What an eventful year its been for you! You started out the year with the first of many years of full-time school (15 or more years, if we’re lucky) and you had a rough time of it. We’re pretty sure it’s because you weren’t ready, emotionally, to start school. You were totally ready intellectually, but you’re a “young 5″ and we now know we should have held back a year and started you in Kindergarten this year. However, we’re going to see how 1st grade goes and maybe have you repeat it next year if you still struggle. Though you were diagnosed with ADHD this year, from your troubles in school, we found out that the medication makes you feel sick (likely most of the reason why your behaviour “improved”), so this summer we kept you off your meds and you had a great summer. We’re going to see how you do without any medication and hope school goes well – or at least well enough to keep you unmedicated. We don’t like medication, to be honest, and want to keep you off if we can.

The greatest part of school this year is that you learned to read really quickly and are a fantastic reader! Years ahead of your peers, even. It’s exciting for us as we’re both big supporters of reading and the positive impact it has on life (and education).

Your love of legos continues unabated and you’ve recently started creating and playing with a little lego town you make with roads and buildings and vehicles. You’re very creative with your legos and make some pretty impressive vehicles on your own. When we went to the Children’s Science Museum in Boston you would have happily stayed there forever with all the contraptions and models. You just love seeing how things are made and watching them work. Your favourite show right is all about vehicles (big, ones) and how they work and what they do.

Since you’ve been unmedicated and, therefore, feeling hungry this summer, you’ve put on several pounds and several inches in a fairly short amount of time. You weigh over 37lbs now and are 42+” tall. Still a bit small for your age, but right on target with your growth chart. You and Victor have the same waist now and he outweighs you by several pounds. You’re taller, though, so it’s a fairly even match when you start scuffling – which has begun. You mostly play really well together and are great friends, but all friends fight – especially when one of them is going through the “Terrible Threes” as Victor is. I’ve been impressed, lately, at how mature you are sometimes in indulging him with whatever he’s tantruming about.

You’ve matured in so many ways this year that I can’t list them all. We’re so proud of the person you’re becoming.

Love always,
Mommy

Happy Birthday, Baby!

You’re 3years old now and, finally, as old as you’ve looked and acted for the past 6months.  It’s understandable, considering you’re huge and brilliant.  You’re 38.75″ tall and weigh exactly 35lbs (over an inch taller than 6m ago).  If you continue your growth trend (which you likely will), at 20yrs old you’ll be around 180lbs and around 6′1″.  You definitely take after my father.  You’ve got our big bones, too, which is good since big guys tend to fall hard (I speak from experience).  Thankfully you’re a generally gentle boy (excluding when you’re yanking googly eyes off christmas decorations).

This fall you discovered the joys of lady bugs and, thankfully for them, how to try and be gentle with them (with mostly success).  You’ve also discovered how fun it is to catch snow on your tongue and throw stones into streams.  Inside you’ve discovered the joys of robots and, especially, transforming ones.  For your birthday we got you a large tractor and a small, simple car/robot transformer that you tend to carry around with you.

You’re a completely adorable, grown-up sort of little boy.  Constantly you say and do things that are very mature and surprise laughs out of me.  While coming downstairs from your nap, as I hold your hand and we walk down the stairs, you calmly ask me “So, Mommy, how was your time while I nap?”  Or, like now as I write this letter, you sit across from me with the tele remote, studying it intensely, then look at me and say “I’m making sure all the buttons are there.”  This is how you talk and it’s a precious part of my every day.

You love a lot of things about life.  You love food, you love watching Mommy cook, you love investigating things, you love to help out in any way possible, you love to talk and make noise.  That last one is a bit of a trial for us since, often, you don’t care if we’re listening or not – you just have so much to say.  You also really love to count, and get up to 12 before you start skipping them and you keep going and making up numbers as long as there’s something to count.  You recognize written letters and numbers but don’t care much which is which.

For your birthday, instead of cake or cookies or pudding, ou requested jello.  You’re nothing if not your own person.  To celebrate your birthday, Mother Nature gave you 4″ of perfect, packing snow to play with.

We went outside

and played

and made a snowman (who needed some help standing up for our picture).

It was a very good day.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie.

Love, Mommy

I’m sure it’s very typical of a parent, when faced with a significant birthday, to ask “how is this possible?”.  Yet, the morning of your birthday, I asked myself that very thing.  Wasn’t it just a short while ago that I was denying labour and then you were shooting into the world and announcing life with a loud and strong yell of protest?  I’m sure it was just a year or two ago that we spent months by your side in the NICU; scared, shocked, hopeful.  And now here you are, 5 years old and so big and so mature and so wonderful (and so frustrating).  How did this happen?  How did you get so big?  Your legs so long?  You’re now 3 1/2′ tall and weigh 35lbs!

The one thing that hasn’t changed in the least is that you’re still (and I hope always will be), a big goofball.

You have a great imagination and love to share it.

