Dear William,
On May 8, 2015, you turned 41 months old. You weigh 44.5 pounds and are 43″ tall. You are in size 6 boys footed sleepers, size 5T pants/shorts, size 5T shirts (or 4-6 boys/XS shirts).
Firsts:
You locked the bathroom door for the first time when using the restroom for privacy. That was quite concerning for Grandma D. who was trying to make sure you were on time for your swim class.
Things we did:
Thursday, 4/9, you visited me at work (and got a collectible car from my boss) and then went and saw airplanes landing at the airport w/ Grandma D.
Saturday, 4/11, we attended swim class & MyGym with you.
Friday, 4/24 through Sunday, 4/26, we went to the mountain cabin.
Saturday, 5/2, breakfast w/ your Godparents at Chick-Fil-A
Played at your grandparents house
Monday, Wednesday & Friday – swim class
Wednesday & Friday – MyGym
Tuesday, pre-k library story time and craft
Thursday, dance class w/ Miss Nicole
Language Development:
This month you have been sampling with rhyming words. For example, a song that I started writing you on the eve of your 3rd birthday (a work in progress), I sing as the last song of the medley I sing you each night, and usually you’re asleep by the time I get to it (or so I thought). You started singing it to me one day, except you changed the word “hold” to “told” and laughed at me when I attempted to correct you.
If you call me “mom” I call you “Sim.” When you correct my name to “mommy,” I call you “Simba” (from Lion King movie). You think this is a hilarious game to play.
You’ve always been a verbal child, and the last couple months I’ve seen that you will make up stories and play with your toys for upwards of a half an hour, sometimes 45 minutes, with each toy carrying it’s own side of the conversation. Sometimes, you’ll have one of the “characters” belt out a song, as loud as “they” can and endearingly off-key.
You still say words pronouncing an “L” with a “W”, which is pretty funny when you’re talking about Cars 2. Referencing the lemon cars, you will say, “These women cars are bad. These womens are going to get you, McMissile!”
You’ve also been watching Planes and Planes 2 movies, and I hear you talking to your toys with emphatic, “I told you copy dot… COPY DOT!” Meaning, of course, “copy that.”
When playing with the Potato Head family, you kept referring to the “Smooshstache”, which meant “mustache.”
You requested to watch the movie, “Monsters a virgin yet?” You meant “Monsters University.”
In Toy Story 2, Buzz’s dad’s name is Zerg. You refer to him as “Jerk.” Your father was very confused when you kept calling him Jerk one night when he got home… until he realized you were role playing from Toy Story.
At the restaurant one night, we ordered chips and salsa. You said, laughing, “Are we getting Mufasa?” I said, “No, we’re getting chips and salsa?” You said, “No, Mufasa!” (Thanks Lion King movie!)
About singing… it appears as if you’ve inherited your parents’ love for music, but did not inherit my ability to sing. I’m kind of sad about that. But, boy, do you have musical passion! I love when you get so into a song, you raise up your little fist and sing into it like it’s a microphone! (You call it your “singer.”)
Sleep:
You’ve seemed to need extra reassurance this past month in middle of the night, often requesting one of us to lie down with you if you wake up. The last week has been back to “normal” sleeping, all the way through the night. So, it appears as if we’re on the other side of the developmental progress you’ve been working through for the last 6-8 weeks.
Then, just this last week after sleeping through the night two nights in a row, as I was nursing you to sleep, you unlatched and told me, “Mommy, when I wake tonight, I want you to come to me, not daddy.” I was a little scared (ha!), but you slept through that night, too. Thankfully.
I’ve mentioned before, but when we travel, I co-sleep with you. So, when we went to the mountains, I crawled in your bed and you immediately plastered yourself to me. No matter where I went in the bed, I would wake up to you plastered to me. I finally managed to put my back to the wall (cold) and you to my front (hot) and was comfortable. Even though I was tired in the morning (innumerable times you woke and went back to sleep), it was one of the best things in the world to hold you while you slept.
