Dear Banner,
Never before this month have I felt as strongly as I do now that you are so not a baby anymore! My goodness! You are quite the little boy (maybe even little man!) these days, and I am both SO enjoying you and SO mourning your babyhood. Time is flying, and when I look back at the past couple months, I see how far you have come and how independent you are and how grown up you seem. Even week to week, I notice big changes. You are such a little sponge right now - saying things we say, working so hard to pronounce words, surprising us by knowing things we never really "taught" you. It's amazing, truly amazing, to watch you become so knowledgeable, so self-sufficient, so confident. While these same characteristics can get you into trouble sometimes, and while they can irk me at certain times of our day, I am mesmerized by you. You WANT to know so many things, and I feel like I can't give you the information fast enough. You will watch my lips intently to mimic the sounds of words I'm making. You will ask to "see" everything we're doing in the kitchen. You explore items around the house; you pretend; you investigate and try really hard to communicate what you are thinking. You are so expressive and funny and have perfect comedic timing! You are cuddly (although you still won't stay cuddled with us long) and loving. And, everyday I love you more and more.
So, what else have you been up to this month?
- You had your first trick-or-treat night on Halloween! You dressed up as a frog, and we celebrated for numerous nights!
- You were part of "Saving Second Base," our Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure team.
- You had your last gymnastics class with Ms. Becky. We decided to stop going for a little bit because the gym we went to was very far, and I'm not sure you were getting as much out of it at this young age as you could be later on. We will probably start up again at a closer gym in the coming months. You loved the gym, and you liked what you were learning, but I think you could get more from your experiences in a few months.
- You have two new teeth - your bottom molars. So, that brings your total teeth count to 11. You're still missing your right bottom lateral incisor (yes, I learned that term on BabyCenter, because I had to research why you aren't getting this tooth!). Daddy is actually missing one of his teeth; the dentist told him it looks like it never came in. There's no gap or anything, but he just never got that tooth, so I'm wondering if you will be the same way. I hope not - I think that's just plain weird. :) So, we wait!
- You have learned the cars that most of our family members drive. You see any pick-up truck and say "Zaide;" a gray Jeep and say "Kiki," a white Pilot and say, "Mama," or a grey or blue Pilot and say, "Mamaww" (for Grandma).
- You often have a French accent, putting emphasis on the last syllable: MaMA, DaDA.
- You've had a runny (or crusty) nose pretty much all month. The humidifier is not helping. I'm thinking it's either allergies with all this back-and-forth weather we're having, OR more likely it's the teething since you have been working on those bottom molars all month. You're perfectly fine with it, though!
- Speaking of ickiness, you had your first bout with a stomach bug this past month. Brycen got sick one day, the day after the Race for the Cure, and we had spent a lot of time with him. You got sick the following day, and most of the family did shortly after that. Luckily, Daddy and I stayed mostly well, and we just loved on you for that 24 hour bug. It was horrible watching you throw up and not knowing how to help you. You threw up on three separate occasions but only that first day. I called the nurse on call, and she was amazing; she told me not to give you any food or water for three hours (right before dinner time), so Daddy and I just put you to bed to hold you off - not knowing if you'd wake up hungry or thirsty. Thank goodness, you slept well all night (on large towels tucked in snuggly to your crib!), but I hated sending you "to bed without supper!" The next morning, we could only give you ice chips for an hour before moving on to water and then some itty-bitty bits of bread. We stayed in our PJs all day, and we snuggled a lot. You had your first popsicle that day, too!
- You've always liked to dance (usually a little leg bounce/squatting with a very rare arm movement up or down), but this month you added in a shoulder shimmy which.is.awesome!
- You're saying lots more this month. You say, "bye-bye" or "bye" like a pro. Usually, those words are followed by a "muah" as you blow a kiss. Sometimes you will do this even when you are just leaving a room or you are about to shut a door to a room.
- You hold a doll and say, "Ah, ah, Baby" as you twist with it back and forth.
- You call every letter or number you see "B." We are attempting to try to change that, but for now, I'm just glad you recognize letters and numbers as different from other shapes.
- You say, "No, no, no," and sometimes many more times than that to Theo (your doggie cousin), and when we went to the Arboretum petting zoo, you told the goat "No, no. No, no, no, no, no!" about three times when it stuck its head out of the fence to eat some grass outside the pen. It was probably the funniest, cutest things we've seen since you started to talk!
- You notice all the birds chirping, "tweet tweet."
- You repeat words after us very well: purple, yellow, blue, for example.
- You are saying two words together - if these count: "all done" and "oh, no!"
- Sometimes you go around saying, "Uuummm" - which began as a way of making fun of me when I was talking to Daddy at dinner and said that.
- You are very polite, often saying "hi" or "hello" and definitely "bye-bye" to most anyone - and I mean anyone - the neighbor passing us on a walk, the people in line to check-out at the grocery store, a lady at the next table in a restaurant...
- You have just learned another Sesame Street character: Ernie. You love to say his name when you see him, and you just light up. He and Elmo would be your best friends if only they could come over!