In some ways you’re so much easier to live with.  When you’re paying attention you listen quite well and do as you’re told most of the time.  You’re willing to help and we find the trouble lies in finding things you’re capable of doing.  I’m thinking about starting you on window cleaning.  You understand, more, the whole “money” thing and when you received a $5 you definitely wanted to *do* something with it.  We pulled out your piggy bank and it’s your new joy.  Thus we’re planning on starting you doing chores and earning a small allowance to fill up your piggy with.

Your love of letters and words continues and you’re on the very brink of reading and can sound out some words independently.  I’m excited to see how well you do in school and how soon you’ll be reading, since reading is so important to me and it’s something I’ve always wanted to share with you and Victor.

We’ve recently concluded that you have, at least in part, a photographic memory.  It’s astounding to watch you assemble complex lego toys for ages years beyond yours; with barely a glance at the picture you know exactly what pieces you need, where they go and their orientation.  I think I end up looking at the pictures more than you do!

You’re much easier to eat with at dinner time now that you feed yourself almost entirely, are willing to at least *try* foods and will even eat foods you don’t like so much as long as we provide moral support.  There’s a lot more foods you really enjoy eating, and almost every meal you thank me for making it.  It’s terribly sweet.  You’re really quite thankful for a lot of things, and you’ve become quite clear at expressing it to us.

You’re not always sweet, though.  You have one heck of a temper and at times a very short fuse.  You’re becoming more able to control yourself, in some measure, so I worry less and less about this being a permanent aspect of your personality.

One thing I do worry about is video games.  We introduced you to a small game system that’s handheld and bought you some games for your age range – fun, educational ones.  You love them like I’ve never seen and obsess over playing them a bit more than we’re happy with.  When we say it’s time to put the game away you cry and will continue to be weepy for the rest of the day.  Perhaps it’s just because it’s a relatively new thing, and you’ll get used to putting it away.

Right now you’re waiting, in limbo, for school to start.  You’ve been waiting since before your summer session at preschool ended and your anticipation knows no bounds.  I really hope it lives up to your expectations.

On your birthday we woke you up with Victor and sang you “Happy Birthday”.  You weren’t crazy about all the singing, but almost immediately asked if we could put up a tree (like Christmas) since you knew there’d be presents.  I’m considering doing that next year, since it’s a pretty cute idea.  We drove to a small zoo in the area and you raced along,

eager to see the next animal and the next.

At the gift shop, when we were done, you chose a penguin stuffed toy and a small bag of pretty rocks which now reside in your Treasure Box.

Your birthday presents, opened during naptime with much whispered excitement, were legos, I Spy books, a Curious George storybook and video games.

We celebrated with red balloons (your favourite) and a lego cake.

You had a great day.  We had a great day, too, and we have a great son.

Love always,

Mommy

Happy Happy Birthday Baby!

After breakfast, today, we started your celebrations… You love your animals, and got a lot of them.  You also got a tractor and, best of all, a train.  Life, in The Land of Victor, is grand.  We’ll hopefully have some pictures later of you blowing out your birthday cake.  You kinda know how to blow, so I’m hopeful.

Early at doing practically everything, about 6wks ago you decided to enter into the “terrible twos” and have morphed from being an adorable and moderately well-behaved little boy into a little devil.  You’re still adorable, you sometimes are well-behaved (with much prompting from us), but you’ve fully grown into the little sneaky bum we always suspected you were.  You’re infuriating, and we can’t help but laugh (sometimes) when you try to pull off some of the naughty things you try to do.  You get into everything – moreso even than Ethan did (though you’re bigger now (you wear 2-3T!) than he was at your age so that accounts for some of it) – to your detriment, at times.

This past week you reached further onto the counter than ever and snatched off the new and fascinating metal can lid you’d been eyeing at the grocery store when I bought the soup.  It had a tab that you just *had* to investigate.  You hurriedly went up to the playroom, I’ve surmised, wherein you fought and struggled and managed to actually get the tab *off* the metal lid.  Here’s where the “to your detriment” part comes in.  I came up to see what you and Ethan were up to and put you down for your nap.  You waited for me at the top of the stairs, a look of worry and upset on your face because your hands were “messy”.  As was the floor, a door knob, your pants, shirt, the can lid and tab that I later found and some of the wall.  You looked like a survivor in a horror film – standing, hands held forward in surprise, coated in blood that was also spread all around you.  Apparently you don’t clot so much.  Once I got you and me and the surrounding area cleaned up I found that all that blood came from 3 tiny cuts on your fingers.  Not enough for stitches, thankfully (think really bad paper-cuts), but you’ve had bandaids for a few days.  At least you heal quickly since all but one bandaid is off now; 3 days later.

As well as being a stinker you’re also very smart.  Very.  You know your numbers up to 10 (in order) and can keep going up to 20 (though you tend to leave numbers out in the teens).  You can count up to about 4 (beyond that, rote memory takes over and you just keep on counting whether there’s objects to count or not).  You can draw circles.  You have a great memory.  To what end that when Ethan and I did this you immediately did this and then, after the letters had been jumbled for a while, this (all the same letters and notice the vowels?).

