A Walking Contradiction

We were in the THICK of it. Nap time was still hours away and we had already exhausted all the entertainment available downstairs. Oliver and I were just bored of each other. We went upstairs to the office (the last ditch effort before I go to screentime) and I decided to bring the DSLR camera and take a few pictures of him while he played. And I don't know what it was, but looking through the physical lens of the camera made me realize how magical motherhood and childhood are. He was so cute trying to balance on the floor cushion and laughing, falling and getting back up once he stumbled. A sweet handsome boy discovering his abilities and limitations.

Before I pulled out the camera, I was so frustrated. I feel like Oliver's theme song right now is Katy Perry's Hot and Cold. He's just a walking contradiction, where his emotions are at an all time high but his ability to regulate them is incredibly low. His attention span is increasing, but he still gets bored very easily and likes to run around and play with every toy for .2 seconds before moving onto the next. He's hard to keep happy if I want to do anything without him. His vocabulary is improving and he does a great job understanding us, but we struggle to understand him most of the time which ignites those intense emotions. And ohhh he loves being held. Every night I'm begging Tayler for a shoulder massage from lugging my cute 25lbs weight around all day.

But I am grateful for the perspective I have already acquired from my brief experience of mothering. I look back on the "1 year ago today!" timehops on social media and realize that this stage will truly be a small blip. In just a few months his cognitive skills will increase and we will be at a new (probably more difficult in some ways and easier in others) stage.

Just for my memories, Ollie's Current Vocabulary:

• More
• Mama
• Dada
• Shoes
• Hot
• Food
• Eggies
• Dog-dog
• Neigh-neigh
• Wa-Wa
• Juice
• No
• All Done
• Ball
• Turtle
• Shush
• Light
• Book
• Bee-Boop (Tayler's bike)
• Grandpa/Grandma (more like gracaw)
• Various Animal Sounds: baaa, pffff (elephant), moo, meow, pants like a dog, quack, rawr