Food and Nourishment:
You continue to do well with food. I’ve adopted the mantra of, after you’ve tasted something, “You don’t have to eat it.” You do have to wait for us to be done eating, because we like your company at the dinner table. When you ask to be excused, I always ask you to tell me if you’re full, which is usually answered with a resounding, “Yes!” And then I ask, how is your tummy… only because I like to see you take your hand and press on your belly and say, “It’s rock hard!”
I recently made some waffles and put some tiny chocolate chips in them. You sat down to eat them, not knowing what I’d done and exclaimed in pure wonder, “I found the chocolate!”
After your classes one Saturday, I took you to Baja Fresh and ordered you a kid’s meal of some taquitos, rice and apple sauce. Your spoon trailed from the apple sauce to sample the rice and they got mixed together. You tasted it with a curious look on your face and looked up at me and proclaimed, “Apple sauce and rice are good together!”
We visited your grandparents last weekend and I laid a picnic blanket on their lawn. Your grandpa brought you a couple snacks of strawberries and you would mention something else you liked and your grandpa kept leaving and coming back with what you had mentioned. Before I knew it, you had a picnic of snacks for lunch… quite the spread of carrots, broccoli, almonds, strawberries… and you were delicately feeding them to your Grandma H.
After eating some broccoli, you gradually stood up and went all the way up on your tip toes. You said that eating the tree made you grow big and tall.
You’ve been getting some crazy food lately. You take a bite and start shaking your head back and forth and swaying like you’re Stevie Wonder. Upon those occasions, you inform us that you ate “crazy grapes” or “crazy grilled cheese.” Then your father samples it, and you both go crazy together.
Nursing continues to be a joy for us. It’s very different nursing a toddler than a newborn, though. You come to me when you’re hurt or if you’re sad, or feeling insecure, or just need to cuddle. You love to nurse if you’re watching a movie, I joke that nursing is your popcorn. Your favorite nursing session seems to be your “wake up” nursing, as that is generally when you nurse the longest. I look forward to our leisurely Saturday morning wake-ups. Sometimes if you’re tired and really struggling, you’ll ask to nurse when you get out of the bathtub, before we floss/brush your teeth. It’s usually on those nights that you fall asleep within 2-3 minutes, so a pre-nursing is just fine with me. It’s very rare for you to nurse in the middle of the night anymore, you usually request your daddy to snuggle with you. It is bittersweet to me; because for the first 3 years I handled most night wakings by nursing you back to sleep, and now I generally get to sleep through the night and your daddy gets extra snuggles with you. It is fascinating to see how our nursing relationship is evolving as you get older.
One afternoon you stuck your face in my chest, took a deep breath and declared, “That smells like nah-nahs.”
I was working on an irrigation project and was frustrated I couldn’t find a part I needed in my inventory. You said, “Oh mommy, you just need to give me nah-nahs. That will help you feel better.”
Favorites this month:
Color: Red
Song: I Just Can’t Wait to be King (Lion King)
Movie: Lion King and Toy Story 2
Food: Grilled Cheese sandwich
Snack: “Melon Balls” (Greek yogurt covered granola bites)
Dessert: Mini ice cream sundae (from Weinerschnitzel)
Fruit: Grapes and Avocado
Vegetable: Broccoli
Class: MyGym
Teacher: Mr. Kevin (the new owner at MyGym)
Store: 99¢ Store
Restaurant: Outback Steakhouse
Vacation spot: Big Bear
Toy: Firetruck and Buzz Lightyear
Things I want to remember:
Swim classes have been a great success. I see the progress on the videos your Grandma D. takes, or when we get to take you to your class. You are a child obsessed with swimming when we take you to our community pool, lately now you will swim from the side of the pool to the steps and back again, over and over, sometimes even doing a u-turn in the water to do it. You are so very excited to go to the pool, and impatient to get in the water. You tell me, “Let me go!” You role play that you are your other classmates, Logan and Millie, and you pretend to take their turn, but when you’re swimming as them, you usually mess something up and then “William” has to show them how it’s done. I’m not Miss Mommy anymore… according to you, I’m Miss Michelle. Also, you really don’t like to get out of the pool when it’s time to go. Sometimes I think you would happily swim all night long.