You’ve always been good with your body – sitting/standing/walking early – and you’ve always been very flexible.  I’d always assumed that flexibility would fade with time, but apparently not (the pants held you back, amazingly – 3mb).  You’ve also, clearly, inhierited my sense of balance and desire to climb (5mb).

You’re also getting really good at communicating.  You speak well and use phrases that you’ve constructed yourself, and not just ones you’ve heard us say.  I love hearing you talk because it’s adorable.  Piktur (2.5mb), agigator (8mb) and momee (8mb) to name a few.  You’ve stopped saying things like “Robobot”, and that makes me a little sad.

You love music and love to dance and move around to it.  Though you’ve still got a deliciously squishy layer of baby fat on you, you’re a very very active boy.  Not that you can’t sit still when you’re playing, but when you’re up and around it’s always at break-neck speed.  I love watching you run sometimes because when you get excited – like when Daddy first gets home at night or when he’s playing Monster with you and Ethan (big file but a good peek at our evenings before bedtime – it’s a wonder those boys ever sleep! 26mb) or when you’re unclothed and can run around (3mb), yelling to the world that you’re “SOOPER BUNNY!” – you get this little hoppy jump to your step that just about makes my heart burst.

Recently we moved your crib into Ethan’s room – now both your room.  We were worried it’d be impossible for either of you to sleep since you’re both light sleepers and both noisy, but it’s been a rousing success.  I’m still amazed that you sleep well and you’re both much happier about it, and have become even closer since then.

You are our trial, you are our joy.  From the start I’ve always had one word, above all others that’s described how I feel about you; you’re delicious.  You bring us so much joy and so much happiness that the words just don’t accomodate.  Happy Birthday Baby, and thank you.

Love always, Mommy.

Happy Birthday, Honey!!

We’re amazed that you’re already 4.  Amazed and proud and happy and funny and much less often frustrated.  You’re, most of the time, such a joy to be around.  You’re reasonable, you listen (even when, in the past, we were sure you weren’t), you understand.  You’re funny, you’re independent, you’re smart.  You’ve also developed a new talent at tantrums that’s quite a sight to behold.  Screaming at the very tippy-top of your voice with as much anger directed straight at Mommy, you deny all reality for 20-30 minutes straight.  Then you get tired, sob for a while and Mommy helps you get a grip.  It’s interesting, and I’ve heard that those who don’t tantrum much as toddlers make up for it in spades when they’re older.  Such talent!Lately we’ve been spending more time practicing writing, and you’ve fallen in love with the letter trace sheets I’ve found.  Enough that I found a slew of fonts for you to practice writing letters and numbers with.  Your understanding of words has grown a lot since you’ve started playing more with a particular toy, your Word Whammer.  It prompts you to spell out 3-letter words, sounds out each part, and congratulates you when you do it right.  The other night you, upon spying the lettering on the edge of your plate, told Daddy “J, A, M spells ‘jam’!”  We were astonished and pleased.  We never figured the word whammer was having such a positive effect on you, even if it’s just rote memorization.  I’ve worked with you, trying to introduce the idea of phonics and how if “J, A, M spells ‘jam’ and you replace the ‘j’ with an ‘h’ then it spells…?”.  You’re really starting to get it, and I’m so excited at that.  Reading is really important to us and we want to be sure you get a good start in such an enjoyable experience.  You ask us, now, “what’s that word?” whenever you want to know what the letters you’re reading spell.

Some of the new things you’re learning we’re not sure where they’re coming from.  Recently you’ve started referring to people and toys as “dude”, in context.  “Goodbye dudes!” or “this dude goes here”.  It’s hilarious and perplexing to us.

You’ve started appreciating things that Mommy makes for you/us, too.  It warms my heart to no end when you want me to knit you something or show such enjoyment when I give you something I’ve made.  I made you a bunny, recently, and you absolutely adore it.  For your birthday I’ve made you a knitted tea set.

You love pretending things, and use all sorts of toys to pretend drinking tea and serving tea, so you love it.
Most recently, you’ve discovered the joy of ‘knock, knock jokes’.  I don’t know quite where you learnt about them, but you’ve been regalling me with “Knock knock!” (who’s there?) “Orange!” (orange who?) at which point you burst into sniggers and can’t continue.  I taught you the “Knock knock” (who’s there?) “cow” (cow who?) “no, cows say ‘moo’!” and the look of astonishment as you got it and realized just how gut wrenchingly funny that joke is was priceless.  Now we just need you to practice getting to the punchline before laughing.On your birthday we went to a local amusement/water park.  The day started off a bit bumpy, with your generally steely-stomached brother surprising us all with some back-seat vomiting.  Not to be discouraged we swung by one of Daddy’s co-workers’ house, hosed off Victor’s seat, clothes, and self, and continued on our way.  We should have taken it as an omen, however.  You had a blast in the fountains (vid 8mb Ethan in the blue shirt, Victor in the green) but were ready to go when you got into yet another fight with the ground.  You lost, but got to bring home a super-cool souvenir! (the goose-egg hatched into a rotten-egg, apparently).  After we left the water park you had fun on some rides:

