Jammie J's Quest

Dear William,

On June 8, 2014, you turned 2.5 years old. Thirty months. Two years six months. Wow. My big boy, but still my sweet baby. There’s a child’s book called Love You Forever. It talks about a mother and her son who she rocks and rocks throughout the years and stages of his life once he falls asleep, it’s really very sweet and I understand it completely now after having had you in my life. You will always be my baby. Although, I promise, when you’re older and married and have your own children, I won’t drive across town and sneak in your window to rock you… I’ll just ring your doorbell. ha

STATS:
You are 39″ tall and 36.12 pounds. You’ve had a bit of a growth spurt this past month… someone commented to you about how you’ve grown so tall and wondered how that had happened. You explained, while raising your hand appropriately, “I growed and growed and growed!”

NURSING/FOOD:
A growth spurt this month has led to you eating and nursing very well.
You have a new found love of cherries, particularly maraschino cherries.

SPEECH:
Mispronuciations are rare these days. You will say something, stop, and repeat it until it’s correct. One of the charming things that you consistently mispronounce, though, is a very important word and that word is “dessert.” You say it like “bessert.”

You have started saying “Mmmmhmmmm” and “Yeah” in response to questions this month. I much prefer you to say “Yes” and so I am consistently trying to retrain you.

You’ve also started intermittently calling me “Mom.” Uhhh, child, I am mommy until such time as you are a teenager. My mom is mom, not me.
SLEEP & HEALTH:
You had another good month of sleeping. Despite my worries of traveling, when we went to our family cabin over the weekend, you slept in your own bed all night long BOTH nights with no wake ups. You do have the best bed in the cabin, so I would expect no less, which is why when you don’t sleep well up there it is so maddening. HA!

Naps were a different story, and since I didn’t want you overtired, I basically “forced” naps by lying down with you or holding you for your naps. Although the getting you to “be quiet” part of settling down was not a pretty thing. On one of the days I forced a nap, it was totally dark in the room, I was lying next to you and I could feel the bed jerking.  I ran my hand down your back trying to figure out what you were dong without initiating a conversation… you know, being quiet? It kept happening, and I finally asked you what was going on. You replied, “My poopy maker’s jumping, I’m being a froggy!” The next day, you fell asleep while nursing on the couch and that was much easier to handle. Despite the hilarity, I savored those naps because I know it will be all too soon that you no longer take naps and maybe a shorter time that you won’t want me to hold you at all.

 

THINGS WE DID/PLACES WE WENT:

Monday and Wednesday – Library story time
Tuesdays – Music Class with Miss Cheryl
05/17 – lots of pool time
05/18 – Irvine Spectrum
05/24 – breakfast with your Great Aunt Marjorie and Great Uncle Jim
06/07 – weekend in the mountains

THINGS I WANT TO REMEMBER:

One morning, I was getting dressed, and standing next to me, you looked over and said, matter-of-factly, “You’re putting your black underwear on.” I confirmed, “Yes.” You pursued the observation with, “There’s no cars on them.”

That afternoon, you started talking about the airport, saying that you were going to go to the airport and watch planes take off and land. I texted my mom to ask her if she’d been talking to you about that. She replied, “No, but I think we’ve talked about it while you’re nursing him. He doesn’t miss a thing, that one.”

One evening after dinner at Outback Steakhouse, you were playing in the little field outside the restaurant. You saw a wild rabbit and said, “There’s Peter Rabbit!”

After a morning at the library, where there are several statues outside, you came home and, sitting on your potty, said, “I’m a sitting potty statue.”

You have willingly used public toilets on several occasions this month. This is progress! Over the weekend, you have started to request the “big potty” and you want to sit on it backwards. It doesn’t look comfortable to me AT ALL, but it’s the only way you want to go. Perhaps this is a step towards learning to pee standing up? One benefit for you, is that there is a “shelf” of the toilet tank that you put your trucks on.

You used the restroom at a restaurant this past month and did a big poop. When you were done, you looked into the toilet and asked, “Where did the poopy go?” I looked and the water was foggy, so I told you was down there hiding. Without any pause, you said, “BOO!”

