Letter to our 34 month old

Dear William,

On October 8, 2014, you turned 34 months old (or 2 years 10 months).

Statistics & Developments:
You are 40.5 inches tall and weigh 40.1 pounds. You are wearing 3T in shorts and pants, although the 3T pants are borderline too short for you. You are wearing 5T in pajamas.

I’ve noticed over the last couple of months that you’re learning how to be compassionate. Now, more than ever, I’m paying attention to how I respond to people being hurt or sad, because it is apparent to me that you are mapping your brain. I likely wouldn’t even be aware of this development and would find it tedious, except that I had a friend who was in an accident years ago and had major brain damage.  As part of her rehabilitation, she had to relearn her sense of humor.  Often, she would laugh inappropriately at things and then ask, “Was that funny?” So to hear you ask the same question at your age after you laugh at something when no one else is, tells me that’s what you’re learning right now. Brain development is fascinating to me.

When we were traveling and the Southwest employees were being so insensitive, and I was upset and crying. I was wearing you in the Tula carrier, and you took your froggy lovey and wiped my tears away, while saying “Froggy will wipe your tears. Naaahhhh, mommy.” Your sweetness just made me cry more.

Sleep:
Your sleep has been pretty good this month. We traveled and while we traveled, I co-slept with you. I was able to get up and down, as needed, while we were co-sleeping, without waking you. I’ve also been able to slip in and out of your room if I need to shut your window at night without waking you.

I thought for awhile that you were giving up your nap, but this month you have gone back to consistently napping.

Nourishment:
You’ve been eating fairly well. You had some issues while we were traveling, and we had to go outside and talk about food a few times and what’s appropriate behavior when served food at meal time. The other thing I think we were battling is that we had a time zone change to 2 hours ahead, because like clockwork, two hours after a meal was served you’d be asking for food.  Traveling is tough on little ones, I think.

We’ve implemented the requirement for you to ask your father, “May I be excused, please?” before you may leave the table.

You are fascinated by our drinks… I drink decaf coffee and both your father and I drink iced tea.  We are finding that we need to be very attentive to our drinks, because if we don’t, we come back to find you with an impish grin on your face and our drink in your hands.  I went to Starbucks while we were at the airport this month and ordered my coffee.  You asked nicely for some coffee and I apologized and said, “I’m so sorry, but this is mine.”  You replied, without missing a beat, “But I’m all grown up now.”  All the people in our vicinity busted up laughing, thankfully none of them had just taken a sip of their brews because it would have been a mess!

Nursing continues to be something we both enjoy. A couple of funny things, at our arriving home nursing session, occassionally, Grandma D. and I will use that time to catch up with each other. You told me this month, unlatching to do so, “Mommy, your talking is bothering me. I just want you to stare at me.”

You also informed me as you switched sides, “I’m all done with the chocolate side, I want the coffee side now.” The other thing you’ll say is, “This side went to chocolate, I want strawberry.”

Favorite Books:
Mighty Dads
Belly Button Book
Where is Baby’s Mommy
Mater’s Tall Tales book

Things We Did:

09/11 – Beach trip
09/13 – LegoLand visit
09/19 – went to the beach in the evening (high tide)
09/20 – Zoomars Petting Zoo, San Juan Capistrano and Long Beach dinner
09/21 – grandparent’s house for play and Irvine Spectrum
09/27 – all day travel, flights and airport living
09/28 – family time, met your 2nd cousins
09/29 – Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo
09/30 – Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha and dinner with your Great Uncle Paul, his wife and daughter
10/01 – breakfast at the Cracker Barrell and the Union Pacific Railroad Museum and the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge
10/02 – road trip to family farm in Elgin, Nebraska. Met your 1st cousins, Mandi and Abby
10/03 – Visit to my cousin’s farm, with goats, rabbits, sheep, a calf, a pony and dogs
10/04 – drive back to Omaha and visit with my aunt & uncle some more
10/05 – travel home and acclimate to being home
10/06 – Library with Miss Mary and MyGym playtime
10/08 – Library with Miss C.

