Now a Boy, Still a Baby

The Little Mister has graduated from babyhood. Not like high school or college graduation which are rites of passage that mark one distinct stage of life to another, but more like junior high graduation: sure, you graduated and you probably know some algebra, but not a whole lot has changed.

His rapidly increasing vocabulary and ability to communicate more clearly is a welcome change from the guessing game that we've been playing for the last couple of years. He even speaks in full sentences on occasion. Over the last couple of days he's picked up proper use of the word "too." He uses it whenever possible, like today when we went to the zoo and saw bees and butterflies in the garden. When he pointed out both the bees and the bop-eyes, I exclaimed, "Yes, there are bees and butterflies!" He agreed, "Bees. And bop-eyes, too!" Or when I asked him if he would like some water or juice and he replied, "Yesh. Water. And juice, too."

But other times he says no when he means yes. Or answers yes to a question that hasn't been asked. Or he'll tell Mama all about his day in a long narrative of totally incomprehensible babble in which 2 or 3 recognizable words fly by.

On cooperative days, he also likes to helpfully drop his finished bottles into the sink. Which brings me to my point: he's almost washing his own dishes but he's still drinking out of a bottle. He's a boy but a baby, too. We went for a bike ride today (which is easier now because he can tell me what's going on in the backseat without the need for me to stop and turn around to see for myself). But then he passed out 5 minutes into our ride to the store. At 9 am. That's definitely a baby's sleep schedule. He has the willpower to refuse to sleep even when he's exhausted, but then falls asleep at the dinner table into a spoonful of hummus. He can climb like a monkey all over the outside of his crib, but still needs to sleep in one.

Sasha's first complete sentence was "Sasha is a boy." I say Sasha is a baby, too.