Toby: 23 Months Old

At the start of September Toby turned 23 Months Old.

Toby took a bit longer to warm up to being in Ohio. He’s more cautious by nature and so his instinct is always to cling to me in new situations. It was pretty exhausting at times as Toby really can throw a good fit.

I think it took a good week or so until he really started to go to Grandma or Grandpa for something. It took even longer for him to let them pick him up (rather than constantly demanding me). My parents encouraged me to get a little tougher with Toby and to stop always giving into his demands. Once I stopped always picking him up, or giving into his cries, I felt more in control and over time Toby began to accept things. It can be very hard not to baby the baby of the family.

So it wasn’t the easiest trip with Toby but I think we made progress and it was still a lot easier than when he was a baby. Despite these bumps in the road, Toby still managed to have a great time. Like Jude he loved being outside.

I tried to teach him how to roll down a hill but he didn’t quite get how to maneuver the roll. It was really funny to watch his attempts.

Toby is always getting up to something funny. He makes people laugh all the time even if he is not trying to.

His mannerisms, the way he moves his body, how he talks are all so unique. As I’ve mentioned many times before, Toby has to be experienced for people to understand.

Toby also enjoyed all the great food we had in America, especially the ice cream.

He impressed everyone with his strength when he pulled Jude around in the wagon for quite long distances.

He was pretty good at getting back on routine sleepwise. He’s happy as long as he has a pillow to cuddle.

He is so inquisitive. He’s always asking, ‘whats that? what’s that?’ and then resonding with ‘oh’.

He gave me so much trouble on both the flights but especially on the one back. Our flight on the way back was made particularly bad because of the time it left (1:45am). We were all so happy to finally land and see Dad. Toby loved returning to the familiarity and comfort of home.

Him and Jude are so close to one another but have such different personalities. I am always reminding myself that I the things that work with Jude won’t necessarily work with Toby. Toby has a tough shell but underneath he is so kind and gentle.