Jeremy turned nineteen months in a flash. The best news for the past month is that he was NOT SICK AT ALL! Jeremy had been sick so often for so many months that we had grown accustomed to a runny nose and cough as being normal. I had actually begun to believe that it was impossible to take a picture of Jeremy without using the Adobe Photoshop Snot Removal Tool. Jeremy had become our ever-present cappucino machine with his gurgley chest.Jeremy has been bug-free now for over five weeks. Maybe it is the daily Flo-Vent, a low dose asthma management drug. Maybe it was removing him from one day care, and putting him in another. Maybe it was giving him three weeks outside of any day care at all, so his immune system could recover without being bombarded by incoming viruses. Maybe it is the change of seasons and weather. We made so many adjustments all at once we don't know for sure what made the difference.
But what a difference there is! With every day that passes, Jeremy acquires new behaviors of a little boy and sheds a few more babyish traits. He eats fairly well with a spoon and fork -- well enough to eat neatly when he wants to, and fling his food across the room when he feels frisky. His favorite foods right now are watermelon, noodles, cheese (especially gouda), chicken, chicken sausage, chicken nuggets, yogurt, sherbet, bananas and mango.
At times, Jeremy's sense of humor seems very sophisticated. (Either that, or I am very easily amused.) For instance, he dips the plastic wand in the bubble solution, pulls it out, moves it towards his mouth, begins to blow, but then quickly puts the wand on his tongue and he exclaims "mmmm!" As if it tastes good. Then he laughs. Fiendishly.
At other times, his sense of humor is downright predictable. How many times can he be amused by peekaboo?
Jeremy attends Jen's Kid Farm on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays, takes his Mama Nay to Gymboree on Thursday mornings, and plays hard every chance he gets. He attended his first wedding last weekend, and was mesmerized by the bride in her white gown, and was hypnotized by the disco ball over the dance floor. He really worked the crowd, and even convinced a lonely old woman -- who I think crashed the reception -- to part with a dollar bill.
Jeremy is becoming quite the swimmer. He sports his "floaty suit" that makes him look like a ninja turtle, and kicks his legs happily. He can discern the diference between the sounds of a lawn mower or leaf blower and a small plane flying overhead; when its the latter, he grabs my hand and drags me outside and we have to scan the sky until we find the aircraft.
Jeremy's favorite books right now are a couple of Olivia books, Curious George, A Mother for Choco, Hug, Where the Wild Things Are, and It's Okay to be Different by Todd Parr. He is partial to Pingu, the Wiggles and (still) the Teletubbies. He dances to the Dixie Chicks' new album. His most interesting new toy is Hokey Pokey Elmo.
He has a few new words, including "moon," "more," and "yellow." The sweetest thing of all may be that he now talks on the phone! I cannot tell you how high my heart soared when he responded to my disembodied voice with "yup!"