On another day, you pooped and I was cleaning you up from it, but there wasn’t anything to clean up. Pleasantly surprised, I said, “My goodness, you did a ghost poop!” And you said, “I did a ghostlight poopy!” (You were referencing the short movie from the Cars DVD, I was referencing the guideline of types of poop.)

When I sing you Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star while we nurse to sleep at night, and when I sing the word “star” you bring both hands up and sign the word “star” and your eyes crinkle just a bit at the corners and I can tell you’re smiling at your cleverness. I love these interactive nursing sessions with you.

When we switch sides while nursing, you will say, “That side is dry.” I reply with, “No, mommy just needs to make more milk.”

At the library, there was a story about a dog who was ribbeting like a frog, neighing like a horse, etc., so the dog went to the doctor and the doctor pulled out a cat, all kid’s eyes got big. Then a frog came out, and you said, “What is THAT doing in there?” LOL

We were walking down the stairs and there were some balls that the cats play with in one of the cat beds. You took a look at it and said, “Look at that… Grumpy laid some eggs!” If that’s true, it could possibly explain why Grumpy (fka Snuggy) is so often out of sorts. This was followed by you telling me, “Mommy needs coffee to be happy.”

When we went to Walmart over the weekend, you spotted a cheaply made police car toy. I told you we already had one at home. You negotiated by saying, “I want this one, please?” I told you it wasn’t well made, that it doesn’t even make sounds. You looked at me and said, “WOOOOO WOOOO WOOOOO!” Touche!

Your toys constantly talk to each other, full on conversations, courtesy of you. You don’t mind if I join in and play the part of them, but it’s amazing to just listen as you create their conversations.

Sometimes, when we’re driving down the road, you say, “I want to say ‘AHHHHHH’!” and that means you want to do our Friday family yell! haha

We get to a restaurant and discuss what you want to eat, and you pick it out… and then you say, “It’s coming. Food is coming!” Uhh, we still have to place the order, little boy! Then, when we finally place the order, your eagle eyes follow the waiter around until he brings you your food.

When we were at a restaurant one evening, you overheard a lady telling the waiter that it was her birthday. When she returned to her table after paying the bill, you launched into a rendition of the happy birthday song, grinning the entire time. You sang it several times in a row. She was ready to leave, but didn’t want to because she told us it was the sweetest thing that had happened to her all day. As a thank you to you, she bought you a cupcake cup.

The singing is really out of control these days… grandma taught you an old gospel song called “Jesus is coming soon.” She rocks you vigorously to that tune in the rocking chair and you now go sit in that chair and rock yourself, all the while singing that song with much passion. I have the most hilarious video of you doing that completely naked. I’m thinking that will come in handy in about 16 years.

We went to Yogurtland one evening and you spotted a picture of yogurt on the wall. You told me you wanted that yogurt, and then proceeded to pretend eat the yogurt. You lifted your spoon in the air, perspectively picked some up on your spoon and pretended to eat it.

You are verbally linking cause and effect … you have been heard to say, “I’m thirsty, I need a drink of water!”

You now leave your sunglasses on and actually request them when the sun is bothering you. You will say, “The sun is in my eyes, I need my sunglasses, please?”

You also tell me, “Remember yesterday, mommy, when ____ happened?” Or, “I want to go to LegoLand? Oh, LegoLand is closed right now, we’ll have to go tomorrow.”

One night it was so hot in your room (a mini heat wave we were experiencing) and you were having trouble falling asleep. I went in to open and put a fan in your window. You were lying sideways in your bed, your feet propped up, looking for all the world like you were sitting in a recliner. I said, “There now… do you feel that cooler air coming in?” You grinned and replied, “Yes!” And started singing, “Because my body is amazing, amazing, AMAZING!” Complete with the signs for it. Thank you, Baby Signing Time for your late night precociousness.

You love going to our family’s mountain cabin, and as we were driving down the mountain, you said you wanted to go to the Christmas store, the one that has ice cream in it. I was confused and finally your father figured out you meant the candy store up there, that does indeed look like Christmas, and it does have ice cream in it.

