words

Dear Jack,
I haven't written you any letters in a few months and I feel horrible about it, really I do.
I want to share how much you have grown and how different you are and sometimes I get too caught up in what is happening to feel the need to write everything down because I'm sure I will remember but then things happen and I don't remember things like I thought I would and.... well, it's complicated.

Anyway, I want to share just how much you have changed in the last couple of months, mostly in the way that you communicate with us now. I taught you sign language a long time ago and thought it was great when you started signing and we could communicate that way but nothing compares to being able to hear you say 2 and 3 words at a time to tell me what you want, what you like and what you don't like. I'm going to try to have a running list here of what you are saying and most importantly what it sounds like to the rest of us because sometimes we wonder if you haven't been taking classes in other languages besides English.

Airplane = Ami!
Bee (also Big Bee!)
Mammy = Mommy, Mama, Maamiy
Chewy = Heese (like cheese but with an accent)
Bus
Fries
Cake
Car = Cars
Sit = Hit!
Truck = Guck
Toast = Gookh
Milk = Melp
Bicycle = Tickaticka
Balloon = Tickaticka
Motorcycle = Tickaticka
Water = Wah!
Bird = Goys (Goy Show is your favorite and most-used phrase)
Mouse
Guys = Every character you saw at Disneyworld
Ice
Shoes = Hoof (I spent an entire day saying "NO Shoes?!?!?!" Just so you would repeat it by saying "Nes Hoof?")
Dude!
Wait What?
Moosha George! (Means More George! Curious George is your favorite tv show ever and you will watch it for hours if I let you)
Llama
Babboon
Dog
Keys
Down
Up
Cheese
Ouch
Cart
Knee
Out
Food
Chair
Hat
Yummy


You still only eat toast, scrambled eggs, apples, french fries, waffles, oatmeal, chex, cheerios,

You know a bunch of letters and will call them right out when you see them. You also love the color yellow but will also say red, white and black.

20 months

Dear Jack,
Today you are 20 months old.

We have been really enjoying the summer, staying indoors a little more because of the heat but we still go to the playground and the Jungle Island and the beach when we can and we have started going to the Children's Museum which you love and I also love because if we go in the morning you will usually take a nice long nap when we get home and who doesn't love a long nap right?

You love to climb and I am becoming so used to your climbing that I don't even really notice unless you are really precariously perched and usually other people are jumping up to save you from your certain death and I'm just sitting there saying "Jack, you need to be careful" because you have shown me over the last months that you are really the most careful when you are doing something really difficult, it's walking across the room in your father's dress shoes that you fall down and really hurt yourself.

You are starting to talk more and more every day and just this past weekend your Papa and I realized that if we give you word for word, you will string together a whole sentence. And do you want to know what your first sentence was?

"I.....Love.....You"

And let me tell you buddy, I can feed those words to you all day long, waiting for the day you just day it on your own without prompting but until then, it's the nicest thing you have ever said to me and I.... Love....You....Too.

You have turned into a very picky eater the last month or so and while I know it's perfectly normal and you are still healthy and actually eat more than some kids your age do, I still get stressed about it sometimes because for days at a time, it seems like all you want to eat is cereal, waffles, oatmeal and scrambled eggs. I feel like I'm running a Denny's sometimes, where breakfast is always served.

On another note, you are rapidly approaching the age of 2 and with that comes some issues with you acting out and pushing limits and testing the waters. We have started giving you "time-outs" and Jack, you really really hate time-outs. First you start trying to do something cute or funny to get us to laugh because you hate that we are being so serious all of a sudden.

"What happened? We were just having fun and now you're so mad?" you seem to be saying.
Then when you realize that's not going to work, you get mad and you cry. Only you're not really crying ,you're faking it and I know the difference. That's not working either. Then you try to make a break for it.

"Maybe if I just squirm away and take off, this will all be over"

Nope, you're staying here for a full minute, buddy.

Finally, you give into your fate.

