A year and a half of the mother love

7 July 2006 - 18 months old today.
 

It has been a year and a half of experiencing the mommy love, and just as you said it would, it just gets better and better and better. While 18 months is not the BEST stage ever (we are having early onset of the Terrible Twos), the mommy love keeps growing exponentially.

 

I can’t believe my kids are 18 months already. The babyhood is over. I feel so sad about it. They get big so quickly, and again, as you said, the time goes by so fast.

 

I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a bit more about the babies, actually make that ‘kids’. They are not babies anymore. Sob.

 

Things are changing, although still a very intense child, Adam is becoming easier. He is going through a big ‘daddy’ phase, he adores his dad.  When daddy is around I am worth nothing. Which secretly makes my heart swell, even though I pretend to be put out. 

 

Adam loves cars. He will play with his cars for ages, pushing them along the floor, or up the chair, along the table etc.  He also loves the broom and will happily sweep all over the show. 

 

Poor Adam. He never gets to sleep on his schedule.  He always gets woken up, he never wakes up on his own.  If I left him, he would sleep forever.

 

Kate loves dolls, teddies and taking away whatever Adam is playing with.  Kate is talking up a storm, I can’t believe how many words she knows, too many to actually count.  She learns a new word everyday. She is probably about 2-3 months ahead of Adam in turns of language skills, but he is ahead of her in terms of physical development.

 

Kate talking is a good thing and a bad thing.  The bad thing is that she is so determined in what she wants.  As you carry her around she will spot something she wants and will insist until you give it to her “key!  Key! KEY!!!!” or “Dummy (pronounced nummy), dummy! DUMMY!!”  “TEDDY!” “NANA!!” “APPLE”. It’s a pain in the ass!!

 

Her latest word is “naughty” and she loves to shout it out at Adam, “NAUGHTY AD-DAM”.  Oh, and yesterday for the first time she called Rose by her name “Woze”. 

 

Poor Adam is still on bird-dee, ball, brrrrm (car), baba, mama, dad-dee. Although he has managed to add “no”.

 

The talking thing is so much fun, I love teaching them (Kate) new words.  I’ve now taught them (Kate) to answer “me!” when I ask “who wants some sweets / biscuits / etc” and “more”.  Oh, and I am teaching them (Kate) to say “I love you”.  Kate says “ahwuvyouuu” in response. Adam smiles.

 

I must say the kids are earning their keep.  They provide enormous entertainment value.  Besides dressing them up, we also teach them tricks and make them go through a whole repertoire. We do the “what does a kitty say, what does a lion say, what does a duck say….”.  And on cue they will trot out the appropriate meow, roar and quack etc.

 

I’ve also recently taught them to march, which is a really difficult thing to do if you are 18 months old. Lifting the one leg while the other one is down and then swapping it around is tricky but they have it right now. I instruct them “marching marching marching” and off they go. They also LOVE to dance. Adam takes it very seriously. Whenever music comes on they will immediately start bopping away. Marko is teaching them to hit the ball with a cricket bat.

 

The cool thing is that you can make them do chores.  So handy.  Bring me Adam's shoes.   Close the cupboard.  Unfortunately the words I seem to say most often (besides 'I love you'), are "no no no, don't touch that / careful / SOFTLY / NO BITING / don't break it / don't fall / BE CAREFUL". 

 

They are starting play really nicely with each other, they love playing catch and chasing each other. Unfortunately they are also starting to fight a lot too.  Kate baits Adam by taking his lovey or his toy and he reacts by pushing her or pulling her hair.  He is physically stronger than her so I have to keep an eye on them.

 

Funnily enough, they love the dark.  They love chasing each other in the dark.  I recorded this clip of them running in the passage with my cell phone, so you won’t be able to see anything, but you can hear the audio. Download video20.3gp

 

They both HATE having their nappy changed. You would swear there were razor blades in Pampers. It is so annoying because they more they struggle and perform, the longer it takes, but that means nothing to them.