You did work through a bit of fear this month with respect to swimming. We aren’t sure what triggered it, but suddenly you were afraid to swim out to the teacher from the step and wasted 15 minutes of your class time, sitting on the side of the pool, scared to go in. We worked with you for an hour in the community pool that night, building up your confidence again. At the end of the session, you earned Slinky Dog. You were beyond thrilled and it was an awesome positive reinforcement for work well done.
Something clicked for you this past month and you are much more cooperative and actively participate now in your dance class. We enrolled you in the recital that is set for 5/16 and I’m looking forward to seeing the routine you’ve learned. Part of your routine is that you dance in a circle with one of the little girls, and in your practice you two bonked heads and had to walk it off. I heard that she was bragging to her mom about how she got to dance with you, so I guess the whole head bonking thing wasn’t too traumatic for her.
I am constantly amazed at how well you navigate the iPhone 4 that I have your apps on. I use this as a tool to keep you awake when we nurse around 5pm. I start you with the Bible Stories for Kids app, and when I get the phone back from you, it usually has between 5-7 apps open, all from your exploring. Sometimes you even manage to make your way into the videos folder and you’re always so amazed to find “Rachel and the TreeSchoolers” in there.
We went to Walmart last week and I found Jessie (from Toy Story 2). I managed to keep you from seeing it (a feat in itself, it seems you can spot a toy anywhere, whether it’s triple bagged, you still somehow know what it is) until we got outside to the parking lot. When I gave her to you, you were so vocal in your excitement and were laughing and saying over and over again, “It’s Jessie! Oh my goodness, it’s Jessie!!” It was like you were greeting a long lost friend! Let me tell you something, if you react that way to any present you get for the rest of your life? I promise you, your life will be overflowing with bounty. People love to give gifts that are so exuberantly received!
Your bath time play has, over the past year, become one of my favorite times of day with you. I love interacting with you and seeing your imagination at work. I now try really hard to incorporate at least 30 minutes for you to have bath time play. We have tried many things in the past to transition you out of the tub, including a kitchen timer. What really seems to work best is after we’re done playing, I’ll gradually put all the toys back in their basket, soap you up and then have you stand up for rinsing. Then I scoop you out and put you on my lap to floss your teeth, and then your father comes in and brushes your teeth. While he brushes your teeth, I usually put lotion on you or clip your nails. Then it’s time for pajamas, a book (if there’s time), devotions and prayers. It is a seamless routine and it has been working well for many months now. Although, you have told me a couple times this past month that, “I don’t like nah-nahs.” When asked why, you said, “Because that means I go to sleep. I don’t want to go to sleep.”
In the last couple months, we’ve been broaching the topic of strangers with you… gently, trying to find the balance of knowledge and not scare you. The reason being, earlier this year, we went to the Irvine Spectrum, and they had installed some astroturf for kids to run around on, lined with a few Adirondack chairs here and there for parents to sit on. When we were there, I was keeping an eagle eye on you and noticed you approach one of the other kid’s dads repeatedly, engaging him. And I couldn’t help but think to myself, what if that guy were someone who intended to harm you? He wasn’t, but he could’ve been. Then I looked around at all the parents sitting in their chairs and not a single one of them was watching their kids. Their eyes were fixated on their phones and it really freaked me out to realize how very easy it would be for someone with nefarious intent to walk away with a child and it wouldn’t even be noticed for several minutes. I guess you’ve been listening, because we arrived at the pool one evening and there was a neighbor holding a pool party there. You looked around and in the volume only a 3 year old could pull off, you asked, “Are these people strangers? Why are they in my pool?”