And the minute is almost up and you are free to go again, usually to repeat what just got you in the time-out to begin with. *sigh* But we are learning....

Do you know what you do love? Baths. I got you some crayons that you can use in the bath and you love them so much, you ask to take a bath all day long and every chance you get you will go into your bathroom and play in there.



It's so much fun to watch you scribble and erase and scribble some more and then you hand a crayon to me and tell me what you want me to draw and when I do you laugh and make the sound of the animal I just drew or you just erase it and make me draw a new one.


It is also starting to be much easier to take you out to restaurants now and that makes your Papa and I so happy because we love to go have lunch on the weekends and for a while there it was really hard to do because you just wanted to get up and Run! and Explore! but then we bought you a portable DVD player and some crayons and coloring books and you are like a new kid. You will sit and watch The Muppets Take Manhattan or a DVD about animals and color on your paper and actually eat and it is so nice to see.


I just want to share with you a moment we had just before I started writing this and it's one of those moments that I will always hold in my heart. You were getting ready to lay down for a nap and brought me a few books to read but you seemed disinterested. I asked you if you wanted me to sing you a song and you smiled and walked up to me. I picked you up and carried over to your crib and as I started singing you put your arm around my neck and your cheek against my cheek. I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Moonriver as slowly as possible so I could enjoy every minute and after I finished, kissed your cheek and said "Night night sleepytimes". You looked up at me, smiled and leaned back so I could put you in your crib and you layed on your back, smiling at me as I bent down for a kiss. I wanted that moment to last forever. I love you so much and every day with you just gets better.


Love,
Your Mama

18 months

Dear Jack,

Today you are 18 months old! You are such a big boy now, I cannot even lie to myself anymore that you are still a baby. You run, you talk, you climb, you feed yourself, I don't think there's much left that you cannot do, little man.
DId I mention that you like to climb? Oh yes, it is one of your favorite things to do now. You will attemt to scale just about anything, in the house and out, and you are afraid of nothing, including falling. I think I might need to start teaching you about the laws of physics because you obviously do not know anything about gravity and how it works. You will climb up the stool that I sit on in the kitchen, and one day I watched you while you grunted and pushed your way successfully from the floor into your highchair. I still am not sure how you managed that without falling and I was too shocked impressed to stop you.

I've been trying to teach you sign language and now you can sign for:
milk
please
thank you
help
mama
more

There are words that you will say all the time like
Dog, Yes, Keys Bad (always referring to Chewy, oops) and Ball and then there are many other words you know how to say but only with some prompting, such as:

Jack
Papa
Mama
down
up
juice
bird
fish
tree

We look at pictures and books with animals all the time and you love them. You know so many animals now but instead of their names you call them by the sounds they make:
meow
woof
moo
roar
quack
oink
neigh
bak bak bak
cockadoodledoooooo

You have started to give kisses and hugs now and your papa and I cannot get enough of them. A few days ago, we were all in your room reading stories before bed and Papa asked you for a kiss. You walked over to him and put your arms around him and gave him a kiss. Then I asked for one and you walked over to me and gave me one. Then back to Papa, then back to me, back and forth and we could have gone on all night this way. Your hugs are awesome too and sometimes we sit for what feels like minutes with our arms around each other and our faces pressed together and I feel so happy and in love with you that I can't hardly stand it. Every once in a while I will say to myself
"This is the perfect age, I don't want him to get any older so he can stay just like this forever"
but then you do something new and grow and change and you just get better all the time!
I love you so much my little buddy, I can't wait to see what the next months and years bring

Love,
Your Mama

16 and 17 months

Dear Jack,
I have been really really lax lately in posting about you and it is becoming so hard to keep up with all that is going on with you. You are a genuine little person now, with an incredibly open and happy personality and you're so much fun to be around! You love to make noises and create sound effects and mimick every sound you hear us make and you make me laugh all the time. You are learning sign language so quickly I have to start looking more things up to teach you. You can sign for milk, help, please, thank you, more and I'm trying to teach you how to sign mama and papa since you STILL refuse to say them to us, much to your amusement and our chagrin.

