26 and 8, month by month

Happy 26 months Reuben

You:

Are a gloriously gorgeous, patient big brother

Amaze me with your kindness, your bravery, your wit, your unconditional love

Try to teach Callum to sign even though he's clearly having none of it right now

Love, love, love, can't get enough of books

Have a quickly developing vocal range and I'm longing for the first vowel sounds

You silently babble consonants and are trying so hard to formulate these sounds

Can stand unsupported for ever increasing moments of time

Happy 8 months Callum

You:

Say "Da da da da da da da" all day long

Make me think that the difference between Callum and Calm is like the breadth of the Grand Canyon

Have 2 scrumptuous little pearly white fangs on the bottom of your mouth and constantly need to chew so I'm guessing more around a hair's breathe around the corner

Are so close to crawling, I just want to scrunch up your knees further and give you that final push and at the same time, keep you as a little baby who can't stray too far

Are getting too old and big for us to be still hanging around watching Reuben in Occupational Therapy and we know the day is soon going to come when we're going to get kicked out

Can cry making me try everything under the sun to calm you down and then when presented with a whole banana, your face changes to utter excitement, your mouth drools, your hands stretch forward and, grabbing the said banana, you stuff it in your mouth, smear your face with it, embed it in the palms of your hand where it's really hand to reach and bingo, a happy smile beams across your face.

Show a complete disinterest in books despite your Mama's love for language.

You love avocado, cheese, watermelon, pineapple and anything else we can sample on Whole Foods Mondays

Love Monday-Wednesday mornings when you get Mama's full attention in Westwood Village whilst Reuben's at school

Posture yourself out of the car seat straps when I open the car door

Are starting to take trips in the orange Bugaboo as a change from baby wearing

Roll all over the house, hard floors, alphabet playmat, wherever

Take several short naps during the day, always in the car, often in the baby carrier, almost never in your crib

Sleep through from 8pm - 7am

Sit and happily play with Reuben

Love the Tigger bouncer more than any other toy and can sometimes be found dancing in your poo, looking down with interest, when prunes cause you to blow out spectacularly

Enjoy snatching Reuben's glasses and then crunching on them if noone's looking (Reuben needs to be more assertive for sure!)

Have never watched real television, but have seen DVDs of Baby Signing Time which sends you to sleep, although when you're doing your night time fussy thing, are pacified with watching Curb your enthusiasm or Seinfeld with Daddy on DVD

And I thought I'd make a note of a sweet song as you were singing the other day, just so I would remember that sweet melody of vowels and consonants:

"Ah da-da-da-da-da-da-da

Ah ba-ba

Laaaa laaaa laaaa

Ah brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ah bruuuuuuuff"

How would I ever have remembered this had I not written it down?

Sharing toys

One for you

And one for me

And I'm always happy to take your leftovers too

Before chewing on his own toy, Reuben will always make sure Callum has one first to help his little teeth come through.

Reuben's photos of Callum

Curious how Callum's image was appearing in the camera, I again gave it to Reuben and he took these 2 photos. I just put his right eye to the viewfinder, showed him the button and he took a whole series of Callum

Tigger bouncer continues

Sorting trucks

Reuben is thoroughly enjoying sorting things, displaying the early signs of good organisational skills. I'll walk into the living room and see the Retro Rocket smartly lined up alongside the Tonka Truck and the Radio Flyer Wagon. Very neat. And today he was having a beautiful time lining up his littler toys, Thomas, the Fire Truck, Car and Airplane. I remember Amy delighting at Max's organising of trucks on his highchair table. My little baby's becoming such a little boy. I think it shows early signs too of basic maths, learning to see that things are alike and different, and it puts order into his world that is under his control. I don't see it as a red flag because he is easily distracted from this activity.

(Disclaimer: I know I don't have any experience in the collage department, but I think this series of trucks begged to be collaged.)

The biggest yet: a 5 car pile up

Black & white take on Tigger

Oh! my boys, my boys! I just can't resist another post about Callum in the Tigger bouncer and Reuben standing by as he does, swinging Callum, passing him a toy to chew, keeping him company whilst Callum builds ever stronger calf muscles. These are from my sister Anne-Marie's house. Callum radiates utter joy when he's bouncing and for me it's utterly delightful to watch. Gorgeous boys, big brother Reuben, rascalling Callum, I LOVE YOU.

Little Tigger in the shadows

and taking these today reminded me a lot of this which I took of my Callum bump in the bathroom mirror almost a year ago

My how you've grown Little Tigger!