One morning while we were in the mountains, your grandpa told you we were going to see Charlie. He asked if you knew what Charlie would make you. You replied, “A pancake!” We asked you what kind of pancake. You replied, “A blueberry pancake!” You were absolutely right!

This has also been a month full of leg hugs and I couldn’t be more thrilled. They are unbearably heart melting, especially because they are combined with an, “I love you, mommy!”

Over the weekend I was upset about something. You came up behind me and started pushing my shorts up. I asked you what was going on, you replied that you were trying to pick me up to give me a hug. It quickly degenerated into a game of me going to my tip toes every time you pushed upwards. Then the game expanded to you trying to pick up your father, and we were all laughing by the end of it.

Sometimes we’ll tell you we’re going to do something, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to do it too. You always reply emphatically and with much confidence, “I’m lucky.”

Truthfully?  It’s not luck at all, child.  Nope.  Not even a little, nothing in your life or about your life is a happenstance of chance.  We really should start using the word “blessed” … because that is really what everything about our life with you is about.

Blessed.  Ten times a William.

Love,

Mommy

Dear William,

Today, May 8, 2014, you turn 29 months old. You are 38 1/2 inches tall, maybe 38 3/4. It was hard to tell because amidst much laughter while I tried to measure you, you grabbed the yardstick I use to flatten your hair and were waving that around while you flexed your toes like a ballet dancer, up and down you went, and wouldn’t stand still. You weigh 36.1 pounds. You are in 3T bottoms, 4T shirts.

NURSING/FOOD:
You continue to enjoy nursing, as do I. We now like to nurse in our Tula carrier, and at the end of the night when we’re headed upstairs for your bath, as we walk past the carrier hanging on its hook you cry, “Wanna nurse in the carrier? Wanna nurse in the carrier, PLEEEEASE!!” It makes me laugh every time and I know you don’t mean for it to be funny, but it is.

You eat well for a toddler. One of your favorite things is to munch on my mixed nut mix that I take with me to work for snacking. You like to hold each nut up for identification and repeat the name of the nut back to me. Even funnier, I call it “Mommy’s Snackies.” You call it “Mommy’s Makies.”

We were in Michael’s the other day, and they had a bunch of figurines in a wire rack for purchasing. You wanted to look at them, so we did. You pulled out a pig and held it up and said, “She’s nursing her babies.” I also love that whenever you hear a baby crying in the store, you say, “That baby’s hungry! She needs to nurse!”

SLEEP & HEALTH:
Your sleep has been better this month than I can remember in a long time, if somewhat on the short end of things. We continue with our strict wake up from naps at 3:30pm, with a 6 hour wake time, that puts your bedtime at 9:30pm. Wake time is 6:30am and we try to get you down for your nap no later than 1pm. Despite the incredibly hot nights this past month, you’ve been sleeping well. If you do wake in the middle of the night, you usually go back to sleep on your own.

You’ve been waking regularly at 6:30am. Weekdays it works out well, because that’s when I normally go and get you. But on weekends, one of our favorite things we’ve started doing is to nurse and then snuggle and snooze in your bed until one of us wakes and says, “We should wake up and start the day!” Sometimes we doze until 8:15am! That late wake up time messes up your nap schedule for the day, but to me it’s totally worth it to have those snuggles with you.

You are completely potty trained 24/7, there were no accidents this month. I am astounded by your bladder control, you hold your pee longer than anyone I’ve ever known. You are also able to hold it if we ask you to, when you’ve said you need to go.  Usually it’s enough time for us to find a safe place to pull over so you can use your portable potty.  You’ve even awakened from your sleep and requested to go to the restroom. I have to say, though, that I’ve been very meticulous about making sure you go potty before your bath and before your bed. I even make sure, every single night, to warn you that once I offer that last potty of the day, I clearly articulate, “there’s no more potty after this!” And, 90% of the time, you get in your room, turn around and run back and sit on your little toilet.