At which point we stopped for a juice break.  Too much sun?  Too much excitement?  Too little fluids?  Who knows.  We left the juice at the park along with some entirely icky and stinky diaper cloths that we used to clean you up.  At that point you were ready to go home, so we did.  Despite the double-vomit, goose-egg filled day, wherein you did not get to ride a rollercoaster (something you’d been excited about for weeks) you thought it was a blast and had a great day.Ultimately, these days you’re frustrating and will-ful and stubborn and demanding; but you’re also wonderful and sweet and smart and loving.  We love this person you’re becoming, and can’t wait til you’re more of who you’re meant to be.

Love, Mommy

It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and had the chance to write to you; to tell you everything that’s been happening in your little world. “Little”, though, is perhaps a bit inaccurate as you’re hardly little. You never really have been. Just measured you’re now over 33″ tall and weigh over 27lbs. I’m very glad that we have 2T summer wear, as you’re already out-growing the 18-24m sized stuff. Just 4lbs and 5″ shy of your big brother. A good thing, I suppose, since he doesn’t know his own strength. When you make him mad and he grabs you in a bear hug to do the worst to you he knows how – restrain you – you hardly even notice. Part of that is due to your easy going nature, too.

You’re teething in earnest, now, and that makes you very UN-easy going. You’ve skipped your canines (though they’re there) and are already started on your first molars.

A good thing, since you’re pretty willing to eat try anything and enjoy all of it. You eat meat, even, which is something we’ve been fighting Ethan for years on. The downside, of course, is that you’re a cranky, whiny little boy who’s a royal pain.

Lately we’ve taken to playing outside in the dirt pile in the front yard. Ethan plays with the trucks and you mostly wander around, tethered to a tree. We tie you up because though you have stunningly good balance our yard has a slight slope towards the big drop-off and you get going and just keep going faster and faster. Your father and I realized we couldn’t keep an eye on you enough or seem to catch you fast enough so we rigged up a long nylon rope that we tie to you and a tree. You only mind a little. Sadly the bugs seem to adore the way you taste – especially the black flies – and almost every time we’re out to play we find a bloody spot where they’ve been feasting on your succulent flesh. I don’t blame them entirely. You’re just too delicious.

As well as being a tasty morsel, though, you’ve got a stellar personality (teething and a tendency toward overly-dramatic crying) and are loads of fun to be around. You’re completely addicted to tickling, and love nothing more than to writhe on the floor/couch/lap of a tickler; laughing so hard you squeal and snort. The snorting, for what it’s worth, is likely something you’ve inherited from me as I used to do the same thing when I was little.

You’ve really started talking a lot more, and trying so very hard to say words. You understand pretty much everything we say and any time we ask you to repeat a word you always try. Not always succeed, but you definitely try. You have a wide enough variety of words that you can say well enough that we understand, among which are “Beese!” (please), “ba-m” (bottle of milk), “box”, “book”, “yeah”, “no”, “no more”, “poop”, “wawa” (water), “purple”, “shirt”, “blue”, “chichen” (chicken), “bug” (you adore bugs). There’s more, I’m sure, that I just don’t remember right now. One of your favourite ways of learning new words is through reading, and love to chase after me with a book held out calling “Book! Book!” so that I’ll go through and point to thinks for you to repeat.

One of your favourite ways to be a bad boy is to get up onto the kitchen table. We’ve since started clearing everything off to deter you, but that’s only helped slightly. You’re fast, Little Man, and very stealthy. It takes you approx 4 seconds to go from one side of the room and up onto the table (with the chairs pushed in, mind) in complete silence. No exaggeration. Often times I’ll only know you’re up when I hear the tell-tale sound of you dancing on the table from the rumbling thumpthumpthumpthump (9mb) as you ‘dance’.

I wish words could truly express what it’s like to parent you. You’re so incredibly frustrating and such an amazing little stinker. You’re a second child, and you’re sneaky and stubborn and willful and have learned all the wrong things from your brother and taught him some new wrong things too. You’re also wonderful and funny and smart and patient. You’re easy, so easy, with love and life. You’ve taught us a lot in so many ways.

Love always,

Mommy

Yet again I’ve missed a month in writing to you, and my tendency toward self-guilt (thanks to my own Mom) have had me thinking about your letter and it’s missed’ness a lot.  However, life goes on.  Your father thinks I should cut back to quarterly letters – making me think of quarterly reports – and perhaps I will after your birthday. (3 months!  You’ll be 4 years old, then!!  I can’t even believe it.)

This past two months have been a lot easier, and you continue to become more agreeable, easier to live with, sweeter, smarter, more imaginative and more rational.  Just this morning, after breakfast, you asked to play upstairs.  You looked at me, completely seriously, and told me you “need to take care of my babies”.  Completely matter-of-fact.  You had babies and they were upstairs and needed to be cared for.  Not in the overly dramatic way that imaginative children who’re playing pretend say things.  No.  This was fact and you had a job to do.  I laughed and upstairs to play you went.

