Toddlers are a Blessing and . . . more Blessings!

If you remember, after I took Terrin to the cardiologist a few months back, they recommended that we send him for genetics testing. So, Terrin and I made the trip back in October to Birmingham. I finally heard back from the geneticist today. The tests were normal! However, like I told the doctor, Mom already knew that. But, it is still comforting to hear it from a professional. (because I am NOT a professional, I am JAM).

He does want to see Terrin back at 2 years old, with his growth chart. Terrin is extremely small for his age (18 pounds last time I weighed him, and he is 16 months old). Terrin is still not walking. He is finally getting that "I want to take a step" look in his eye, and he will reach, but he has not taken that first step. That does not mean he is not busy! He can cross a room in 2 seconds. He also has a lot to say. Most of it is baby garble, but he says a lot of words, too. This week he has said "bubble", "banana" and he tried "Turkey Lurkey" (his nick name). He also has the Baby Santa video, and he tries really hard to say "Happy Holidays" with the kids at the end of the video. He thinks everything is a phone and he holds it up to his head and says "Hello, hello, hello!" Then he babble a little and says "bye-bye". Shanon says this is an indication of what mom does all day. His eye/hand coordination is excellent, but, it has been from the beginning! The picture below was taken at Christmas last year -- Terrin was 4 months old.

Have you ever read the books by Laura Numeroff like "If you Give a Moose a Muffin" or "If you Give a Pig a Pancake"? If you haven't, you should. They are precious books. And, they had to be written by a JAM! Here is why:

If you try to do the dishes while your toddler is awake, he will probably try to help you. He will want to close the rack in the dishwasher and drink the bio-hazardous water collected in the door. So, you will move him to an interesting, loud toy. He will get it playing music to fool you, and then move over to his brother's Legos and dump them on the floor before the tune ends. When you hear the crash, you will go to investigate. While you are picking up the Legos, he will want to try some of the dog's food and water. After you remove the dog food from his mouth, you will clean up the water from the floor. Then, you will notice that it is very quiet. When you enter the living room, you will discover that he has found the box of tissues you thought you hid in the drawer. He will probably be pulling tissues out one at the time, because there is another one waiting! Now it looks like it snowed in your living room. You will wad up the tissues and stick them back into the box. Then you will hear the Legos again -- you didn't finish putting them away and he is probably putting them in his mouth. So, you rush over to him, mentally reviewing procedures for the Heimlich maneuver on children. You discover that he is depositing the Legos, not in his mouth, but into the floor vent. You will remove the vent cover to discover other toys laying in the dust and dirt under your floor. So, you decide that those toys should be washed. That reminds you that you were trying to do the dishes . . .

I need to go do my dishes -- Terrin is asleep.