This past week we went to New Jersey and New York and saw your aunts, uncles, cousins and Grandparents Spuches. You also spent the whole week with your Papa and you guys had so much fun! I was working when we were in NY so every morning you would blow me kisses as you ate your bagel and I went to work while you and Papa went on adventures.





There's so many things I have forgotten the last couple of months and I promise I will write them down here when I remember and will write here more often so I don't forget things because you are changing and growning and becoming more and more amazing and sweet and funny and smart every single day and I want to bottle you up and keep you just the way you are right now but I also can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring because life with you just keeps getting better and better.

Love,
Your Mama

15 months

Dear Jack,
This week you turned 15 months old.
You are learning things so quickly now, sometimes it makes my head spin! You can tell me where your nose, mouth, ear and hair is, you make animal sounds when we look through your picture books and the duck, cow and dog are your favorite.
You love to ride in your stroller now, something I never thought I would see, as a matter of fact all I have to do is mention going for a walk and you run to it, climb in and start buckling yourself up. I have therefore had to refrain from mentioning an outing until I am ready to leave immediately because you do not enjoy waiting so much.

We went to see Dr Lirman this past weekend and he said you are still on the thin side but you are of average height and you have a pea-head like your mama. I think I can live with all of those things.


The weather has finally started to warm up here in Miami and we have started going to the beach. You love the beach. You will play in the sand til the cows come home and you have absolutely no fear of the waves or the record-breaking cold water.(which some might not believe is really cold but it really really is a shock to a kid born and raised in the deep south)


You have a best friend now. His name is Trace but you call him Ace and we all think it's great that you have already given him a nickname. He's a few months younger than you but you have a great time when you're together and you are teaching him everything you know. It's so sweet to see you two together because you genuinely like each other and you always gravitate to each other when when you're with other kids.

You have really grown into quite a little man these last few months and it's so nice to have a little window into your brain sometimes because I can ask you questions and you answer me with a "Yes" or you will repeat the thing you want when I give you choices. After over a year of having to guess at everything you want, this is a refreshing development as I know it is for you too because it is opening a whole new chapter for us being able to communicate and share things and really learn about each other. I know you have as much to teach me as I do you and I can't wait to keep learning and sharing my life with you.

Love,

Your Mama

14 months

Dear Jack,

I wake up in the morning to the sound of your happy squawks and squeals. I open the door to your room and there you are, standing in the crib, holding Puppy, smiling away and ready to start the day.

I take you into my bed and you nurse and poke my eyes and nose and slap my hand and it's my favorite part of the day. We cuddle for 20 minutes or so and then you sit up, clap your hands as if to say "Enough laying around, let's start the day!" and roll off the bed, feet first like you taught yourself to do.

You run out into the living room and open your toy box or follow me into the kitchen and open a cabinet and you play while I make coffee and get our breakfast togetherAfter breakfast you play some more and after a while we go into your room and sit on the floor and you take books out of the basket and hand them to me and I read them to you, some over and over, some just the first few pages then it's on to the next. We read Brown Bear Brown Bear, One Fish Two Fish, The Feelings Book, Miss Spiders ABC's, Big Dog and Little Dog, over and over and you never get tired of them. I love how much you love books, sometimes I walk past your room and see you sitting there by yourself turning pages and looking at pictures.

When your Papa leaves for work in the morning, as soon as the front door opens you are marching down the hallway on the way to say goodbye to him at the elevator. You push the button for him and wave goodbye as the doors close. I know this is your Papa's favorite part of the day.

When we go out together, you insist on helping us lock the front door then you insist on pushing the elevator button and once we are in, using the key fob to press that button to go where we are going. This is something you just picked up by watching us do and you will wave that fob the whole way downstairs, much to other people's amusement. You always wave when people join us in the elevator and when they leave, smiling at every person we see.

