We call Mitch, "the Roly Poly Pup". He earned this name, when he first started crawling. He would crawl, barreling head first, not ever looking up to make sure the path was clear, to any living thing on the floor. As soon has his huge, hard head made contact, he would roll over and look up at whomever or whatever's lap he landed in, and continue to play. Wrestle. Cuddle. Last night, I watched him attempt to be fully involved in the pillow fight being had between his 3 older brothers. He was literally laughing, with his deep, near grunt-like laugh, as his brothers pushed him away, trying to get him out of the way. Little brothers can be so annoying. When George would get blasted to the ground, Mitch would sprint (toddle) over and jump on top of him, sabotaging his pillow. Though, all the children have begun calling him "the Roly Poly Pup" (except George, who still calls him "baby"), Curtis has come up with another, now probably more accurate, name: "Monster Truck". Which generally should be pronounced with a batman-like tone.
Despite being my largest child, topping the charts on height at 32inches and remaining steadily in the 95th percentile for weight at 25lbs 8 ounces, he is my most lovie. When I get home, he quickly hobbles up to me with his slightly pigeon toed gait, whispering "hi". Which he thinks can only be said while nodding your head up and down and really getting your jaw into it. I scoop him up, and he rests his head on my shoulder. He will do this forever. Generally, forcing me to be the bad guy and finally set him down on the floor to hug and greet my other children. He mutters "nigh nigh" as we walk up to bed at night, and loves to be swayed for a moment. He babbles himself to sleep every morning, noon and night. Something new sitters have a hard time adjusting to...do I get him? Or not? Is he not tired? Is he sad?
Not everything he does is so sweet, and adorable, though. He does have the voice and volume to match his massive physique. When that child is hungry, or thinks he is about to be fed, he screams. Yes, it's a scream. There is no other way to describe it. Ned Yost, manager of the Royals, got to experience it in line at the grocery, the day before game 6 of the World Series. It's obnoxious. It's loud. Perhaps, that is why he is so huge, we just stuff his face to stop the screaming. Or maybe he knows he is the fourth child of all boys, survival of the fittest, and to get food, you have to be aggressive. While George chooses to silently sneak off and eat, well, EVERYTHING (I mean we are talking soaps, lotions, TUMS, vitamins, candy, paper, glue...) Mitch makes sure everyone knows he is hungry and needs something to eat NOW.
I know, I know, my fourth child turned one, a huge milestone, over a month ago. I also didn't get his final photo with the "12 month onesie". He had it on at the birthday party, but we took no picture of it. (#fourthchildproblems). In my defense, we currently, 6 weeks after moving in, still don't have internet at our new house. Which means, I haven't been able to load any of the photos we did take. At one, Mitch is now a fully, proficient walker, as he started at 10 months. He does start falling and hitting his head on things as he gets tired, but I'm hoping that improves with time. He is trying to drop the morning nap, but is not always successful. He sleeps ok. He is no Curtis or George. Those two would giggle, smile, give a sigh of relief as you laid them down to sleep. As mentioned above, Mitch babbles. He is surprisingly Brock-like and does not want to miss a thing. He laughs a lot, but is not overly smiley. I would pin him as more serious, maybe even skeptical. Again, reminding me more of Brock. He is passionate, and you can see it, when he has fits of banging his mouth against a piece of furniture, repeatedly while being loud. I fear biting may be in our future.
I frequently joke that Mitch is my favorite. He's just been such the perfect addition to our family. I feel his name fits him extremely well. He looks just as I had hoped he would, just like I had envisioned all our offspring to look. George being the least like I would have expected. It's funny, I frequently marvel at the 180 degree, polar opposites that are Brock and Curtis, but George and Mitch seem to be equally as separated, only in very different ways. I love having 4 vastly different personalities living in my home. Watching the relationships evolve and develop. Every birthday, fills me with joy, love, admiration and some satisfaction, that we made it another year. It makes me incredibly thankful for my children's health. (Which is a complete and total understatement. I will never know how to express how truly lucky, privileged, blessed, appreciative, I am of not only this gift of life we have been given, but the thriving, health of each child.)
Happy First Birthday to my baby boy, Mitch!
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