You’ve started to understand the concept of time more.  Clocks, to be specific.  We’ve used your absolute, undying love of Max & Ruby to teach you what “6 o’clock” is and what it looks like on the kitchen clock.  You understand that you need to hurry up and eat so that you can watch it and it’s helped us to get you to eat marginally better.

On the topic of eating, however, things are still woefully sparse.  In almost all situations and at all times you’d rather be doing anything but eat.  I don’t even ask what you want most times anymore since you just say “no” to everything.  Much of the time it’s a combination of you not being hungry and you being contrary since you’ll say ‘no’ to something and then ask for that very thing 30 seconds later.

One of the more amusing developments lately is your abiding love for the new love-seat we’ve bought.  It is where you spend 9/10ths of your time when you’re watching tele, and at least half of your play time when you’re in the living room.  Tonight, as a form of punishment for something you’d done, I banned you from sitting there.  This greatly upset you, and proved your devotion to the love-seat.  Goofball!

If there’s one thing I’d most like to say it’s that these days you’re the blush on my rose.  Life being so busy and Victor entering his trouble-some phase, you are a light of laughter, cute, sweet and loving for me.  Even now, you try to take care of me when you notice Mommy’s struggling.  You worry when I show I’m upset.  You’re quiet when I explain I’ve got a headache.  You behave when I ask on days that I really need it.

Who you are is such a joy to love, and I hope you always remember that.

Love, Mommy.

Teething. That’s our special word for the month, as you’ve decided to make up for the lateness of your teething (rather like Ethan did) with Power Teething. You’re currently cutting 4 right now. All at the same time and in varying levels of angry, cranky, and whiney. Thank goodness you’re still able to sleep…

…so we’re managing to not toss you out in a snowbank (not that we have any anymore). You’ve taken to passing out anywhere during the hour leading up to naptime, regardless of noise level or bright sunshine. Sadly this only applies to naps and not at night, when we have to tiptoe around the house.You’ve made a lot of communication growth this month. You understand what phones are and say “hey-you” (hello) when appropriate (aka anything but a phone is pressed to your ear).

You understand so much of what we say, and actually do quite a bit of what we ask you. You pick things up and take them to Daddy/Mommy, you “come here and we’ll change your bum”, you even give kisses both on command and spontaneously!

We had some snow this month, and though you were highly suspicious of it (vocally, so), you did manage to sit in it for a brief moment without squealing like a siren.

You were, generally, content as long as we kept you in our arms…

And you even, momentarily, considered standing up and walking down the loneliest path toward us…

…almost.
A little while later a snowman tried to eat you.

Within the past few days you’ve discovered that you have toes, that they’re *called* toes, and that yours, like a monkey’s, can grasp things to help you climb.

This isn’t, however, entirely your fault since the monkey genes come from me. Your Mommy was a notorious climber as a child, and I’m sure this is karmic payback in giving parental heart attacks. Let’s hope you also have some “not easily broken” genes.

You definitely have cute genes…

…and the “we love you” genes.

Love always, Mommy

We’re in the 2nd half of your 3rd year now and, thankfully, you’ve started becoming less and less of a cranky jerk and more and more of a big huge sweetie mcsweetheart. There are still days (and weeks) where you drive us nuts, but they’re less frequent than before and you’ve started picking up quirks that are just too cute to hang onto the frustration too long.

You’ve started talking to yourself. Monologuing your life and your fantasy play. It’s pretty amusing to behold and I’m pleased that your imagination is so vivid and odd. It also demonstrates to us just how much you pay attention when you’re not paying attention, as we hear you pop phrases into your conversations that come straight from our lips. “Come on, Mommy! Come on! Come on! Come on!” spoken really fast is evidence of that. We don’t, however, know where on earth you heard your favourite phrase these days. “I can’t!” comes out of your mouth entirely too many times, most of the time because of something you don’t want instead of something you can’t do. We’re trying to figure out if we should continue to correct you or just ignore it as a phase. You’re too young for that kind of negativity, so I suspect it’s just a phase to get on our nerves. It works, by the way.

This month we finally had a decent snowfall that wasn’t too cold and allowed us all to go outside and play. You wore your new balaclava that I made you…

and had a fantastic time exploring this new wonder up close and personal.

You and your father built a snowman…

while Victor lay on his side nearby, confused and angry at his snowsuit, the cold, the snow, and his not being carried at that exact moment. All in all we had a fantastic time.

I’ve noticed, lately, just how few pictures I seem to be taking of you and your brother. I’ve been busy with a lot of things and apologise for any holes in your photographic biography. I try to make up for it, though, on days like today where we take lots of pictures. Today you showed us a whole bunch of your facial expressions. I love seeing them, frozen in time, because they look so much like the adult you will look. That peek into the future gets me excited about who you’ll become.