When we were recently at your grandparent’s house, you were playing in their front bedroom (aka William’s toy room) and you opened a cabinet. Inside you discovered a zippered bag and in the zippered bag, you discovered a Potato Head family. Your Grandma H. told me they had been left behind from your cousins, Huck and Milo, and she put them in the bag to keep them tidy. You were beyond excited and spent an hour rearranging their faces, their mouths and ears and accessories. I overheard you to say, when Mrs. Potato Head fell over, “Look at the sky, lady!” And, “Here woman, do you need glasses?” And to Mr. Potato Head, “Here. Do you want to suck on the pipe?”
One day last month, I had some moles removed from my face. I had a grand total of 8 small band aids applied, 5 of which were on my face. I was curious how you would react, especially because the receptionist at the doctor’s office told me I looked like I’d been through a war. When I got home, you crawled on my lap, I wasn’t even able to get out of my car. You peered intently at my face for a moment and then asked, “Do you have band-aids on your face?” Upon my confirmation of that, you said, “Do you have owies under your band-aids?” I again confirmed that. And then you kissed my band-aids, as you counted them. “One owie,” *kiss* “Two owies,” *kiss* All the way up to five.
For the last couple of months, CalElite has been offering unlimited swim classes. We were able to take advantage of that and were able to “sample” their teachers. Two of them I really, really liked and now that the unlimited part is done, I’m struggling with who I want to continue with. I chose the male teacher (for now), just because you seem to cooperate better with him and you get silly with him.
When I took you to one of your swim classes last month, I was sitting in the glass viewing room and then admonished myself as to why I was doing that? It wasn’t where I wanted to be, which was at the pool side with you, listening to the teacher. So, I broke the rules (I guess?) and went to the pool side and sat behind you, leaning against the wall. You turned to look for me in the glass room, and got a concerned expression on your face. I touched your shoulder and you turned to look at me with a broad smile and told everyone, “That’s my mommy right there. I love you, mommy.” That made up for all the times you tell me you don’t love me and don’t want my love, either… which, sadly, is something you tell me about once a week when you’re really, really tired after your bath at night.
Although, when I come in your room first thing in the morning, you tell me in a sweet, sleepy voice as you sit up from being asleep all night, “I love you, mommy…”
We’ve had quite an issue with your gymnastics class the last couple of months. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle it, but the thing was, you had really bonded with the former owner of MyGym (Mr. Steve) and then there was some turmoil and an interim manager who didn’t really have the knack for working with younger kids. You, in turn, started failing to listen, started “playing” and sometimes in your playing would bother the other kids, and sometimes would just refuse to participate. You were spending the entire class time being corrected or cajoled into participating, and that is not my goal or why I spend money on the class. Since it was pretty much isolated to MyGym, I gave notice to discontinue. However, the new owner (Mr. Kevin) has resurrected the place and in two weeks time has really turned the place around and you are actually listening and if you’re not, he somehow works magic and you end up participating within about 30 seconds. I think I need to take classes from him so I know what magic to use on you!
You recently realized that I have a crap-ton of stuffed animals above my closet and begged for my little Stitch doll. You held him up to show him my starry night pajamas (it has moon and the stars on them) and said, “Stitch, I will show you night. Look at mommy’s shirt.” Then you followed up with, “Look at the stars… I’m teaching you to be king.” (Thanks, Lion King movie.)
More memories:
Playing in the bath tub, you were driving your Sheriff squeeze toy through the bubbles and said (as if you were him, “Stop putting things on my face. I’m trying to see things on my computer.”
How you attended mass with me and your father was serving mass. You wanted to go see him and I told you that you had to wait until mass was over. You pulled out the kneeling prayer bench, knelt down on it and said, “Then I’m going to pray that mass is over now.”
