Two and a Quarter: Knox's Newsletter

Dear Knox,
Hard to imagine that at this exact age - on this EXACT day - Banner became a big brother to Quinn. Yep, he was 2 years and 3 months old, and that's how old you are today. As my baby, though, you just seem so much more baby than he did at the time. I gotta start seeing you as the big boy that you are. You are fully conversational, although you're much more difficult to understand than your brothers were at this age because you still can't say your /k/ and /g/ sounds. You substitute other sounds for those hard to say consonants, and it makes your sentences hard to decipher at times. Eventually, I get it, and you are quite patient with me as I try to figure it out, but I hate not knowing what you are saying. I'll make a guess at what you are trying to say, and you'll say "No," very politely and then repeat it. Sometimes you think of another way to communicate it or say it, and eventually we connect, but it takes patience and persistence on both of our parts. Thank you for working with me on that! I so badly want to know what's on your mind and what you are wanting/needing.

But, I digress... it's been three months since your birthday. Three months since your last monthly update. At this age, I'll be waiting longer to write these newsletters since there aren't as many changes as there were a couple years ago. Oy... "a couple years ago" makes me wince a little bit that you're old enough to have been around "a couple years ago" already! I'm telling you - your babyhood and infancy went so very fast!

What else are you up to??

-Language, language, language! So your articulation could use some improvement, but your ideas and understanding of the language, your vocabulary, your expression, your receptive skills - all pretty amazing. Your sentences are getting longer and longer. You use up to 6 words in a sentence now. "Daddy, I want dat towel peez." "Mommy, Quinn pushed me right here."

-Banner's name is pronounced "Budun." Quinn is still "Winn." My favorite word you say is "dyenu," which you learned near Passover time, but you pronounce it "Die-hey-nu." My other favorite word you say is, "POOOSH" for push. "___ poooosh me today," "I poooosh Mommy." "Daddy's favorite expression you say is "Daddy do it." It comes out like this: "Daddy do eeet." I love it when you call Banner and Quinn "boys:" "Goodnight, Boys," "Boys, dop (stop!)," "Come here, boys!" or "Boys, budah hug (brother hug)." (I LOVE THE BROTHER HUGS!!!)

-You're very interested in potty training, but I'm not. :) I know you wouldn't be successful yet, so I'm waiting until I know it will be more seamless for you. You like to pee on the potty and have even told me at a restaurant that you want to go pee pee on the potty. You go every night before bath; you tell me from time to time that you need to go, but you don't always tell me. You poop on the potty too, but I have to try to catch you before you start going in your diaper. Your first poop on the potty was 3/22/18. Yes, I wrote that down. :) You don't like to wait on the potty for long, so sometimes I have to distract you until you sit there long enough for something to come out. I'll know when it's time to potty train you... it's not yet!

-You get pissed off pretty quickly when it comes to your brothers. You are quick to want to push them or hit them. You like to blame them even if it's not their fault. Quinn was CLEARLY across the room a couple days ago; he was dancing with me actually. But when you slipped or tripped on the floor, you stood up and began charging at him screaming, "No POOOOSH me, WINN!" I stopped you before you could hit him, as your face scrunched up with red cheeks and angry eyes. You have blamed Damon for pushing you too- when he's clearly not able to do that at his age (11 months).

-Speaking of Damon, you spend quite a bit of time with him at Grandma's. I've been helping take care of him twice a week - the days you are not in school. So, you come with me and have enjoyed spending time with him and Grandma. Damon adores you... he lights up when he sees you and wants to see what you are doing all the time. You treat him nicely most of the time, saying "Hi, DEEMEEN" or sharing your toys. From time to time, you swat at him or hit him on the head with a toy... a rite of passage for all the cousins apparently. You think about him a lot. In fact, whenever I shush you or your brothers, you immediately say, "Deeemeeen seeping?" (Damon sleeping?) If I say no, Damon's not here, you say "Hayla's seeping?"  (You pronounce her name more like "Halla" as if confusing her with challah.) :)

-Random thoughts: You adore My Gym. You love to go to the boys' soccer games - even if you don't really watch the games. You just like to go see "soccer ball." You like to wave to Banner on the playground if we come home from school during his recess time. You go to school WONDERFULLY in carpool now! You continue to tell me that ****** bit you - it happened once, and you still bring it up - much like Quinn tells me how ****** pulls his hair, which happened two years ago! Oy. You are working on your counting and do pretty well once you get 1, 2, 3 on your own. Sometimes you'll say "One, three, two" and know something is not right. You know all your colors very well. You LOVE to dance still, and now LOVE to sing. Your favorite songs to sing are from The Greatest Showman; you like to sing the last word of every line of nearly every song on the soundtrack. You like to read before you go to bed, and you get very disappointed if we don't have time for books.

-You don't have any close friends yet - just your cousins really, but you play very nicely with your buddies at school, and your big brothers' friends dote on you. I can hear Bar or Landon in my head saying, "Knoxy! Hi, Knoxy!!!" as they try to tickle you or chase you.

-Your schedule typically goes like this: Wake up around 7:30 (you enjoy hanging out in your crib for a bit before you get up, which I want to thank you for!). School at 9:00 until 12:50 three days a week. Lunch around noon. Nap around 1:30, and I wake you by 4:00 if you are still asleep. Dinner at 6:00. Bath around 7:00, and bed by 7:45ish.

-You are wearing 2T clothing pretty comfortably. Your pajamas would be better at size 3T in my opinion, but you love your Elmo, Big Bird, Oscar, Cookie sets as well as your Star Wars and your SpiderMan sets. I'll have to go through clothes soon! You're so tall for your age, so your little pajamas ride up to to your knees sometimes.

Knox Morgan, our days are so fun, and you are such a special, sweet, affectionate, loving boy. You are growing up big in big ways, and it's only going to get faster. I know your nights in your crib are numbered . . . both of your brothers were either already in or just about to be in big boy beds. Your days in diapers are soon to be over. Your language will continue to boom. The Paci Fairy isn't that far off in the distance - she's been eyeing your (FOUR!) pacis when she brings Banner's tooth money, or so I've heard. Three months from now, I'll be writing your half-birthday newsletter, and I know my baby will be even more grown up in many ways. I'm trying to savor these sweet days with my toddler so little, but you're just ready to be such a big kid already. In my head, you are still so little and needy, but in reality, you really aren't! You are one smart, thoughtful, funny boy, and I couldn't be more pleased to be your mommy.

Happy Quarter-Birthday, Baby Love!
I love you so very much!
Love,
Mommy