Inquisitive?

A jokester?

Intellectual?Whatever you become, we love you lots and lots.

Love always, Mommy

Another active month for us! You’ve finished sprouting your top right tooth, so you now have a matching set of two on top and two on bottom.

To celebrate this, you’ve decided to sprout the adjacent incisors on the top, and, the bottom (we think). The drooling is at massive proportions!

After some light spring cleaning and dresser rearranging, we realized just how much you’ve grown and how big you are. We took this last night…

…and we took this one about 10 months ago…

Notice the jammies?

You talk a lot more, these days. We’ve heard “maw” (milk) lately, and some other mimiky words. You understand very clearly what we’re saying and asking you, and are very certain when you do not want something, though not as much when you do. We try to respect your wishes, though there are times we know you’re lying when you say “no more” and then promptly open your mouth for another bite.

I love that your personality is showing more and more. I love getting to know the unique you and seeing how you’re changing our family and enhancing it. You’re so much your own person… so determined to do things your way. You’re smart, too, as shown by your innovative ways to overcome obstacles like getting up on the couch… chairs… the kitchen table.

As much as you challenge us, we truly delight in watching you figure things out and do them your way. We love how you’ve changed our family for so much the better.

Love Always,

Mommy

You’re 3 and one half now, my honey, and wow what a tough 6 months the past ones have been. However, you’ve decided to stop being a cranky jerk and are, for the most part, a complete angel these days. *knock on wood*

Almost daily you say something or learn something or demonstrate something that surprises us. You pull on your own pants now! Yesterday you put on your own shirt without any help! You sit in a big boy chair, you nod ‘yes’ (sortof), you’re patient with Victor and give him toys just to make him happy. And tonight… tonight you blew out your 3yr birthday candle ALL.BY.YOUR.SELF!

Let me backtrack. Daddy made cake today. For no reason other than cake, sometimes, is a nice thing to have. We had some after dinner and while I was sharing with you you asked for a candle. You kept insisting there should be a candle on the slice of cake you and I shared. So Daddy went and got your #3 birthday candle, mounted it up on the cake, and lit it. It took you 4 tries but you blew it out all on your own (without any stray breezes from the general direction of one of your parents). We were so proud of that. And then? You wanted more candle. You didn’t want the cake. You wanted the candle. Sometimes we just don’t understand you, you crazy boy.

You’ve been watching a show called Max & Ruby lately, about a little bunny girl and boy, siblings. It’s your favourite, and you’re constantly pretending to be Ruby (the elder sibling) and ordering Max (Victor) around and showing him how to do things just like the show. You imitate her tone and the things she says and some afternoons you’ll spend hours playing, interspersing “MAaax!” with your play. Cute the first few times, a bit annoying after that. But still cute.

We eliminated your nap this month and though I had my reservations about that it’s been all for the best. You sleep better at night and you’re generally quite good at quiet time while Victor naps in the afternoon – made all the easier with tele watching and cookies.

We had your glasses replaced this month, and though it took a week to get them back I think you’re glad to have them. You looked so different without them on, it surprised me. Your father and I think, though, that you’ll likely end up having an eye patch after seeing the dr this month. I’ve noticed that, in the morning, you have a lot of trouble controlling your one eye and will constantly look at the floor rather than trying to focus on any of our faces for a while after waking up. I do hope, with time, we can improve your vision.

All in all life has been much more pleasant this month than it’s been in quite a while, and though you’re still a pain sometimes, you’re a much more reasonable, loveable, adorable, sweet little boy. The one we’ve always known is in there.

Love Always,

Mommy

I know this letter is a bit late, but so much has been happening the past month that our heads are spinning and I kept putting it off because I figured there’d be a lull in your changes. Ahh how naive Mommy’s can be?

You’ve started talking a semblance of english these past few weeks. You say More (2mb) along with a semblance of the sign for it. You say No (6mb) along with the head shake – you say “no more” sometimes, too. You say Get Down (3mb) (it’s quiet, but there) when you’re wanting to. You’re also almost saying things and mimic things we say. You almost say “bottle”, “hello”, “buhbye” and we’ve heard a pretty good impression of “spaghetti O’s”, “there Daddy is!”. You also understand almost everything we say to you, and follow basic directions like “close the drawer” and “can Mommy have?” (important ones).
You understand the game of chase and run away! This is new for us since your brother always ran towards us (weirdo). We play chase and “where’s ____?” a good bit because it’s fun for everyone. You’re more sensitive to startlement, though, and more than once Daddy has jumped out to scare you (in a fun way) and you’ve ended up too scared and crying. We’re learning about you all the time and how unique you are. It’s wonderful!

You’re quite excellent at moving around these days. You walk great, you run, you climb stairs (and bounce down them, we’ve found), you almost jump, you can stand on one foot for a few seconds, and, most recently and fun, you dance (6mb). Even without music, though the instant there *is* music you’re all over the boogie, you love to dance. You love to hear music and bop your head or bounce or shake your arms. It’s pretty funny and we love that you love music so very much.