You don't say Hi or Bye but you do say "ball" (one of your favorite things) "down" "juice" "water" "quack quack" "play" and "woof woof"(though that sounds more like "thhhhh thhhh" for some reason but it's a work in progress)

You can feed yourself with a spoon now, though I still have to help you or you would wear more than you eat but you can always get the spoon into your mouth even if it's upside down and all the food is in your lap, it never seems to bother you. You also love to feed me or your Papa whatever you are eating, and of course Chewy. He is really starting to warm up to you now because he gets so many pretzels and cookies and crackers from you. Sometimes you will just stand with a cup full of treats and hand feed him one after the other. In return, he always lets you grab one of his toys and chew on it or wave it around or throw it and let him chase it. I told you both you would be great friends one day and I think that day is very near. You get so happy and excited when you see him, almost as happy as when you see me or your Papa and it makes me smile inside that you love him so much.

After dinner, I tell you it's "bath time for Bonzo" and you march into the bathroom and start throwing toys into the tub while it fills with water. We've just started getting you to put your face in the water and blow bubbles in the tub, as long as I do it first and sometimes you blow bubbles and sometimes you get a nose full of water but you take it like a champ either way, the best part of you is that you are not afraid to try anything new.

We get out of the tub and I help you put on your jammies, then we read more books and after a while I ask if you want some milk. You smile and clap your hands and lay in my lap and drift off to sleep. There is nothing I love more than to feel the heft of your warm body in my lap as you fall asleep and sometimes I sit in the dark for a few minutes after you are already sleeping because I know it will not last much longer and I want to always remember what this feels like, while you are growing and learning and doing so much, yet at that moment you are still my little tiny baby who I had in my belly just over a year ago.

Love,
Your Mama

13 months

Dear Jack,

Today you are 13 months old!

This month you have really begun to show us your incredible personality and guess what!? You have a sense of humor! Your favorite new thing to do is to hold something in your hand and when someone asks you to give it to them, you offer it, then take it back and fall all over yourself laughing at them. It took me a while to figure out that you were playing a joke on me when you started doing it and now I ask you for things just so you will do it and we can both get a good laugh. Amazingly, you also will laugh when I do it to you now so I'm happy to see that you can take what you dish out as well. (I know I probably should not be teaching you that these things are funny and/or acceptable but I can't help myself, it is the cutest thing I've ever seen and I will deal with the repercussions when I have to)

This month you also broke your streak of good health and you did it with style, little guy. To start the month off, you got a cold. It wasn't a terrible cold but it did produce an awful lot of snot and by a lot I mean pools of snot pouring from your poor little nose that caused me to wipe and suction your nose about a thousand times a day. By the second day, you were done with my interventions and decided that I had no more need to come near your face with either a tissue or a snot sucker under the penalty of screams directly in my ear until I finished. We finally came to a compromise and you, my clever little man, learned how to blow your nose into a tissue. I am so incredibly proud of you!

Also, despite having the immunization (or because of it, depending on who you listen to)you got the Chicken Pox! Luckily it was a very mild case and it did not slow you down a bit but we did have to stay inside the house for a whole week while you were contagious and that meant no pool and no playground. We are all very glad that week is over!

You have started walking this month too and it is so cute to see you wobble and weave your way from one piece of furniture to another or to Chewy or to me or your Papa. There is no better feeling than the one I had the first time you took those drunken wobbly steps into my arms! And that leads me to another thing you started doing this month, you now love to give us kisses and hugs! Just in time for Valentine's Day!

Little man, this past year has gone by so quickly and when I look at pictures I took of you last January or February and I think about that time, it feels like it was 100 years ago, it feels like a blur of things that happened in a dream. I don't know if it was because I was sleeping so little then or if it's already the fog of the past that begins to blur the lines of memory and I'm so happy that I took so many pictures and wrote so many things here so I can show this to you one day and you will see what an amazing, smart, happy, sweet and loved little boy you were.

Love,
Your Mama