheer exhaustion.  More than that though, L.A. is very quickly outgrowing the sitting still and snuggling phase, so I’ll gladly hold onto these moments as long as they last. 

The newest development of L.A.’s strange quirks has been his obsession with his little toothbrush.  If he catches glimpse of it, he immediately reaches out and says “Mom!” as in “Lady, give me that toothbrush”.  If I dare to hesitate for even a second, the “Mom” is repeated and quickly becomes louder and more intense. 

He also refuses any brushing assistance, because clearly at 13 months he can already do it on his own.  If I attempt to help, it’s made very clear VERY quickly how frustrating it is that his mom doesn’t understand his independence. 

The toothbrush is a bath time staple.  Who needs the 3 rubber duckies, squirting toys and bath cups when you have a toothbrush?  We haven’t reached the point of the toothbrush needing to come to bed yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t that far off.

Much of our free time these days is spent like this:

Walking laps around our house with the little guy.  He’s just so excited to be walking, notice the tongue… it’s always out like that in a combination of concentration and sheer joy.  It’s so much fun to see him developing so quickly, but any parent that has done this for 20 minutes straight knows that it’s a killer on your back to lean over and support a person who is all of 2 foot nothin’.  

Unfortunately, L.A. doesn’t really understand that and crumples on the floor in a fit of frustration when C or I need a break.  Despite the fact that he has at least 5 different types of “walking toys”, apparently none are as good as Mom or Dad’s hands.  How can you say no to that?

Just so that I can thoroughly embarrass my teenage son when he reads through these entries one day, how about Tongue Exhibit part 2?  Despite the fact that these pictures were taken in almost the same location, it should be noted that this was on lap 38 or so.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!