- You say "shh" as we pass Daddy's office in the hallway, and you've told Theo to "shh" before, too.
- When you and Daddy are calling each others' names, you say "Yo!" back to one another.
- You tell us when you have made a "poo-poo" although sometimes you're not dirty when you say that - so either you're saying it for "pee-pee" also, or you're about to "poo-poo."
- And, you also say, "see" when you want to see what we're doing, "up" when you want to be picked up, "gucky" or "yucky" for trash or anything you don't want/like, "pass" for your paci at night/nap, "meal" for your oatmeal breakfast, "owl" and "hoo-hoo," and "wee-ooo, wee-ooo" for a siren, car, plane, fire engine or other trucks. You can say "Gayle," and "Gock" (for Uncle Brock). You attempt to say your friends' names. You're perfect with "Ella," and "Emma." In fact, you often go around the house or through the grocery store yelling "Ella, Ella!"
- You have a new obsession with always wanting to see a "bus" when we are in the car. "Bus! Bus!" you'll shout. And, as your mommy who wants to please you - I'm constantly hoping we see one! The other day, we were on our drive home from Grandma's, and we saw a bus at the first intersection we hit. The rest of the drive home, you kept saying "Bus, bus, bus..." with perfect pronunciation. I was like a mad woman hoping to find another school bus since the last one had turned! You cried a little, pissed that the bus turned. I hauled ass to try to catch up with the next one I could see ahead of me. We finally caught up with it (after I may have sped a bit and weaved in and out of the lanes to get to the damn bus fast enough!), but it was at our turn to go home. So, what would any desperate mother do? Well, I followed that bus for a minute just to try to let you see it longer. Then, we had to get home to help Daddy with dinner, so I made that inevitable turn, and you were PISSED!!! I thought to myself that maybe chasing after that second bus wasn't really worth the crying you did again - right after you had finally calmed down from the first one disappearing! Live and learn, Mommy - live and learn!
- You are brushing your own teeth now! Mommy and Daddy help, and "tickling" your teeth helps really brush them. I'm hoping that stays the case - because it's usually my least favorite time of the evening to try to get you to do this to my liking - which is mostly because I'm a control freak who really wants your teeth CLEAN, not just barely touched by a toothbrush that you mostly suck on.
- You're a singer! You have recently starting using your voice to sing - more than you did before when you'd just say "la la la." Now you will actually use a falsetto (like that one, Aunt Kiki??) voice to try to sing something back to us. Yesterday, we heard Sarah McLachlan singing "Angel" on the radio. You immediately started trying to mimic her voice with your head voice (there's another one, Aunt Kiki!). You have a beautiful, angelic voice, and I can't wait to start hearing it more often!
- Like I said before, you pay close attention to detail. You copy us trying to vacuum. You mimic trying to plug something in. You stir things in your bowl. You once took the Wii steering wheel remote and placed it on the front of your "Batmobile" scooter and tried to drive it that way. You hear and see things we don't pay attention to (like the dog on the patio of the restaurant we had brunch at this weekend or where the itty-bitty puppy is on every page of a book we just started reading to you) - I swear you'll be great at Where's Waldo and I Spy!).
- Your hair is long. I don't know what to do with it. My rule now is either we cut it or put product in it, yes - gel! It's wavy/curly, and I love it that way. But, it's unruly and big (like Mommy's) if you don't do anything with it. So, for the time being - Daddy fixes it before we leave for any major public event/outing. It's a fro, a "Jew-do" if you will, a mess. But, hopefully as it gets longer the curls we once cut off will grow back and we can fix it. Otherwise, after December, we'll get your "wig split."
- You've been waking up earlier these days, and Daylight Savings did NOT help that. You've been waking up around 6:15, which is about an hour and half earlier than normal! I'm hoping it's a short little phase!
- Other things you're doing and enjoying these days: spinning/twirling (even from a sitting position sometimes), rolling on the floor like a rolling pin, watching a few minutes of TV (you call it "T") - but mostly Yo Gabba Gabba, washing your hands is a favorite activity (especially since Grandma taught you her little song: "Rub your hands together, rub them on the top, in between your fingers, before you stop!"), puzzles (which you are getting really good at), "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," stacking cups/bowls, sitting at your little table, walking with your hands behind your back like the big kids at Aunt Kiki's school do, and watching the chef at your first hibachi dinner. You also must be growing because you eat everything!
- This month, you have been quite the "mama's boy," and I LOVE it! I know it could change back any day - as your preference for Daddy and me goes back and forth. But, this month - you picked me! That was a good thing, especially when Daddy was away all weekend in Austin. You and I had a great time together, and even though you asked about Daddy every hour or so, you were quite content to have me cuddle and play with you.You hold my hand, give kisses willingly, yell for me in the morning, and follow me wherever I go. :) I love your embraces; you will often run to me for a hug. When a noise startles you, you run to me for comfort. When Daddy chases you, you quickly giggle your way to me for safety.
Love,
Mommy
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