Two Years/Summer 2010

My sweet Noah bear~

It has been an exciting summer! Time seems to be going by at warp speed and I continue to have a hard time keeping up. I’ve been wanting to write to you for months now-- but like I’ve said before, the opportunities to sit and reflect and actually write anything of substance are few and far between these days. I want to remember every little thing you do and say, to record it and tell you all about it-- but it’s hard to chase you around with pen and paper (or camera) in hand. What I want more is to be really *present* while I am with you and it’s just really tough to do both. So, I’ve got some catching up to do... here goes.

You are two! (And there’s nothing “terrible” about it...) You are as sweet and silly and smart and fearless and snuggly as ever. You are still in constant motion until you fall asleep, and you’re talking like crazy. The complete sentences exploded and you are pretty darn clear with your needs and wishes. Months ago you learned to say “don’t want to”, and learned to make many sentences out of that. “Don’t want to, clean diaper”, “don’t want to, time for a rest”, and “don’t want to, oo-ee’s are taking a nap!” Tonight at dinner we were having burritos, which you usually love, but apparently you have changed your mind. “Don’t want to eat it, it’s not yummy, I don’t like it!” So you ate a slice of turkey and fruit salad instead. You also love to sing and dance and usually break into song on your own at least once a day. “Happy birthday to you”, “Everybody wants to be a cat”, “Do you wanna rock? Do you wanna rock right now?”, and now your current favorite: “Hakuna Matata.” Your dancing may include running in circles, head banging, jumping up and down, or the more traditional semi-squat move. Always, there is your huge smile and sparkling eyes.

You are incredibly agile. We finally gave up trying to keep you off of the big kids’ scooters because you were so determined. You prefer Mariah’s pink one with the handlebars pushed down, and you tip over a lot, but you get right back up. That seems to be a recurring theme with you-- you are constantly hurting yourself, but are almost always un-phased by it. Your Daddy and I marvel at how tough you are, and how quickly your body heals from its various insults. You love going to the playground and invariably run straight towards the tallest slide. Just lately you’ve started to exhibit a wee bit of extra caution, and for that I am grateful, and relieved! You don’t necessarily go straight down the slide-- you hesitate or stop and think it over-- but you do eventually go down by yourself.

You love your family as much as we love you. Often the first words out of your mouth when you wake up are “where’s Buh-why-uh?” or “where’s Bee-bi?” and the two of them continue to shower you with attention and play games with you. You’re very attached to both me and Daddy. You’ve had a lot more time with him lately than you have with me. I’ve been working a lot, and he has been the one taking care of you most days-- which is hard for both you and me, but great for you and him. Now when I start to get ready to go you ask, “you go to work, Mommy?” Sometimes you simply kiss me and say goodbye, but sometimes you protest, “I go to work, too!” or “Don’t want to, Mommy’s going to work!” It breaks my heart a little bit-- but I know our bonds are strong enough to take the separation. You’re still nursing and sleeping with us in our bed, and those things help a lot. And we do our best to make up for it at night and on the weekends-- and now on vacation-- by having quality, connected time and many adventures together.

We’ve squeezed a lot into this summer and I want to tell you all about it, but it’s the middle of the night and I must get myself back to bed so that I can greet you bright and early with hugs and kisses and oo-ee’s. I love you so much, sugarbear, and always will!

xoxo,
Mama

21 months

3.25.10

My dear baby (?) Noah~

You are 21 months old today and turning into a boy before my eyes. You are sound asleep on my shoulder as I write this, wrapping your arms around me-- but now, instead of fitting into a little ball on my chest that ends before my lap, your feet are actually almost to my knees. And tonight, for the very first time in your life, you did not want to nurse before falling asleep. You actually shook your head no and signed “all done”, pulled down my shirt and snuggled into my arm. Instead, you feel asleep staring into my eyes as I whispered “Goodnight Moon” from memory and you filled in the “hush” at the appropriate time in your sweet little whisper. I think that your mouth hurts and that you are getting your 2 year molars... I can’t imagine that you’re actually “all done“ having ”ooh-ee’s“-- but maybe, just maybe, you are???

There simply are not words to describe the intensity of my love for you... it bubbles out from my heart and bursts from my every pore. I squeeze you and kiss you and constantly tell you I love you, and still, it is not enough-- it doesn’t come close. You are wonder and joy, sweet love, and devilish mischief. You are sunshine and starlight, and the raging ocean during a fierce wind. You are thunder and lightening and a million butterflies. You are absolutely, mind-blowingly brilliant, and fearless-- and I just know you will always test boundaries, push limits, and walk on the edge-- but you will always come back, full of warmth, laughter, with kisses and hugs to spare. You are gregarious, energetic, and spirited. You are going to take the world by storm.

