Growing Up Too Fast

So, I hate to be predictable... but can I just say that Nathan is growing up way too fast? We were only gone for a little over a week, but he seems like such a big boy all of a sudden!

His speech is so much clearer... before we left, Mark and I knew that sssat meant "what's that?" But now everyone can tell that's what he means, since he's pretty much saying wassat? He's also saying goggle (no clue what that means), boat (apparently that means "car"), oma, and buhbuhbuh (which might or might not mean "bug," for my sister Ashley).

He has mastered the art of NO. As in, I can say the word no, and I can shake my head no, and I can push away whatever you want to feed me that I don't want to eat. At my grandparents' houses, I don't have to eat anything I don't want to. So... NO.

He has mostly forgotten about nursing. He's only asked a few times since we've been back... the first time, I sent him in another direction and he was fine. The other two times were when he didn't want to eat the food I was giving him, so I let him nurse, and then he ate normal food just fine. So I figure we'll keep doing this rarely-and-only-on-demand thing instead of pretending to keep any regular schedule with it, and when the milk is gone, it's gone. Once every couple of days is fine with me if it means a gradual baby-led taper (which I believe in anyway).

He's now riding forward in his car seat. He had outgrown the rear-facing seat quote a while ago, height-wise... and now he's about at the weight limit, too. I can't tell if he looks little in that huge toddler seat, or if he looks like a big boy since he's riding in a toddler seat. Does that even make sense?

He's in the young toddler class at the mother's morning out class at church. I ask you, how did that happen??? He's technically not a toddler, since he's still not walking (which is supposed to be a requirement for that class), but since he's in the right age group -- barely -- and he seems to thrive around those truly-toddling kids, they're fine with him in there. But there is something about walking into that building and dropping him in the room with the slides (as opposed to the room with the swings) that just makes him seem very... old.

In some ways it feels like I came home to a different baby. I guess it will just take some time for the two of us to re-establish our mommy-baby (excuse me, mommy-toddler) dynamic. A little part of me almost still misses Nathan, even though I am back with him, because it seems like the end of his infancy just snuck up on me all of a sudden. Only a little part, though.

The bigger part of me is actually really enjoying every new ounce of personality that shines through. He gets more fun as the time passes. Man do I love that kid.