27 and 9, month by month

Generous Reuben, at 27 months you:

Enjoy washing your hands, turning on the water, pumping the soap, drying your hands, the latter you find terribly funny
Love to sign helicopter and since I first applauded it with a big kiss on your hand (“Mama kiss your sign for helicopter”), you now follow the sign with moving said helicopter to my lips to kiss so that I’m not quite sure if you think part of the sign for helicopter is actually a kiss, or whether you just love Mama’s rewarding kisses

Grow your signing vocabularly day by day with "octopus", "family" and "bigger" among your new words, though I'm focusing on building short phrases rather than new signs

Are growing into your beautiful face day by day
Still have your gorgeous strawberry blonde curls which escalate when there’s humidity in the air or when you’re fresh out of the bath smelling of lavender

Have gorgeously grey-green-hazel eyes, the blue long departed and lush dark lashes under strawberry blonde brows
Adjust your hearing aid band when it’s not quite in the right position, likewise, your glasses, fixing them on your nose like Sven-Goran Eriksson
Put your hand over your mouth when you want to practice saying words
Are building your spoken vocabulary day by day, combining syllables into word like sounds

Say "Mama", "Dada", "Bra bra", "Ah-da", "Nana"
Have delightful conversations with Callum which only you both can understand, your private language
Take Callum’s hands and try to teach him to sign and to clap
Often speak with a guttural voice as if you’re speaking Hebrew
Are so endlessly generous with Callum, you'll even take your glasses off for him, knowing how much he wants them in his mouth, or perhaps knowing how excited Mama will get upon seeing them in Callum's mouth

Will always pick up two toys, giving one to Callum and keeping the other to yourself and I watch you stare at each other, chewing away in unison

Will pick up dropped finger foods and Callum's sippy cup when they've fallen or been thrown from the highchair tray and offer them to Callum

Wear size 5 diapers

Weigh 29lbs and measure 33"

Little rascal Callum, at 9 months you:
Certainly understand the word “no”, but as for obeying it…
Have your first pale brown freckle, perched above your right eyebrow
Are growing some beautiful fair hair, long and silky smooth and perfectly straight, in stark contrast to Reuben's rubenesque curls
Can pull yourself up in your crib

Have 5 little white teeth, two on top with the Craigan gap from my mum, three on the bottom so that a little bit of asymmetry is characterising your smile

And as for your smile, it's utterly infectious and gorgeous, it fills me with joy
Stand holding on to someone or something
Continue to use any of Mama’s body parts as teething rings
Showed the first signs of separation anxiety from Mama when at Nana & Grandad’s house until you learnt that you could commando crawl to find Mama and thus the real crawling began

Use your thumb and finger pincer grasp to pick things up
Say mama and dada indiscriminately, but now with greater meaning
Respond to your name “Callum” and “Cali”
Indicate what your want with gestures other than crying
Drink water from a sippy cup independently and drink juice from a straw
Love to eat toast with Marmite, marmalade, butter or bananas, making one hell of a mess of the highchair
Eat pretty much anything we’re eating in a coarse chopped form
Continue to pull off and crunch on Reuben’s glasses and I’m at my wit’s end
Look for dropped objects
Enjoy banging objects together
Combine syllables into word like sounds
Are quite content rolling around in your crib at bedroom

Aways let everyone know you’re awake within 1 minute of waking

Have amazingly developed calf muscles and a long lean figure

Use a thumb and finger pincer grasp to pick things up
Continue to love the baby in the mirror, finally saying in your eyes, “Hey, is it me?”

Have Mama thinking, "Wow! How much do I love the name Callum"

Took your first swim in our neighbour's pool

Wear size 4 diapers

Weigh 21lbs (59%) and measure 28.75" (70%) so you're a little lean for your height and since you love to eat so much, it must be all that exercise you get in the Tigger bouncer

The glasses

Callum has an obsession with Reuben's glasses. If my eyes are diverted for but a second he'll have them in his mouth, crunching away on them. Callum's swinging as he does in his tigger bouncer, a great babysitter in the absence of TV in our house, and wonderful exercise too, although Callum has clearly not read the warning message at the top "This is not a swing" as he builds up to a great speed and focuses his attention ahead of him, revving up like a bull in a ring with a look of sheer determination on his face. So anyway, back to the glasses. The boys are hanging out as they do by the Tigger bouncer, Reuben picking up two toys to chew on, one for himself and one for Callum, demonstrating his wonderful big brothering skills and generosity. Then, despite having something to occupy Callum's hands, he's straight in there for the glasses, whipping them off. Quite clearly, my signing of No, and Stop and having them sitting in the naughty chair (Reuben scoots it round the floor, Callum crawls out of it), is just making them laugh and get ever more excited by the reaction it's having on them. Reuben knows how to put his hand out and sign Stop to Callum too, but it's turned into a game. So Erica's advice yesterday was to take Callum away from the situation, a tool I used before with Reuben when he kept pulling at my hair for kicks, and getting Callum to learn if he keeps doing this, he'll miss out on being with us. Here's hoping!

The telephone

In Reuben's World, everything makes a great telephone. A big smile swept across my face yesterday when he picked up a toy wrench and used that as a phone, today, the video remote control, the bottom of a toy box. He knows he's being very funny when he does it too, looking round with that Elvis half smile on his face and chuckling away to himself.

26 and 8, month by month

"Mama, mama, mama".

This is Reuben talking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

His first ever word, just absolutely extraordinary after no vocalisation for 2 years and for only having a voice for 2 weeks. Wow my boy you utterly astound me! What challenges Reuben has to overcome here, moderate-profound deafness, right facial palsy, trach and vocal chord surgeries and, well, you know the rest! We've always believed in him, but, along with his Drs, just never knew he would be able to do it. So I think this is the biggest news yet.