I also felt you were ready this month to work on your nighttime “falling asleep” routine. Primarily, because I don’t know how much longer you’ll be able to nurse to sleep. More often than not, you are able to, but there are some nights when you just cannot fall asleep. It’s those nights that I’ve worked with you and gently reminded you that, “We’ve nursed. I’ve told you goodnight. I’ve told you that I love you. I’ve told you to sleep tight. Mommy cannot stay in your bed with you.” I stay with you just a couple minutes, and then leave the room. You have enough of an understanding of the English language and the rhythm of our home that this has worked for you, combined with the work that Grandma D. has done with you for your naps, you’ve been able to roll over and peacefully fall asleep.

THINGS YOU DID/PLACES YOU WENT:
Library time on Mondays and Wednesdays
Music Class with Miss Cheryl on Tuesday mornings
04/18 – Kidseum at Bowers Museum
04/20 – Easter egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa H.’s house
04/30 – introductory swim class at Water Works
05/01 – Toddler Time at Scooter’s Jungle

 

THINGS I WANT TO REMEMBER:

How you love to kiss my “beldy” and I love to tell you that’s where you used to live. One of the days we had a nap fail this past month, I thought maybe I could lie next to you and you would sleep. All got quiet and then you scooched down and said, “I kiss your beldy, momma. I kiss your beldy.” There was no way I could be upset with you after that. We just said, “No nap today.”

Nothing gets past you, and it’s sometimes shocking the things you pick up… from watching Peter Rabbit you learned about spanking, and walked around the house with a Hot Wheels track tapping the cat’s butts, saying, “I’m doing lots of spanking!” I think I forgot to mention, back in January, you were shown some Bible pictures depicting the Old Testament, and from that you learned about “killing” with a stick. Thank you, Cain & Abel!  Your father and I were sadly remiss on the pick-up of using those as an immediate learning opportunity, we were too busy giving each other the “What the heck” face… seriously? THAT is what you learned from seemingly benign stories?

You love to sing songs to me, “Jesus Loves Me” is a top favorite. You sing stanzas of various songs, The Mack Song, as you call it, you sing, “Dop is a hallway, I wanna ride it all night long.” It’s actually, “Life is a Highway, I wanna ride it all night long.” haha You also sing (what you call) the Tow Mater song, it’s actually called Behind the Clouds, but you know the first line and last line of the hook — “Behind the clouds the sun is shi-i-ning, there’s a big blue sky, waiting right behind the clouds.”

The way you love to smell things… if we go to Bath & Body Works, you’re just as bad as we are, you want to smell EVERYTHING in the store.

How when we brush your teeth at night, you like to pick the toothpaste. You’ll say, “I want toothpaste, daddy! Please!” And then when he arrives, you say, “I want Cars toothpaste, please? No, no, I want Tinkerbell toothpaste, instead!” We also have some toothpaste in a blue container that I stuck a Red (firetruck from Cars) sticker on. You call it Red’s blue toothpaste, and everytime it makes me laugh when you say that.

 

 

How when we went to the park a couple weeks ago, you were somewhat reluctant to slide down a big slide all by yourself.  Your father started tickling you and was able to pull you out of the starting point.  You got half way down, giggling the whole way, and said big and loud, “DADDY PUSHED ME!!”  Push, pull, same thing in a toddler’s mind, I guess.

You’ve been struggling a lot this month with separation sadness in the mornings when your daddy and I leave for work. It’s terribly sad, and there’s lots of tears and crying and sobbing and begging. As a last ditch effort, as I drive my car out of the garage, you’ve started saying, “I want to go to work?” And you point at your car seat in my car.

There are a million and one things I could tell you, but instead what I do is I get out of my car and give you one last hug before I leave. You wrap your legs around my waist, like a tight rubber band (when did they get so long), and you wrap your arms around my neck, you lean your head on my shoulder where your tears seep into my shirt. You whisper, “I love you, mommy.” And I whisper back, “I love you, too, William.” And I think to myself, that’s really all you’re trying to say, every single time you reach for me, or you want to hold my hand, or you want me to lie down with you, or you want to show me something… I know, I will never be this loved again.

I love you, too, William

Momma