 

The sleeping through the night thing is not brilliant. Some how or other our standards dropped and I haven’t had an uninterrupted nights sleep in months.  But it isn’t too bad. There are very few nights where things get totally out of hand. But still, a full night’s sleep would be nice. Oh well.

 

We are big on routine here. We still stick to the routine pretty strictly.  Kate wakes up at 6, I spend some time with her, cuddle and laugh and play and change nappy until 6:30 when we wake Adam.  Then cuddle him, change nappy and have bottle for both of them.  Rose gets in at 7. The babes hang around in my room while I get ready for work (which is actually a real pain because they want whatever is in my hand and they bugger around in the bathroom, but I want to spend as much time with them as possible).  I leave for work at 8’ish. I get home around 5, I feed the babies their supper, we play, bath at 6, out the bath at about 6:20, play in the nude till 6:45, get dressed, play in the lounge till 7’ish, bottle and in bed by 7:20.  A quick kiss, a ‘I love you’, and out I walk.  They are quite good about going to bed.

 

I am having great fun with the babes. It just gets better and better and better all the time.  Although, with each stage comes new challenges, but these challenges I don’t mind.  I have surprised myself with my level of patience and tenacity. 

 

My babes amaze me every day. I can’t get over how clever and brilliant and amazing they are.  They are such strong, clever, funny, sweet, cheeky, loving, naughty little people.  Such individuals. I love them more than I ever imagined I could love anyone or any thing.  I am so immensely proud of them, so eternally grateful that I have been gifted this opportunity to be part of their lives.  I am amazed and astounded at my good fortune every day.

 

I know I went through a lot to get here, but even that seems a small price to pay for how unbelievably blessed I am.  I can’t actually believe I am mother to these amazing children, I don’t know how I got so lucky.  All I know is that it is an enormous honour and privilege to be part of their lives.  The first 18 months have been amazing, I can’t wait for the next days, weeks and months.

 

I love my children, so much it feels like my heart will explode.

Comments

[Kay]

Lovely.

[Suz]

As a mom to 4 1/2 yo IVF twins, I loved reading this! I'm looking forward to everything but the hair-pulling!

[Suz]

Oops - 4 1/2 MONTH old twins!

[tanyetta]

Absolutely beautiful. Loooooved the photos and the story. I felt the love jump off the screen.

[Nancy]

They're beautiful! I love Adam's scowl at the camera. And you say they like the DARK? Cool! Fearless little kids they are.

[Dani]

I love that you shared that with us. What I love even more, is that you have put all of those wonderful memories in type and will have them to cherish forever. Time does pass, and unfortunately memories fade. I wish I had done this so that my husband and I would never forget, and the boys would have a glimpse of what they were like at certain ages.

Adam and Kate will thank you for this some day.

[projgen]

That was beautiful.

I couldn't watch (listen to?) the video for some reason, but I lovelovelove the photos. And how much you lovelovelove your kids. It truly shows.

[Mary]

I hate to tell you, but I always thought 18 months was far worse than two. Or any other age, actually. I now have teenagers, and I still think 18 months was the least pleasant age ever. So hang in there, it gets better real soon!

[Elizabeth]

Re: the diaper struggles. When my Amelia became impossible, we switched to pull-ups. Do you call them that in SA? I mean the pull on diapers that are mostly used for potty training. Pampers makes them and Huggies. When you can't get them to lie down for the diaper changes, a lot of times they will let you slip on a pull up. Very fast. (Oh- I mean v. fast, I've always wanted to say that) We still use regular diapers at night, though.

Totally agree about them getting better and better. Amelia is two now and it's still getting better. Adam and Kate are adorable, but you knew that already!

[Brooklyn Girl]

What a lovely post. And what lovely babes.

[Judy]

Brilliant - "I love them - so much it feels like my heart will explode."

It does. And it will continue to do so.

Isn't it an amazing feeling?

[Sharon]

Sooo adorable!!!!!!

Our toddler will be 18 months in two 1/2 weeks and it really does get better. It is absolutely amazing.