Happy 26 months Reuben
You:
Are a gloriously gorgeous, patient big brother
Amaze me with your kindness, your bravery, your wit, your unconditional love
Try to teach Callum to sign even though he's clearly having none of it right now
Love, love, love, can't get enough of books
Have a quickly developing vocal range and say "p" for "up" and "mmm" when imitating Callum

You silently babble consonants and are trying so hard to formulate these sounds
Can stand unsupported for ever increasing moments of time

Seem to be teething as you're drooling all the time and chewing on everything (or is it just imitating Callum?)

Take my hands to sign the ABC with my fingers, just amazing to watch

Happy 8 months Callum
You:
Say "Da da da da da da da" all day long
Make me think that the difference between Callum and Calm is like the breadth of the Grand Canyon
Have 2 scrumptuous little pearly white fangs on the bottom of your mouth and constantly need to chew so I'm guessing more around a hair's breathe around the corner
Are so close to crawling, I just want to scrunch up your knees further and give you that final push and at the same time, keep you as a little baby who can't stray too far
Are getting too old and big for us to be still hanging around watching Reuben in Occupational Therapy and we know the day is soon going to come when we're going to get kicked out
Can cry making me try everything under the sun to calm you down and then when presented with a whole banana, your face changes to utter excitement, your mouth drools, your hands stretch forward and, grabbing the said banana, you stuff it in your mouth, smear your face with it, embed it in the palms of your hand where it's really hand to reach and bingo, a happy smile beams across your face.
Show a complete disinterest in books despite your Mama's love for language.
You love avocado, cheese, watermelon, pineapple and anything else we can sample on Whole Foods Mondays
Love Monday-Wednesday mornings when you get Mama's full attention in Westwood Village whilst Reuben's at school
Posture yourself out of the car seat straps when I open the car door
Are starting to take trips in the orange Bugaboo as a change from baby wearing
Roll all over the house, hard floors, alphabet playmat, wherever
Take several short naps during the day, always in the car, often in the baby carrier, almost never in your crib
Sleep through from 8pm - 7am
Sit and happily play with Reuben
Love the Tigger bouncer more than any other toy and can sometimes be found dancing in your poo, looking down with interest, when prunes cause you to blow out spectacularly
Enjoy snatching Reuben's glasses and then crunching on them if noone's looking (Reuben needs to be more assertive for sure!)
Have never watched real television, but have seen DVDs of Baby Signing Time which sends you to sleep, although when you're doing your night time fussy thing, are pacified with watching Curb your enthusiasm or Seinfeld with Daddy on DVD

Point to my nose when I ask "Where's mama's nose?", and I remember that's the first word Reuben illustrated he understand too
And I thought I'd make a note of a sweet song as you were singing the other day, just so I would remember that sweet melody of vowels and consonants:
"Ah da-da-da-da-da-da-da
Ah ba-ba
Laaaa laaaa laaaa
Ah brrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Ah bruuuuuuuff"
How would I ever have remembered this had I not written it down?

You also occasionally stop at just "Da-d" in your song so that's it, you've said dad.

Have signed Mama once. It may have been a fluke but I'm banking it.

This said, this weekend gone there's been a big change and the boys are starting to play fight and calling for attention when they're at fault. But I had the video on them and thus the evidence and true culprits on film!

Radio Flyer ride

I remember when Callum first sat in the Radio Flyer wagon; his head became temporarily stuck. Now Reuben loves to wheel Callum all over the house in it, taking such pride in shooting Callum across the floor, picking out toys for Callum to chew on or chewing on them himself. I wonder at what point Reuben will say, "Hey, wait a minute sonny! Isn't it time I hitched a ride?".

Swing, swing, swing!

Parklife

We have a very wonderful park near us in Playa Vista, full of climbing frames, huge armchair-like swings for the disabled (which are too conducive for falling asleep with my babies in my arms), slides, a wobbly bridge, sensory equipment and toys which educate on braille. I love taking the boys there and I'm so very touched looking at the joy on Reuben's face as he rides high. A great safari hat from Target which fits perfectly around his BAHA Software hearing aid (a 1st!). Reuben diligently reads his books whilst Callum plays camouflage on the picnic blanket and then proceeds to go into an almost crawl. Callum shows zero interest in books beyond taste.

Reuben riding his bike

Reuben sharing his toys

Just love this between them, catching them when they think I'm not looking.

Boys with red ball

Driving in my car

Love seeing the boys in the rear view mirror on car journeys (of which there are many). Callum's always flat out, Reuben's always reading books, so on Father's Day they got a chance to sit at the steering wheel, beep the horn, steer the wheel and Callum style, face plant.

Retro Rocket

The sounds emanating from our house at present: Reuben scooting around on his Retro Rocket, birthday present from the Halls which he loves! I always want to remember this period of his toddlerhood, his unbounded joy!

"All systems go, Retro, you're looking good! One, Two, Three, Blast Off! Approaching warp speed. Asteroids ahead." Reuben shoots and steers (!) across the floor with a huge smile on his face. Great gift!