You’ve developed a talent for climbing, and rarely does the cushion to our white chair remain *on* the chair as you need it off to climb onto the chair. Despite it being a rather hefty cushion, you’re up to the challenge, though.

You also like being among your toys.

We bit the bullet this month and cut your hair. You didn’t get upset or scared, though I was upset at the loss of that lovely curl you had at the nape of your neck. Your hair *was* getting pretty long, though, so off it came.

You’re much more presentable, now.
You’re also a big goofball, curtesy of the family inclination toward that, and you do things just for a laugh (5mb) like bolting away to hide when you see us holding a diaper to change you. You’re also a persistent little man, as you’re constantly ripping Ethan’s glasses off his face and it’s a battle to help him keep wearing them. Sometimes you’re a goofball without even knowing it, and we’ve taken to calling you “Linus” sometimes.

As of this morning you’ve successfully mastered climbing the couch, which presents us with a whole host of problems.

Thankfully, you’re not always successful (7mb). You are, however, resilient (8mb) and you keep on trying despite repeated failures.The best part of this month has been sleep. We’ve gotten to the point that you sleep the whole night, putting yourself back to sleep when you wake, and we don’t have to put you to sleep before laying you down. We don’t even swaddle you now, though naps are a different matter. At night we lay you down, tuck a blanket around you, and you fall fast asleep. You only have one nap, now, and I still get to help you to sleep then. You’re my last baby and a Mommy sometimes needs extra snuggle time with the last one. You’re pretty happy to oblige me, and I’m grateful for that. I love that you’re so snuggly sometimes, despite the wiggle-worm you’re becoming. I hope you always have time for a hug.

Love Always,

Mommy

More than anything I hope you will grow up to be a compassionate person. I hope you can learn patience and understanding, too. If you do, then I know you’ll forgive my missing last month. If not, I apologize that your Mother is sometimes forgetful, sometimes procrastinative, sometimes lazy. Sometimes she makes up words, too. Yay creativity!

The past few months have continued to be a slow drive through a lovely countryside, with the occasional tunnel through hell. You’re wonderful and brilliant and because I don’t have other kids around to compare you to I expect more from you. More than I should. Every few months I freak out and run for developmental milestone charts and am reminded just how peculiarly ahead of the game you are in your own way. Thankfully your evil-3-year-old-ness has been slowly easing up, and we may be entering the wonderland that is the non-evil-3-year-old. I’ve heard that 3 year olds, you see, spend 6 months being crabby jerks and 6 months being delightful. This is why, in the recent past, Daddy and myself have been drinking a lot earlier in the day and eating way too much junk food. You, however, drink earlier than even we do…

Things have been improving, though. You’re still not eating much, but don’t fight as hard with some foods that we make you feed yourself (given how much you loathe having any “dirtyness” on your hands, this is a big improvement). Your communication skills have been improving a lot, and we hear much more adult conversation from you – or at least, english – most of the time. You’ve realized that you don’t hate the sound of Mommy singing as much as you thought you did, and that songs can be fun to sing all on your own, too. I’ve caught you singing along with the tele or up in the playroom to your toys.Sadly, mention of the playroom makes me think about the latest thing… it’s broken my heart repeatedly, lately to hear you playing with your toys. You talk while you play and I hear you chastising them the same way I/we chastise you. You use the same tone, the same words, the same repetitions that we use with you to correct your behavior. More than I can express, I hate that. I appreciate and understand why it makes an impression on you, but I hate that it’s made so much of an impression, even if it’s only temporary. I’m soothed, some, when you continue on and tell your toys to love each other and wish them good night and have them play nicely in the same way we do you, but still. I hope, with the passage of time, the love will far out weigh the frustrations.

We had Christmas, recently, and your Father and I decided that since you started to understand the concept of presents that we’re going to work a bit harder next year to make Christmas more magical. I’m already excited about it, and hope to practice things like baking cookies with you in advance.The thing I’m most grateful for in you is your personality. You’re such a goofball, my son, and I just love that. I love how silly you are and how readily you laugh at yourself and at the world.  I love knowing how desperately, deliriously funny you found mommy’s toe-socks, and how damned-proud you were that you pulled them on by yourself.  I love remembering seeing you run around the living room with your pants hiked up, waiting for us to notice, and how much we all laughed.

Love Always,Mommy

It seems amazing to me that one year ago, you and I looked like this.

Just 2 days later and we were home.

You were so tiny. So small but already so happy.

I’ll never forget how you used to laugh in your sleep. Some babies smile; you chuckled and laughed at your dreams.

