Mommy, I love you

You, my dear, are so happy, funny and smart! And also so two! Your expresions resemble mine and your daddy's, but when you say them it cracks us up. Some of the things you say are, "What a bummer," "That's okay, Mommy," "Almost, Sister, almost," "It's okay, Bryn, I'm here," "Sure," "Just a minute, Mom," "Hang on! Hang on!" "Good job, Dad!" and "Well, not right now, Mommy," or "Umm, no thanks Dad." You're sweet to your sister and show her love by poking (mostly gently), petting, squishing, squeezing and sharing. You look at her and say, I love you so much, Bryn. Sometimes you get rough with her, and she lets you know by crying. She's already quite the tattler!

My favorite thing that you do lately is snuggle. It might be your favorite thing, too. You just say, "Mommy, I want to snuggle with you" periodically through the day and we cuddle up together on the couch with a blanket. You give me puppy dog kisses and rub your nose with mine, sighing, "mommy... mommy... mommy." Sometimes you just look at me and say, "Mommy, I love you." Oh, my Brea, I love you too! You also crack me up when you pretend you're going to kiss my cheek, then buzz me with your lips. After a few of those back and forth we just get giggly and can't stop.

Today when we were playing, daddy was chasing us and I was carrying you, running away from him. We'd hide behind the curtains until he found us, then run to find a new spot. It was a lot of fun!

You're becoming more of a two-year old in the sense that you are telling me no, throwing tantrums, screaming just because you can, and forgetting that you have words instead of whinning and yelling. We're trying to figure out how to deal with it, mostly we try to distract you, put you in time out, and talk to you. I don't know what works yet, but I need to figure it out quick! Know that mommies and daddies don't always know what to do!

The other day you finally opened the door to get out of your room. I think we were lucky that it took this long for you to figure it out, but it was hard once you did. You walked all the way to our room the first morning and woke us up so sweetly. I didn't mind that it was early, 'cause you came in and said, "Good morning guys! How are you doing?" But at night you kept coming out of your room, and going into your sister's room. Nobody would know that you weren't in your bed 'til we heard you on Bryn's monitor singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to her. When I went upstairs, I had to act stern, but I really thought it was the sweetest thing to see you hanging over the side of her crib, singing to her. The next day you snuck out during naptime, went into the guest room and got my pin cushion. You took it back to your room, sat on your bed and pulled the pins out one by one. I don't know how you didn't get hurt when you left your room, but I didn't know what was going on until I heard you on Bryn's monitor, singing again. After that I decided that I had to put a doorknob lock on your handle to keep you safe in your room.

You're getting into dressing up. Today you wore your tutu over your pink pajamas all day. We didn't leave the house, so it didn't matter. You also wear sunglasses when we leave- you require them! You like dressing yourself, but still get mad when you can't do it and throw things and yell.

If something isn't your idea, it is pretty hard to get you to do it. At dinner, I don't usually care if you eat it all or not, just that you try it. You might argue with me, but the second I turn my back and busy myself with something else, you eat it. Other people don't always get it, and they try to co-erse you to do things...it doesn't work.

When you play with your babies and animals, you like to pretend they're sad, or crying and tell me that they need medicine. You also have your toys hit each other and you put them in time out. Does that mean you're learning something about hitting?

You got to see and hang out with Papa Jay, Granna, Mike, Robyn and baby Stephen this last week. It was fun! You talked about it for awhile before they came out, and since they've left you say that you miss them.

You're really good with the pronouns I, me and you now, only messing up when you say, "I want to come with me (you)." You still get her, him, she, he messed up. You'll say "I miss her" when you talk about Papa, een though you can tell me that Papa's a boy. It's fun to see how your vocabulary has changed and progressed. I think everyday you learn something new and make corrections to little things that you said the day before. I can't keep up with you! For the most part the things that you say are understood by me and daddy, but there are times that you get really animated and talk in paragraphs and no one can decipher it. The thing is that you repeat some things until we repeat it. We can't always pretend and just respond in a general way, and then we're forced to admit that we don't understand. Either way, I love hearing you talk! Oh, and you're singing a lot! You just sing songs that you've heard, and even try to sing new songs on the radio by repeating or humming as you hear them. I love it! You've memorized a lot of your books, and when prompted will "read" it. I can stop at any part and you'll finish sentences, and in some books I don't have to read anything, just turn the pages. It's pretty fun.

I love everything about you, and though you're testing us lately, it's a challenge that I accept!

Love,
Mommy