It's your third birthday.

Wow. Just...wow. Three already?! Honestly, it doesn't seem as though three entire years have passed already since your birth. One thousand and ninety-five days. What happened to them all?!!!

I find myself really paying attention lately. Because I know that each day is fleeting. Every moment is to be cherished and recognized as an occasion that will never again occur. When you were born I felt as though you'd always be a demanding infant. Even though I'd had children already...it seemed to me then that what was was what would be forever. And my logical self couldn't reason my emotional self out of that perception. Then, suddenly, I realized...things had changed. You weren't a baby any longer. But...when did that happen? I must not have been looking.

But here you are. Three years old. Your vocabulary is at this point immeasurable. You know more words than I can count. You approach new situations and experiences without reservation. You express sheer joy. As well as sheer disappointment and sadness. Your ignorance and naivete are admirable qualities. In most cases, you assume that what you see is what you'll get. In other cases, you assume that what you can't see is what you'll get. You're enviably imaginative. Lately you've been hanging out with invisible friends. Sometimes it's Bitzer. Other times it's the Farmer. Or Shirley. Or just a stray doggie.

Speaking of doggies...we bought you a standard poodle for your birthday in hopes that you and she would become bosom buddies. So far your dog has proven only to be a neurotic paranoid. But she's new, just off the farm. So we hold out hope that this relationship will be all that it was presumed it would be.

Some things you say, or have said, that deserve mention:

"My" do/did/have/want it.

"Alligator" = Elevator and/or escalator

"Where's Benjamin?" (covers eyes, nothing else).

"Why?" (Started about a month ago...asked incessantly. No sign of abating.)

"My doos it." (Doos = does/did)

There are so many more. I need to make a concerted effort to write them down. But at this point...it's 11:30 p.m. and I'm tired. Your father is lying beside me snoring. And the dog is into something it ought not to be.

I love you, Sweet Boy. Your existence brings me joy. And hope. I love you more than life.

Happy birthday my awesome son. I love you completely.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I just say, "Wow!"

Wow!

Two. Two whole, entire years. Already. Just...wow.

Last year at this time you weren't even walking. Now you're running, climbing, talking, dancing, singing! So many changes in such a short period of time.

The time is flying by and it's like...it's like...being on a roller coaster. Thrilling and nauseating all at the same time. Thrilling because each day is something new. A new skill, a new development, phrase, a new reason to smile, to laugh. Nauseating because it's going by so fast, each day is one more day closer to you being all grown up. I want it to slow down. But it's not going to, so we're enjoying every second with you. You're so wonderful! Such a beautiful boy!

And I hope you had a wonderful birthday today. It was just you, Papa, Sushi (that's what you call Lizzie/Sissy), and me celebrating today. We'll have a "real" birthday party next weekend, but today it was just us, a cake, a present, and an Elmo balloon (because you have developed a passion for Elmo, after watching "Elmo's Potty Time" on DVD--totally Mommy's fault).

BTW, the cake says "Happy Dirthdy" not because Mommy cannot spell, but because that's how you say it. We've been talking for about a month now about turning two and having a birthday and having people sing "Happy Birthday" and every time you sing "Happy Dirthdy to you!" which is, of course, extraordinarily cute!

Happy birthday Do-Dah!!!

Love forever,

Mommy

I have a very good excuse for not writing on your 22nd month birthday: We were in France. You were with us. We were busy. And we frequently did not have internet access.



See, told you it was a good excuse!



I'm happy to report that you were an excellent traveler! I was more than a little concerned that you'd be so totally off schedule and out of sorts that the whole trip would, well, completely stressful. But that wasn't the case at all. You adjusted your schedule on the first day and besides some normal toddler tantrums here and there, we all had a great time.



I have noticed, since we returned, that you seem to have...matured some since we left for France. Your level of understanding has increased, as has your ability to communicate verbally in response. I thought maybe it was just my perception after spending 16 uninterrupted days together, but Papa says he's noticed it, as well, and since he spends every day with you I feel he's a good judge of these things. I guess this shouldn't be too surprising--you are almost two-years old--but I think it's interesting that there was a perceptible change.



So besides taking a 16-day vacation in Europe (most of the time in France, but we also visited Switzerland and Italy), you spent your 22nd month adding more words to your vocabulary, being incredibly silly, and getting cuter everyday. Now you're almost done with your 23rd month and I've already begun planning your second birthday party. Wow. Just...wow.

Wow, 21 months already!

Time is just wooshing by!

*Woosh*

Sigh.

New things:

"Rock-rock." This is what we do at night before you go to bed. It's also what you ask for now when you've hurt yourself. Sometimes you want to do this after you wake up in the a.m. It consists of the two of us (or you and Papa) sitting in the glider in your room and rocking. Generally you have your head on my (or Papa's, whichever the case may be) shoulder and you suck your thumb while we rock.

"Nobody home." This is what you say when you and Papa check the bluebird houses in the back yard. There was somebody home for awhile. A house sparrow used one of the boxes for a nest and got to watch three baby sparrows grow up and leave home this past month.

Anything else in particular? I'm sure there is...but once again Papa almost has dinner done and I have to run. Suffice it to say that you're adding new words everyday and watching you grow and learn remains a treat. You're so darned cute! I love you so much.

Oh...and you weren't afraid of the 4th of July fireworks. You enjoyed them! You also enjoyed the bag of cotton candy we bought for you.

