Who you are at 2 and a 1/2

Dear Jonathan,

It's true, you are my sunshine, my silly and sweet boy. You laugh at Mom's jokes and certainly like to tease me back. When we drive to Costco, I ask you what the giant "AMOCO" sign says. You grin and say "Garbage Trucks!"

You are still definitely obsessed with all things garbage: trucks, trash, etc. We have to tell stories to you about them and watch endless videos of garbage trucks on YouTube. Thanks to this, we now all know that they play music from garbage trucks in Taiwan to let people know they can bring their trash. So when you hear an ice cream truck driving by you say: "Taiwanese Garbage Truck!" and are disappointed when it's only ice cream.

I adore your desire to learn and experience language. The other day you exclaimed to me: "I like words!" That did my English-major-heart good. You like reading everything. At the bank you stopped me to ask what the signs said: "Please Enter Here." Today so far we've read the clock's instructions for proper hanging three times. We picked out words you knew and ones you wanted to learn on the remote control. You know well: EXIT, LAST, OK, On/Off, POWER, STOP, TV, and PLAY. In general we also have to read the microwave and dishwasher often. You think it's fun, and you have a strong memory. Other words and/or phrases you recognize from reading stories and in various contexts (mostly to do with garbage trucks): zoo, cat, dog, Mom, Dad, Jonathan, toy/s, bakery, mall, fruit, Allied Waste Services, Waste Management, trash, no yard waste, yard waste only, Heil, Tonka, USA, fox, hot, start, finish, the end, recycling, landfill, go, caution, danger, warning, water, one way, Wastequip, Aspen, beware, playground, hi, bus, car, and cookie. Now we're continuing to work on learning the sounds of letters. So far we've played with A,B,C,D,P, and S. I've learned something about you from when you first told me the letter "O" (which you learned by yourself), and that is to never underestimate you. So we just have fun with learning words and sounds wherever we go and hopefully it will help you have the confidence to keep going on your own. What matters most is that you're curious and want to know what words mean.

The other thing we do a lot is talk about what is part of "nature" and what is "man-made." You find this classification great fun on walks. The tree is nature; the fence is man-made, etc.

You love, love, love you some doggies. This is you with Claude-- from the day we painted shirts with mud as part of the community program with other kids this summer. You didn't really care much at the time about the other kids there or the mud, just Claude. You've now named the dog on Super Why after Claude. And just Sunday night we met another neighborhood dog, so now your pull puppy is Cutter. Yesterday we had to take Cutter with us on a walk to the bank. You pulled him along all the way down our street, then you both rode in the stroller. You fell asleep on the way home holding him. We're really going to have to get you a dog someday.

I love you Jonathan.

               

Who you are at 9 months old

 My dear daughter,   You're sweet.  (Absolutely yummy in fact).  All the goodness in the whole world taken shape, made pink and chubby, joyful and loving, chirping and babbling.  Since you were born you've had this depth of gentleness in you that I adore.  All children do, but it's your dominant feature.  Maybe it's because I'm your Mama that I see it so easily, but sweet baby, how I love the goodness of your soul.    


What you're doing these days:  On June 13, 2012 you were playing with the music train, just sitting there.  I turned around to put a dish in the sink.  When I looked back, you had pulled yourself onto your feet and were standing there wobbling -- looking so proud of yourself, especially when Mom made a happy screech and flew to you, some absurd mother-bird that made you giggle.  


You are crawling (proper) all over the place.  Sometimes you even bear crawl.  Your 8-month-old army crawl has definitely grown up.  


You love your brother.  You've laughed for Jonathan since you were a tiny baby.  Now you've begun to go after toys your brother is playing with, garbage trucks, etc.  You've started to play together (a little).  Jonathan gets upset when you knock over his trash cans.  He tells you "No, no Alaura."  But he loves you too.  Every time he tells a story he starts with "Once upon a time, Mommy, Daddy, Jonathan and Alaura...."  You are always included.   


Schedule-wise, you wake up and play with you pink lovey doll around 6:30-7:00 each morning.  Sometimes before Jonathan gets up and comes into the bedroom to snuggle, I will hold you and we will both half-doze back to sleep.  You take a mid-morning nap around 9:30 or 10:00.  Usually you play then until 12:45 to 1:30, when it's time for the afternoon nap.  Today you fell asleep in your highchair after eating bananas & strawberries.  I let you feed yourself mostly.  You really enjoy your food.     


Recently you've started to mimic me when I make a funny sound with my hand over my mouth.  It's quite cute.  And you are starting to babble more sounds.  We have "B" and "M" among them.  Recently I swear it sounds like you're calling me:  mammma.  


And that first tooth is finally making her appearance.  It's right there about to pop through, which makes me a little nervous.  I remember how much it hurt when Jonathan would bite while nursing.  And I know you are super sensitive to even the softest rebuff... let's just hope it goes well.  Heavens knows there are many ways a mother proves her love, and breastfeeding a baby with chompers takes some real mama love and courage.               


But loving you is easy.

Very Pregnant and Chasing a Toddler...

Is hard. I worry Jonathan isn't getting enough stimulation. Some days are just difficult. Today we watched Cars probably too much. I feel guilty about him watching t.v. He did get to play outside in the water and mud, until bugs started coming around. Then we went through a long ordeal for him to nap. He is resisting his stroller rides for nap time. He has learned he can stand up and play. This makes life a lot more difficult for me. I did put him into his crib for "quiet time" at least, but that involved throwing toys mostly. I got brained with a two-headed dragon. Ouch! That thing from J.D.'s childhood hurts. Then Jonathan giggled, and it brought tears to my eyes, so I just got up and left saying "nice boys don't throw toys." I closed his door and went to sit down for 5 minutes. He eventually started crying, after about 5 minutes of which I went to get him. Then he finally agreed to relax in my arms until he fell asleep, sniffling and crying a bit. I'm already tired and wonder what on earth I'll do with two. Some days are like that. But usually the next day is better. God grant me patience and endurance on a massive scale.