September 20, 2012
Dear Ryder,
You are now two years old. While you still have so much growing to do, this feels like the official end of a chapter. You will always be my baby, but undoubtably you are also now my little boy. You assert your independence daily, yet remain your sensitive and affectionate self. You are thoughtful, deliberate, and also a little cautious. You have a stubborn streak, but can also be very helpful and cooperative. You love to engage us, and are quick to laugh and smile with those you love, although sometimes you are sparing with your smiles in new places. You are a delight.
At your two-year check you were 28 lbs, and about 34 inches. I say “about” because you were very unhappy about having your height and weight checked and refused to stand up against the wall. Mommy had to show you several times before you would even consider it, and even then you were crying and highly suspicious of the whole affair. Your head still makes up a large percentage of who you are - measuring in at 19 3/4 inches (97%). No wonder that little mind of yours seems to always be in overdrive!
Your vocabulary has just exploded in the past couple of months. You easily have more words than I can count and you string together more complex sentences everyday. You frequently inform me of things, and get annoyed when I don’t understand exactly what you are saying. You now respond “ya” even to the most rhetorical questions. You frequently tell me “no _________” for the things you don’t want to do or have. I find now that I am most often Mommy, instead of Momma, although for a two week stretch you decided to call me “Hannah.”
You love to have us read to you and will sit with us for a very long time. Your current favorites are Dr. Suess books, specifically One Fish, Two Fish (“fish boop”) and Green Eggs and Ham (“wiggie-ham”). You know these stories so well that you can finish the sentences for us! You also do the same things with songs, finished parts of sentences in your deep, off-key voice as you ‘sing’ with us.
The week of your second birthday you decided that you wanted nothing more to do with your pack-n-play. You walked into the bedroom and declared, “sweep couch.” You have been there ever since. Now at bedtime we lie together and read a story, and then sing a song. Your most request songs are, Return to Pooh Corner (“pooh”) and Baby Mine (“bebe mine”). You like mommy or daddy to lie with you, but have a hard time falling asleep if we do, so we usually limit it to 5 minutes. Even then, you often lie awake in bed until we go to bed a little while later. You hate to miss anything that is going on in the house!
You have many toys that you like to play with. You still love your trains and spend a lot of time with Daddy on the floor building train tracks and then racing around the “choo choos.” You quite often crash (“oh no. it’s a crash”). You are becoming more interested in animals, and often bring out your stuffed elephants - one for mommy or daddy and one for Ryder. You call most animals by their sounds a “woof” a “tweet”, a “neigh”, etc. Your car collection keeps growing, and you are just started to become more interested in blocks and puzzles.
You love to play outside. The summer as been hot (“too hot”) so we haven’t been out as much as we would like and are looking forward to cooler fall weather. When we are able to go outside you draw with sidewalk chalk, go for “trips” in your car (“bye Mommy”), swing and blow bubbles. You like to slide, but only if mommy or daddy “helps” you.
You have an amazing grasp of technology, and if you can get your hands on an iPhone can turn on Elmo. You also love shows like Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, and Blue’s Clues. You frequently ask for shows, and get mad at mommy when she doesn’t let you watch shows whenever you want. A couple of times you have sent me to my room (“Mommy go room, be happy”) for not giving in to things you want to do. It is funny to see how quickly you learned that - we have you go to your room when you are having tantrums until you can calm down and “be happy.” I also get lectured during the day if you feel that I don’t respond to you quickly enough. It is funny to hear you talking sternly to me. Fortunately, I often get hugs and kisses afterwards, since that is what we do to feel better.
You want to do everything we do. You wear dad’s shoes, quite literally. You try to shave. You are quite the helper with the broom and the vacuum. We often clean and cook together. You love to be where we are, and even now that you are big, are the most happy when someone is holding you.
I’m sure, even as I’m sitting down to write you this long letter, that there are things that I’m missing; little pieces of you that I haven’t captured. I haven’t talked at all about visits from relatives, trips to UT and Disneyland, friends, or other events that occur in our lives together. I hope, though, that as you read these letters when you are “all grown up” that you will get a glimpse into who you are now and of our lives together in this moment.
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