My Lovable Lefty

When you are 16 1/2 months old, going on 2 or maybe even 3 years old, there's a lot of excitement in life. Or, at least there's a lot of excitement, growth, and change happening for Mr. Lincoln as of late, which might be why it feels like he's a baby turning into a toddler so very quickly. First there's this face. Do you see this face?! When did he get to be such a big boy?! His uber blonde hair is growing, growing, and even though it is starting to hang in his eyes just a titch, I refuse to cut it because he has the most beautiful curls in back with which I will not part. And I cannot trim the front because there's really not so much happening on the sides and I also refuse to give the poor kid a mullet. He's the cutest thing ever, but I'm not sure even he could pull off business in the front, party in the back. 

Sweet cheeks and locks aside, there's also the fact that he can now get up on the furniture all by himself which is also making him suddenly seem much older, too. When he started walking a few weeks ago, I knew I was in a totally different realm of keeping him safe, but now that he's also added climbing in such a short amount of time, I'm at a loss. Just this morning I looked up to see that he'd scaled onto the kitchen bench and from there all the way up its armrest onto the kitchen-flippin'-counter! And when I moved him to the dining room for safer keeping while I did some work on the computer, he made it onto a chair and then the table I don't know how many times every time I turned my attention back to my project. He's a complete Mt. Goat and a bouncy one at that:

This picture was taken on our mini-trampoline that has once again been moved inside our sunporch so we can get great winter afternoon use out of it and the kids have been having a blast jumping leaf-free the last couple weeks. HD has also figured out that it is quite fun to lift LT onto it (thank goodness HD is well trained in zipping the net shut behind them!) so all three kids can jump together. At first this terrified me, but it didn't take many times of watching Linky Monster hold his own and add his own crazy jumps to the mix to know that he's much rougher and tougher than I give him credit for these days. The kid is a nut! He jumps and jumps and launches himself up in the air, only to land straight on his seat from which he rolls over, laughs, and gets up to do it again (and again and again). Just when I made my peace with all of this, he started doing the same launching on the couch cushions (and over the side of the couch into the bean bag). Remember when I claimed he was the wiggliest to date in my tummy? Yeah....I'd better invest in some running shoes and foam padding because it looks like the next couple years might be quite active and quite accident prone! 

Jumps and bumps aside, this kid totally has my heart. Does it stink to try to take him anywhere because he refuses to fold in half to be strapped in his carseat and hollers at me for trying to do so? Yes. Does he reject more than half the food I try to feed him and toss enough cereal and pretzels and other crunchy times on the floor so that I'm constantly sweeping or stepping on things? Yes. Does he still try to bite his brother and sister when they don't give him enough space? Yes. But do all of these things melt away when he comes toddler-stumble-running to greet me when I walk in the door or rests his head on my shoulder as we snuggle on the couch or on a walk through the house with him on my right hip? Yes (well, not the biting. I really wish he'd quite doing that!). Lincoln is my adorable baby growling sound maker, banana, popcorn, and yogurt loving (but not all at the same time) eater, and sweet, sweet boy, who totally prefers to use his left-hand (what?!) and understands pretty much everything I tell him during the day. Except for "please sit in your carseat!", that is. 

Linky Monster on Halloween. Cutest baby monster EVER!