LINK TO PICTURES FROM THIS PAST MONTH

Things I Want to Remember:

How you turned on the monitor one evening, peered at it for a second and then said,”That’s my bed.” I said, “Who told you that?” You replied, “Myself.” Turns out, that was the truth. I checked with your father and your grandma D. and no one had told you that.

How, after I’ve put you to bed, you carry on conversations with yourself. Or at least I thought that’s what you were doing, until you told me one night, “Mommy? Answer me!” And then another night, you said, “I’m talking to you, mommy!”

How grandma took you to Wienerschnitzel (a whole other can of worms opened) for an ice cream cone on Tuesday (it’s discounted then), and you ate the first one, got to the bottom and started crying. The manager came over and asked what was wrong, and you said, “It’s all gone.” And he went and got you another one. Not at all what grandma intended to happen, as she wanted to get you home for your nap. Sometimes people don’t realize that giving a crying child prolongs the agony for the caretakers!

How we’ve been having flies around the place. You now sing the shoo fly shoo song at them. One night a fly was being particularly pesky and I noticed you were holding your ear. Concerned, I asked, “Does your ear hurt?” You replied, “No. My ear is fine. But that’s where the fly went bzzzzzz.”

How you figure that since daddy fixes everything, he can also “fix” the universe.  You’ve been really focused this month on whether the sun is up this month.  You told your father one night, “Daddy can you make sun come up? I’m sad that the sun is down.”  Your father said he wished he could, but even he can’t fix that.

You saw a garage sale for the first time this month and you said, “What are those jammies doing on the grass??? That’s so weird!”

A couple nights ago we were having dinner. You moved your plate to the side and spread your napkin out and put your plate on top of it. You said, “I’m having a picnic!”  It was the next night that you brought your lawn chair in from the patio and said, “I’m sitting in my little chair tonight.”  After a bit of you getting up and down to eat your food, I asked you, “How’s that working for you?”  You replied, “It’s working just fine for me.”

One evening in the pool, one of our neighbors came in the pool gate. She started talking to our other neighbor and you asked me, “Who is that??” I told you I didn’t know her name. You swam over to them and said, “Excuse me? What is your name?” She introduced herself as Keera, and you told her, “My name is Weeyum.” Then you said, “My favorite snack is blueberry muffins, what’s yours?” She replied, “I really like yogurt.” You both went on and on about favorite snacks, and then you said, “You’re really pretty… KACHOW!”  Turns out she is a Montessori teacher and speaks fluent “little boy speak.”

One evening you were out checking out our fairy garden (I add things or move things around every day or so). A couple weeks ago I had shown you the mint plants — cat nip, peppermint, spearmint, etc. I pulled some of the cat nip off and gave it to the cats to show you the hilarity of it. So that evening, you came in the house bearing some leaves from those plants and said, “I’m feeding the cats cement! Grumpy, come here! I have cement for you!”

Grandma tells you that you have to nap because SHE needs her nap. We tell you that you need to nap so you can stay up late and party with the parents. Now when we get home you say, “Let’s go to the party and have fun!”

One Sunday, we went to dinner at SIzzler. They had some artwork hanging right at table level, and they give kids crayons there. You held your crayon up to the painting and said, “I’m going to color this picture…” You paused and looked at me and asked, “What would my parents say?”

You love MyGym, and anytime Grandma buckles you into your car seat in her car, you ask, “Are we going to MyGym today?’ You’re learning stuff there, for example, I was sitting on the floor and had my foot resting on the wall, instead of stepping over my leg, or crawling under it, you tucked your chin and did a roll over it. Also, standing in a trapeze style swing, with one foot beside your knee, you looked up at Grandma D. and said, “This is tricky.”

