Nineteen Months

This tiny man -- who is looking way more like a little boy than a baby -- has had an absolutely crazy month

After a June full of traipsing around and mostly watching his siblings do awesome stuff, Fritz got to live it up in July.  The cabin!  With boats and water and running around in the woods!  And road tripping through the Dakotas!  With bison and eagles and climbing!  Plus a bunch of new parks and trips to the pool thrown in for good measure!

June: mostly deck-surfing

The best part of traveling with a tiny toddler is all the new vocabulary words and VERY INTENSE passions.  New words and phrases this month:

• Bison -- as in, A BISON MOMMY!
• Eagle -- as in, EAGLE!  EAGLE!  EEEEEEAGLE!!!!
• Bunting -- rainbow bunting.  He loves those bird cards.
• Wook at dat, Mommy!  
• A zeba -- zebra
• I did it Mommy!
• Cwime -- climb
• Ike -- hike
• Uhbuckle -- buckle/unbuckle
• I dyump.  Catch!  
• I wub you Mommy -- or, more likely, I wub you Dampa

He knows when he's being extra adorable and throws in a little head-tilted side-smile when he says he wubs me.  

We have some construction going on at the house, so we try to get out of the way during the day.  We've visited all the parks (and worn all the plaid shorts, apparently.  I only have one kid left who will wear whatever I want.)  This kid can climb anything and hang from anything.   Fritz loves going to the pool but has no use for the zero-entry baby area.  It's all big pool all the time.  He jumps off the wall hundreds of times and then kicks around in his floaty vest when my arms get too tired to lift him up onto the wall anymore.

He loves his people fiercely and likes to keep track of everyone.  If one of his siblings walks out of sight, he demands, "Eeeyah Inga?  Eeeyah go?"  If Julia shows up alone to pick up Alden, "Eeeyah Nona?"  He loves to look at pictures and talk about everyone.  It's been fun to have all the kids home for the summer at this stage when Fritz is really starting to join the party.  He follows Henry around like a puppy and tries to do everything his big brother does.  He has a funny cuddle-battle dynamic with Ingrid, putting on a silly show of resisting her aggressive affections.  And he plays the best with Heidi; they chase each other, look at books, play kitchen or Brio or puzzles, ride bikes in the driveway, graze in my vegetable garden, and splash in puddles.  It reminds me so much of the year that Henry and Ingrid were the same ages and see the two younger kids building the same relationship foundation.

Putting him to bed is the best.  We read stories while he has his bottle; current favorites are Polar Bear's underwear, Silence, Hand Hand Fingers Thumb, the animals book, A Ball for Daisy, I Love You Through and Through.  Then we cuddle up and rock.  He still turns to snuggle against my chest like a baby, though he barely fits sideways in the chair anymore.

Changing his diaper remains the worst.  He just fights and screams and wails like it's torture every single time.  Dude, you have survived this like 2,000 times already.  This isn't the time I'm going to kill you doing it.

Close second: putting him in the car seat.  Sometimes Henry and I have to join forces to cram him in the seat.  A body build like a brick plus the stubbornness of a mule is a potent combination.  Otherwise, Fritz is just an exquisite specimen of toddlerhood.