I’ll admit that, sometimes, we laughed at you, too.From the beginning you’ve surprised us. The months of colicy unhappiness and sleepless nights. The milestones that you kept advancing on more quickly than we could anticipate…

5 months

7 months

8 months (you’ll understand the getting stuck behind the couch milestone when you’ve got kids of your own)

9 months
10 months
You’ve amazed us, Little Man!You eat now, real food, and greatly prefer milk to formula (which keeps you from burping very well and interrupts your sleeping). You love bananas and peas and especially potato in all forms. You’re figuring out your pincer grasp in order to better feed yourself baby crackers, too.The latest development in the growing person you are is that you’re starting to talk. You mimic sounds and are pretty good at Hi ( 3.5mb). You’ve also recently discovered that the large opening in your face which is fun to stuff things into, also has a *thing* in it. The thing makes some pretty amusing noises (8mb), too.

We spent a fairly typical day today. Sung you Happy Birthday first thing and again later. You spent the day terrorizing your brother by following him everywhere and handing/throwing toys at him to illicit his playing with you. That only worked so well as to earn you a bruise and a bump on the side of your head when he booted your noggin into the wooden sofa arm.

So beyond the daily things, the milestones and minutia, who are you? You’re quiet and observant; though you’re starting to come out of your shell more you still watch everything. You’re content to occupy yourself with whatever’s around – even if there’s nothing around, you’ll simply wander around the house a few dozen times. You enjoy playing on your own, and after playing with us for a while you go off and do your own thing. You love to bounce and be bounced in any and all ways. You also love music… dancing, listening, and singing. You calm right down when I sing to you, and for a while you melted my heart while making me laugh as you’d try to kiss me, repeatedly and open-mouthed (as babies do), in the middle of me singing to you at night. I’d have to stop singing for a moment to kiss you back because you’re just delicious. You love to snuggle and love giving and getting hugs. You think it’s hilarious when I snarl and pretend to eat your fingers, toes, and self. You love when Daddy comes home at night, and you run for the door the instant you hear the garage opening.

There’s so much more love in our lives since you came into our family. I’ve heard it said before and it’s so true that you filled a hole we didn’t even know was there. You fill it so completely that, sometimes, our hearts feel 2 sizes too big.

Thank you, Little Man, for everything you are.  Happy Birthday, Victor.
Love, Mommy

If there is anything I wish to teach you right now, my youngest child, is that life… is not a competition. I know some people would have you believe otherwise – they would be wrong. It doesn’t matter how fast or expensive or big life is. What matters is the quality of your life. That being said, life right now is…. cranky. You’re cutting teeth. Teeth. Now, we rather expected you’d be similar to Ethan in that you’d cut more than one at a time – we assumed you’d also cut in pairs, seeing as you two share genetic material. We were wrong, Mr. 3-at-once. We’ve been watching the bottom two bumps for a few months now, knowing they’d be first since they’re so very *there*. A few days ago your father was surprised to find you’d just finished cutting one – on the top. Stop messing with us!

This past month has gone by in a blur, mostly a blur of you. You’ve learned to walk this month (with your own special swagger), you can stand up on your own and bend over and pick things up (that’s Ethan saying “smile” since I have the camera out, btw) (and no, we don’t usually match up your shoes with your outfits – those are coincidences, albeit cute ones). We’re ecstatic that you’ve learned so well and so quickly, and Ethan has thoroughly enjoyed this new aspect of playmate that you’re providing him. Also, as of this morning, you’ve learned how to get out of your crib, with only a few scuff marks on your head, without us knowing at all – no telltale thump and wail, no naughty-giggle or noise-of-new-thing-to-mess-with. We heard the monitor alarm that indicates you’ve disconnected the power – figured you’d reached through the crib slats and grabbed it – and your father comes in to tell me, a few moments later, that you were on the floor playing with something. Seriously. Slow down with the milestones! You’re allowed to not walk until you’re 18m or so! You’re allowed to not climb out of the crib until around then too (if not later).

Your eating has improved a lot this month, although teething has made you only want to have bottles. You eat small pasta now (and love my Mexi-Italian soup!), and love cut up bananas. We give you whole oatmeal now (not powdered) and whole milk instead of formula (which you do better on anyways – digestively).

With all the exercise you’re getting, you’re trimming down some, but not worrisomely, and you’re still growing by leaps and bounds. Yesterday’s height measurement has you at 31″ tall – back up to the 90th percentile (you’d been rounding down past the 75th). You’re wearing 18m sized clothes now, too.You’re doing somethings on cue – stranger anxiety, extra joy at seeing Mommy and Daddy (not quite separation anxiety, but close), and starting to talk. Mama, Dada, ba!, and uhoh (though “uhoh” tends to be “uh” with the occasional “oh” tacked on – and only when you’re prompted). You’re getting into mischief (in the form of drawers in the kitchen) and are starting to really express yourself.

Despite and because of all of this, we love you so much more every day. More of your personality is coming through and I’m so excited to keep learning who you are. I love your deep, throaty chuckle. I love knowing that you love music. You love when I sing to you, you love when we dance. You love getting hugs and keep trying to kiss me when I sing close to your face. You love being near Ethan – even when he’s being rough – and you love to instigate trouble with him. You still love chewing on shoes, and you love to bounce.

And I love you, trouble-maker.Love, Mommy