When we were in visiting family on our vacation, we visited the Union Pacific Railway Museum where they had a wooden train set for kids to play with. Every little boy who came through there and left cried and screamed about it. And with every little boy who did that, I got a little more worried about you. Sure enough, as we left, you sobbed and cried. I carried you out, a loud, sobbing mess. After you had calmed down and we were driving back to our home away from home, I told you, “I’m so sorry. I had hoped you’d do better about leaving.” I was referring only to your behavior. So I was surprised when you replied, “I did do better than them, mommy. I didn’t scream, I only cried.” You were comparing your behavior to the other boys.

One morning, you were being particularly clingy, and you followed me into the restroom and sat down on the rug. I glanced over at you and said, “I’m going to stare at you while you sit there.” You promptly got up and walked toward the door. As you opened it, you said, “You can go potty, if you want, all by yourself!” Remarkably, you closed the door behind you. I guess I just have to tell you that I’m going to stare at you to get some privacy?

While we were visiting family, your Great Aunt Marjorie gifted you with a few family heirlooms. One is a child’s rocking chair that was handmade in 1868 by your G-G-G-Grandfather for his son (your GG Grandfather). It fits you just right. Now, you go sit in your chair and pat your little lap and say, “Come here, mommy, sit on my lap. I’m going to rock you to sleep!” And then you sing me Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Loves me. You also had daddy sit on your lap to rock HIM to sleep. Now that was a sight to see.

You still love Rachael and Signing Times. You love the Treeschoolers, too. You’ve been requesting the zoo Signing Times lately. Funniest thing, when you are asked a question, you’ve started sticking your hand up and making random letters, like you’re signing things. Recently, you were walking around saying, “Something about b r a…” while you signed it with your hand. Your father asked you, “Why are you spelling bra?” You responded, “I don’t know? Maybe because it’s yummy?” I’m really not sure if you know what bra is, or how it’s spelled, or even that you were saying bra… but that was just hilarious.

You picked your own Halloween costume a couple weeks ago.  I was surprised as heck that you want to be Spiderman.  You know next to nothing about Spiderman, except that one of your water cups is a Spiderman and so you know who it is… and that’s pretty much the extent of it.

Your Grandma D. has been working with you, starting about 3-4 months ago, on the months of the year.  Along with that, you know your birthday is in December, as is Christmas.  You know mommy’s birthday and Grandma D’s birthdays are in November.  You know Grandpa H.’s birthday is in October, and Grandma H’s birthday is in September, and that your daddy’s birthday is in August.

We’ve been asking you what kind of party you want for your birthday in December.  You’ve informed us that you want a train cake that is coffee flavored.  I asked you if you want train decorations and you told me, “No. I want Cars decorations.”  So I took you to the party store and showed you various decorations.  You absolutely do NOT want a dog birthday, or any of the super heroes.  You don’t want a Hello Kitty party, either.  But you waffled when faced with Cars or Thomas… so I’m not sure which you’ll be having.  But you still definitely want a train cake.

***

The other night, as is our routine, I nursed you when I got home. Grandma D. tried to sneak out the front door so she wouldn’t interrupt our reuniting. You unlatched as you heard the door shut and said, “Hey!! Grandma forgot to tell me she loves me!”

How when I put you in bed, and you ask me to snuggle, sometimes I ask you what you’re thinking about. You usually tell me, “Trains…” And then start telling me a story about trains, how Thomas fell in the water and someone came and helped him. Then you say, “Luckily, no one was hurt.” But you say “luckily” as “wuckiwy” and it makes me laugh every single time you say it. I also love hearing what’s on your mind and hope that this foundation of trust and communication that I’m working on establishing now will continue as you grow older.

One evening, after your bath, you grasped my face and pulled it to you. You said, “I’m kissing your forehead. I’m kissing your cheek! I’m kissing your other cheek. I’m kissing your nose. I’m kissing your chin. I’m kissing your mouth.” Along with the appropriate kisses. I do this to you all.the.time and to have you do it back to me, tells me more than ever that what I put into you is coming right back out.  It’s a fearsome and awesome thing, this parenting stuff.  And, dear child, I hope you continue to be this sweet your whole life long.

Love, Momma