Just Jett: Twenty Months

Happy Birthday, Jett! Today you are twenty months old.

This month you grew tall enough for us to turn your car seat around. You can finally face forward. You're all chatty back there now, babbling away so much that I risk car-sickness to turn around and talk to you. But more often than not, you fall fast asleep, sippy cup slipping out of your hand, head leaning against the side of your seat, looking so sweet, not reminding me that I need to keep. my. eyes. on. the. road.

I started taking you to Gymboree class this month, and you love it. You especially love it when we get there early, so you have time to hold my hand and walk around the perimeter of the room five times before the class starts. We've learned two important things during these Friday morning dates. First, bring a snack. This is not because you are going to be hungry after class, but because every other kid there will be eating a snack as soon as the class gets out. I resisted this for the first few weeks and while all of the other kids were putting on their coats and boots, I was chasing you around, keeping you from swiping all of the other kids' fishies. I hated succumbing to the peer pressure of bringing a snack just because all of the other parents brought snacks, but last week I gave in, and it was worth every plastic baggy I could pack full of crackers. I felt fine...until I heard the poor snackless mom behind me trying to convince her son that he could eat when he got home. I bet she brings snacks this week. The other important lesson we've learned from Gymboree is that everything should happen with a song, and if possible, a sticker at the end. At Gymboree, you move from one activity to another with a song. Now at home, we move from playing to putting away toys with a song. We move from putting away toys to brushing our teeth with a song. We move from brushing our teeth to putting on pajamas with a song. We must be the most annoying household in the universe and it is all Gymboree's fault. But you know what? There is a lot less whining during the singing - at least for now. I fully expect that my singing will lose it's appeal in about five more days.

Another big discovery this month was the TV. Now it's not like you've never watched TV before, it's just that you never asked to watch it before. But a few weeks ago, when your cold was at it's worst, I let you watch a 30 minute video before your nap, and a 30 minute video after your nap, and that was enough to convince you that television can save your life. Honestly, sometimes I agree with you.

This month you lost your great-grandma, Elaine Elizabeth Hall. She was a good grandma, and you didn't see enough of her during these twenty months. But she loved flowers, and she loved you, and I think she would have loved this picture.