How you love our coming home routine (and I do, too). We nurse and then we go in the kitchen and I lift you up to sit on the counter. I then open the pantry and pull out a couple chocolate chips or some sort of chocolate bit. While you eat that, you select which vitamin you’ll be eating (either a Frozen vitamin or a Cars vitamin), and then you hop on my back and I piggy back you to the couch and you say, “Now, let’s talk about what we did today. What did you do today, mommy?”
You take great joy in the cats getting in trouble. Anytime you hear their name called, you pop up from where ever you are and say, “What did he do?”
One morning you woke up with a stuffy nose and started bonking yourself in the face with your hand. Concerned, I asked, “What are you doing?” You replied, “I am hitting the germs!” And then, sadly and with some desperation, you said, “It’s not working. Will nah-nahs make it better and make the germs go away?”
We’ve been pushing you to drink more water during the day and, often, your response is, “If I drink water, then I’ll have go pee! I don’t want to go pee!”
One morning, after you were done nursing, you turned into me and said, “Mommy, I’m a burrito.” I asked if you were a beef or chicken burrito. You said, “I’m a beef burrito with white rice. I’m delicious. YOU SHOULD EAT ME!” It was particularly hilarious because I didn’t even know you knew burritos have rice in them. Even funnier, your father and I always order brown rice. When I left the room a few minutes later, you followed me out pretending you were Woody calling for slinky dog and the soldiers. haha
One evening, you had lost Woody and Buzz. Your father found Buzz, but couldn’t find Woody. He was walking around, opening and closing things, asking “Where is Woody? William, where did you put Woody?” You were following him around saying, “Don’t worry, he’s coming.” Then, your father was digging in the toy chest and you said, “Stop digging! Those are NOT your toys!”
If I ask you what you think about a new food that you like, you will tell me, “I think it’s better than honey.”
Your Grandma D. reported the following to me one day, “William calls it Awesome Park. We were at the slide where he got stung that time with you. William said there is a bee on it. And there WAS! We are now at the tunnel slide. Other kids here.”
One morning when I got sad that I had to leave for work, you told me “It’s okay mommy, daddy is still here.”
If we ever ask you what you want for dinner, you say, “It’s taco Tuesday!” If we tell you it’s not Tuesday, you ask, “Can I have a grilled cheese sandwich then?”
One day, I was gently correcting you on something and you said, “Don’t call the police man. I know you’re getting frustrated, but don’t call the police man.”
If we get somewhere and you realize we didn’t bring something you want, you’ll say, “You didn’t bring my _____ because I didn’t remind you.”
You threw one of your toys and you looked up guiltily and asked, “Will my toys come and get me now?”
At MyGym your Grandma D. reported, “William jumped for the monkey bar & said, “To infinity & beyond!”
At Yogurtland, a little girl walked by saying repeatedly to her mom, “I want chocolate.” Her mom kept telling her she could have strawberry. The girl was insistent on chocolate. You piped up and said, “I love that child.”
In your car seat, you were reaching for something and were saying “I’ve got to get the brown thing.” Confused, I asked you “What brown thing?” You kept repeating yourself and I did, too, and finally, in exasperation, you said, “The brown thing on the butt wiper!” You were referring to a picture on the baby wipes wrapper. I think you thought it was a toy. But, seriously, butt wiper?
When we had a party, you looked over the balcony as you went to your bath and said, “Good night, everyone!” And I always have visions of the Sound of Music children singing their goodnight song when you do that. The next morning, you looked over the balcony and asked mournfully, “Where’d all my friends go?” You are the only kid I know who cries when other kids leave the park to go home and totally guilt trip other kid’s parents into staying longer.
Grandma D. reported, “I suggested William pull the wagon & I sit in it. His answer: “Your butt is too big.”
A new tradition was born last month with your daddy “giving you his love” in your right hand. You then bring your left hand up to my mouth for me to kiss. Then you bring your hands together over your head to put our love together. From there, you lift up Froggy and put your right hand to your heart to put our love in your heart. Every single night.
…and every single night, you melt our hearts.
Love, Momma
More pictures from this month can be found here: LINK
Jammie J's Quest 