Well, it finally happened. Mommy became such a blog slacker that she absolutely forgot all about posting on (or around) your 20 month "birthday."

Bad, bad Mommy!

I'm sorry! I really am. I have just been a bit overwhelmed lately. I'll do better next time!

So because I'm limited even now on time and attention (Papa just came home from work and I want to go spend some time with him), I'll try to just hit on the highlights of the previous month:

Your language skills improve everyday. Really, they do. Everyday you say a new word or phrase.

In fact, that's probably the biggest "milestone" event--phrases. You no longer just say "vroom-vroom" when you see my car, you now say "Mommy vroom-vroom." Some other phrases you're using are: "Mommy hold!" (you also say "Papa hold!" but Papa hadn't heard this until today), "No more monkeys" (from the song "Five Little Monkeys"), "Tree broke!" (we had a tree fall in the back yard), "Tree gone" (we hired a company to clean it up and haul it away), and "See birds!" (another recent addition as we had, just in the past day or two, a nest of sparrow eggs hatch in one of the bluebird houses). And these are just a few examples. You can pretty much communicate anything you need to now using two word "sentences." It's so exciting!

So what else?

You're still fascinated with trashcans.

And door knobs.

If there's a trashcan or door knob at an event, playground, museum, etc. we can pretty much give up trying to interest you in anything else going on.

You have a fantastic sense of humor. Did I already mention the "hibou/cat" game in my previous post? I'll have to go check and, if not, explain it when I come back.

Your motor skils, both gross and fine, are progressing normally. You have no troubles scaling stairs and we've been drilling into your head that you must turn around and climb down backwards. You can pick up the tiniest piece of dirt. No problems putting your chunky puzzle pieces in their places. That sort of thing.

Off to go be with Papa now (Mommy loves being with you, but she also enjoys when you're sleeping and she and Papa can just sit and relax a bit). :-)

Love you!!

Mommy

I've done it again! Your "birthday" has come and gone and I've failed to update your blog. Sigh.

Well, again, mommy apologizes for being a slacker.

So now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about your 18th month. What all happened? Hmmmm, let's see. . . Papa built you a sandbox and last weekend we filled it with sand that Aunt Lizzie was kind enough to pick up for us in her truck. I love it. You could take it or leave it. You'd much rather wander the yard picking up gum balls and leaves and looking in the blue bird houses. But I'm hopeful that as you get older you're going to enjoy it more and more.

The weather has gotten warm enough that we filled up your wading pool a few weekends ago and we put it and your sand/water table in the driveway for you to play with. You enjoyed that for the short time that your attention span held out (roughly ten minutes, max, at any one activity).

Otherwise, it's been a fairly quiet month in terms of family activities. In terms of your development, though, I've seen quite a bit of change. You are acquiring new verbal skills on a daily basis. You can put more than two words together (as I think I reported last month) on a consistent basis. And you even put three words together at least once this month when you told us to "Turn roundiround off!" (Translation: Turn the ceiling fan off!) Honestly, everyday you say a new word. Some of the "better" ones (don't get me wrong, they're all great, just some are more...interesting than others) are: cucumber; ravioli; tushy; chicka; and macaroni.

And you understand so much now, it's amazing. Over the past two or three months you've really begun transitioning from baby to little boy. Which, of course, is bittersweet for a mom.

So in other news (I was thinking today that I should be sure to include some current events in these posts so you won't think that our lives revolve solely around you, although they really kinda do...), the economy is still the hot topic. The housing market has crashed, the stock market crashed a while ago and remains crashed for the most part, unemployment is at an all time high, and the government is deficit spending. Fun times. I cannot fathom how or when we'll pull out of this, but certainly something has to give.

As far as our contribution, I continue to work, Papa continues to keep the store going, and we're planning a trip to France this summer that we really can't afford but which I feel strongly we need to take anyway (not just because we need to do our part to stimulate the global economy, but because Papa needs to go see his friends and show you off). I've never traveled on a plane with a child your age and quite honestly I'm imaging it's going to be hellish, but I do hope we can pull it off and that it will be mostly enjoyable for all concerned.

That's all for now!

See you in a month!

Love and kisses,

Mommy

I'm technically late. Again. But it's been an extremely busy weekend, between going to Greensboro to visit Alex & Nikki and celebrating Easter/William's birthday. In fact, if it weren't for my insomnia, I'd be much later than I am posting. Not sure if this thing says or not, I can't remember, but the time is now 1:42 a.m. Naturally I have to work tomorrow.

So I won't stay here long because I really really need to sleep.

Happy 18 months!!

Everyday you add a new word to your vocabulary. You can say so many things now, I couldn't possibly count them. You've even, technically, said your first sentence (Bye-bye Papa/Mama/Doggy/Froggy, etc.) Your gross motor skills continue to advance (e.g. you're practicing going down steps, you can climb into your push car, you can run now). And obviously everything else you do is more advanced than what it was a month ago. You're simply growing by leaps and bounds and, truly, every day there's some new progress being made.

You're just so much fun to be with--even when you're being pushy and difficult, because along with all these advanced skills comes an advanced awareness of yourself and a desire to have things completely your way (otherwise known as the Terrible Twos! :-) ). Everyday it's still a joy to see your smiling face in the morning as you go through your wake up routine of throwing everything out of your crib! And every night it's still a joy to hold you and rock you and put you to bed (placing all the objects you've tossed out earlier around you just so, like you like them).

I love you madly! And now I'm going to try to sleep again.