You don’t stop. All. day. long. Our own little “energizer monkey”. You constantly climb, and continue to take great joy in dancing on tables, especially when we try to stop you. You have been talking, talking, talking-- the words you have are already far too many to count. You repeat back to us just about anything we say, but you are also putting together sentences like “Daddy, open it, please” and “Whatcha’ doin’?” And you *sing*. Spontaneously and on your own. You’ll just be toddling around, playing with toys and suddenly burst out with “Dinka Dinka Lidda Dow, Hawa Wanda Whadda Ow...” which might be hard to understand on the page, but when sung with perfect pitch to the tune of twinkle, twinkle little star it is unmistakable. You are starting to count and sing the alphabet, recognizing colors and pointing them out to us without prompting-- and amazing us in a million other ways every day of your life. You gleefully jump in puddles and run from one to the next. You stop in your tracks for every airplane you hear and never miss an opportunity to get kissed by a dog. You went through a brief period of being stingy with your kisses and hugs, but now you are giving them freely again-- in fact, insisting on it-- and you make sure no one gets left out. “Mama diss, Daddy diss, Wee-bye diss, Buh-wy-uh diss...” and of course, “Mammie” and “Mammaw”, “Bee” and “Bella” too-- and then you follow them up with a “biiig* hug”. You are simply priceless.

Once again, I am left feeling like I wish I could write more, explain it better somehow-- actually *capture* more glimpses of our life that seems to be zooming past-- but I know I am doing all I can to soak in the moments as they come. It’s hard to fully live them when you’re busy taking photos or jotting notes. So I’ll continue to try to do a bit of both and hope that somehow I’ll never forget what you were like in the spring of 2010 and how much joy I find searching for “lellow dowers” and kitties with you as you run from one puddle to the next.

Your ever-lovin’,
Mama

nineteen months

Dear Noahbear~

And then, in a flash, you were nineteen months old and taking the world by storm. You simply don’t stop amazing us every single day. I think of things I want to write to you constantly, but you are keeping us so busy every second we are with you that time to sit and stop and think and write is simply not to be had. You are a whirlwind of activity, our very own energizer monkey. You run and climb and spin gleefully in circles. You get up on the coffee table and stomp and dance. Just now you came to me, face and clothes covered in yogurt (your very favorite food) and said sweetly, “Up, uppy, up!” And now, you’re lifting up my shirt, asked for “oo-ee”. (Oo-ee’s are your very favorite drink). So here I sit, nursing this incredible active, sweet, mischeivous, snuggly, and altogether brilliant toddler.

So, to update your on your abilities... Keep in mind I am way behind in chronicling this crazy journey with you, and much of this has been going on for months. Seriously. You have more words than I can begin to count, or understand, but many that I do. The favorites are “Ee-I” (Levi) and “Eye-uh” (Mariah), “Oh-uh” (Noah), “BeBe” (Bayli), “Bella” (which you say plain as day), and Grammie you simply call “E” (or occasionally “Mammie”). Great Gramma Lea moved in and she is “Mamma”-- she asks you for hugs and kisses everytime she sees you and you run to her and squeeze her and pucker up-- you are so quick to dish out your sugar. I can’t possibly list all your words because you talk constantly now. We hear about your friends at school (“Datty” and “Eye-la”, Kathy and Lila), and just about everything you see as you look around. You point out all the animals, trees, flowers, birds, moon and stars and airplanes. You just pulled away from nursing to look out the window and are whispering to me about your observations. We love your sweet voice and your delight when we smile at your expressions or rave at your awesome animal sounds. You are proud and joyful and not afraid to clap for yourself.

You also understand just about everything we say. A couple months ago-- soon after I wrote you last letter-- I think you were right around 16 months. You went into Grammie’s pantry and got out her cordless vacuum, turned it on and started cleaning her kitchen floor. You were quite pleased with yourself and did this for a few minutes, then got bored and decided to move on. You dropped the vacuum to the floor, left it running and toddled away. Not wanting to get up and take care of it, I jokingly said, “Hey, Noah. If you’re done with that, you’d better go back and turn it off.” You stopped, looked right at me, turned around and went back to it, and stepped down hard on the power button, then looked up at me and smiled.

You love music and dancing and are now requesting your favorite songs for me to sing: “Bo Boat!” (Row your Boat), “Bye-der” (The Itsy Bitsy Spider), and “Dow” (almost rhymes with ‘cow’, Twinkle little star). And just lately, you’ve begun to sing along which is absolutely beyond priceless. You’re also loving books-- both bringing us ones to read and asking “boot, peas”, or sitting on your own, flipping through them and “reading” them aloud to yourself. You’ve wriggled out of my lap now and into the other room, but I can hear your commentary and know exactly where you are at, dragging your nerf bat and headed for the bookshelf, “Dee dee, dee dee, dah dee, oh....”

Today, I realized quite unexpectedly that you already know how to count! I’ve hardly done much with numbers with you at all. Then this afternoon I snuggled with you through most of your nap, and as we woke up and began chatting I decided to count your toes as you played with them. “One... two...” I started, and you responded, “dee... doh... die...” and later I heard “date... die... den....” Did Kathy teach you that???

I could go on and on, but now you’re in there messing with the tv and probably getting yogurt in the buttons. I love you, my sweet cuddlebear, always and forever.

xoxo
Mama