Life With a Soon-To-Be Toddler

Murray has been taking 1-2 steps on his own. We missed the first try - he walked for his teachers at daycare on Friday. Apparently at one point, he even walked four steps. Of course, he won't walk for us, but I'm sure he will soon. The key is to have the camcorder at our fingertips at all times.

Life with Murray has certainly changed. He has a push car that he literally runs behind and will spend hours at a time terrorizing the animals and scaring the living daylights out of us. Not only is he into everything (I found clumps of dirt scattered on the floor next to my plants and the only one with dirty paws was Murray), but he's climbing too. The pack and play was underneath the window last week, folded up so it makes a rectangle. I turned around for no more than 30 seconds and when I looked again, there's Murray; standing on top of it, looking out the window and oh so proud. The pack and play folded is about 2 feet high, so it wasn't the terrifying situation that I thought it was, but I was so surprised. Then, over the weekend we had his car seat in the house, and he climbed on it and promptly fell backwards on the hard floor. I once mentioned that I would like to wrap him in bubble wrap, and now I really wish I could. All these bumps and bruises are making me feel pretty incompetent as a mother.

Not only is he rambunctious, but he's stubborn as a mule. I'm talking tantrums, and big ones (he gets this from my sister, who will always be known for her famous tantrums). Being one is tough, I know, but when he doesn't get exactly what he wants and when, a serious tantrum ensues. We ignore them, but it's hard to do. He's extremely skilled at making a very sad face that melts your heart, but we are not giving in. Yet. For instance, I have a crystal bowl on the dining room table that we fill with fresh fruit each week. We've had to move it to our bedroom, because if he sees it, he points and says "NA!" (Murray speak for banana) and has a tantrum if he doesn't get one. He would eat bananas all day if we let him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's just so unreal to watch a baby grow into a child. Fascinating and fun, but a little sad too. I was thinking that last year at this time I was carrying Murray, but Craig reminded me that it was two years ago. TWO! I feel like I just gave birth last week.

Anyway, we entertained some friends of ours this weekend who were in town for the AC/DC concert. What a hoot! We had so much fun and hope that they will come back for a visit soon.

I'm off to pretend that I'm working very hard. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day!