Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky

In an effort to remember the sweetness of my baby, here is my Mason at 21 months:

Mason has been dubbed the cheery one in our family. He has a very sunny disposition which makes him so fun to be around. He is friendly to strangers after about a minute of wariness and he loves to say goodbye to the checkers at Target. All the way out of the store you will hear his high pitched "Bye! Bye! Byyyyyyyeeee!" He is a busy body that is constantly into everything. He has mastered skills the other two never did at this age like opening the oven, starting the dishwasher, and pushing a chair or other object over to climb and get what he wants. Last week he climbed out of his crib, but this feat has not been repeated, much to his mother's joy. He is always getting into the cupboards, trying on all of the shoes in our shoe cubbies, and pressing as many buttons as his little chubby fingers can reach on the computer. I thought for sure he would electrocute himself this Christmas because I constantly found him either plugging or unplugging strands of lights we had about the house. It was a relief to put those away this year. And he is a head banger, he is constantly falling and injuring his noggin. The stitches he got several months ago were just the beginning of the wave of bumps, bruises and cuts he has gotten. It is rare that he does not have some form of obvious wound in some stage of the healing process taking center stage on his countenance. The culprit this week was a ledge in the shower that he hit right between the eyes as he slipped trying to reach a toy (similar to the stitches incident now that I think about it). I think it might be his generous gut that throws him off balance. He still has his signature strut that has yet to be imitated perfectly by his brothers. He walks like a man that is confident and sure of himself, which he surely is. He is a stingy kisser, they are not given freely but must be earned according to the Mason scale of deservability. Above all he is kind, he readily shares his toys with this brothers and friends, and if he sees someone upset he will stop everything to go and give a hug. I love that hugs are the solution to everything in his mind, I hope that mentality remains for a long time. He isn't the cuddler he once was, the world it too exciting for such things. I can convince him to lay with me a moment or two when he wakes up, and if I put on a CD of lullabies I played for him almost constantly when he was an infant, he will sit with me in the rocking chair for a bit, but sometimes even that is pushing it. I love all his generous curves, he is short, stout, and solid. I will miss these chunky little legs and his belly that overflows from the waistband of his trousers. I lovingly refer to him as our engorged tick who begs so well at the table for leftover dessert scraps. I love the stage that he is at right now, he tries to communicate in what seems like another language, with glimpses of his English progress coming through. His brothers play with him seamlessly, there are rarely altercations with their littlest brother. He is the baby of the family through and through and it seems like everyone under this roof knows what that status entails. He is coddled more, never to blame, and always gets priority in Mommy's lap. He is our jolly jell-o belly and boy do we love him so!