Wishing you "mommy love" to infinity and beyond.

[Sarah]

Record a video/audio of Kate speaking! That'd be good to listen to. :)

[CathyY]

Misty eyed over here... absolutely LOVED hearing them in the dark! More video and audio!

[Jen3 @ Amazing Triplets]

Yes - these are awesome days - NO doubt about it.

But I'll tell you something ... at least for me - - it's gotten a tad bit harder in the past two months. These children are absolutely adorable and I am over-the-moon blessed ... but man, bed time can not come too soon when you've got 3-20 month olds tearing it up. Holy crap. I had no idea it would be so exhausting ... mentally, physically, emotionally. This parenthood stuff is HARD work. It's a damn good thing they are so cute.

[Elizabeth]

OMG they are so freaking cute. And you're right: they are KIDS! My baby is almost 14 months...she is transforming into a toddler/kid before my eyes, and it's so bittersweet...
Hey, when did Kate start to talk? I am still waiting for my little girl to start talking and I'm quite impatient! She does mama/dada but that's about it for spoken language, although she does have a few signs she uses consistently. I've always heard that boys speak later, on average, so that's probably why Adam does not have as many words as Kate.

[Natalie]

I cant believe how quick the last 18 months have gone. And re. calling them the babies - you can still do that. My godson was two yesterday and has a baby sister - but he's still baby boy. He's at a great age too - so cute and so beautiful, but like Kate you can have conversations almost and interact with them. I can't wait for my baby to come (3 weeks 3 days and counting!) so i get to experience the Mummy love - Godmummy love is great, so i can only imagine how perfect the Mummy love is.

[KellyH]

Love this post Tertia, and the pics of your beautiful kids!

(By the way, the terrible twos are nothing. It's the threes that are truly terrible!)

[Em]

LOVE the pics. How on earth to you clip one's toenails while the other jumps on the bed next to you?

Did you ever think you would utter these words about Adam "If I left him, he would sleep forever." What a difference a year makes!

It really sounds like you have a little groove you are in. Someday, when some poor new mom comes to you in a state of distress you should show her this post next to a few I remember from the babies' early days.

I can't believe its 18 months already.

[Dani]

I can't believe I forget to pass along this diaper/nappy change helper....

When my boys got to the stage of not wanting to stay put to be changed I used a mylar (silver-shiny type) balloon to keep them occupied. They last quite a few days so I'd only need to buy like one a week. The trick was keeping it interesting. I kept it in the CLOSET and only took it out for changes. That way, it was novel, different and kept their attention.

HTH

[steph]

Tertia, that was beautiful.

[Becky]

Beautiful post. You've inspired my to start writing things about my little guy. He's 3 already and I wish I had started sooner.
Oh- I posted a friendly, snarky comment a few days ago about 'all those naps' causing those early mornings, and Every Day since then, my son has gotten up at 5 am, ready to go! Serves me right. That is the last time I mention sleep!

[blackbird]

oh Tertia -
my heart feels so big when I read this...

[Charmaine]

You made me cry Tertia, Kate and Adam could not have a better mother. You are awesome! This was a beautiful post.
Charmaine

[Angie]

Beautiful post, Tertia. It reminds me of all of the wonderful things about my 2 1/2 year old son. And I love all of the new pictures. Adam and Kate are so gorgeous - and are getting so big!

[cath]

thank you T. thank you. god you deserve every second of mommy love and more.

[kathleen999]

I so agree with everything you said.

They like the dark? Get them some glow sticks and turn off the lights. Those were our fireworks on the 4th...they were absolutely facinated and not scared at all.

Mommy love is the absolute best. Wish I had no Mommy guilt to go along with it.

[Sara]

They're just gorgeous, T. As they grow, they start looking quite a bit like their mum. It's just lovely hearing and seeing how they grow and change.

[Soralis]

I love the story, I could relate so some of it as my boys are almost a year old. They do grow way to fast though! Thank you for sharing.

Take care