Dear Cyan,
It’s almost impossible to believe that another year has flown by, that you will be TWO, that you are a toddler and not a tiny baby any
longer. And then I remember how busy you have kept us, how exhausted you have
made us, how much you have made us laugh, and how much you have changed, and it
all makes sense.
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| Cutie one year old |
You are still definitely Baby Hulk, although perhaps you
need an upgrade to Toddler Hulk or Mini Hulk. You enter a room and assume
everything in it is yours for the taking. We go to the library for “Fun with
Toddlers” or “Toddler Hunger Games,” as I call it, because that’s how you seem
to view it—every man for himself, and don’t get in your way. We also go to the
library for story time, but you don’t have time for that. You want to run, and
jump, and destroy. So we usually don’t make it past page four.
As your new daycare teacher put it, “He puts his hand on my
mouth, says ‘shhhh’, then goes back to destroying the room.” But she loves you,
as does everyone there, as do your old teachers at your old school. It was a
tough decision to switch you, but I think it was the right one. I get sent all
sorts of happy pictures, and they are so excited to have you. They remember you
from when you first escaped the NICU, a tiny five pound nugget, and they begged
us to send you there so they could watch you grow. And now they can.
And how you have grown. Your face may still say “baby,” but
your stature says older. People are often shocked when I say you are just
turning two. “He’s so tall!” “What a big guy!” and yet you are perfectly on the
curve, not much different in size than Indigo was at your age.
You rarely walk—you run in your own unique way, knees high,
bouncing along. I could watch you chase your siblings all day. The three of you
have such fun, until they decide they are done and go upstairs, and all you
want to do is follow them. I know it’s tough, and the age difference won’t be
easy, but they do love you, and I love how you love them.
You still adore swim lessons and your teacher, J. He gets
such a kick out of you and trying to understand what you are so pointedly
telling him. You are pulling up on the wall and kicking on your own, and I am incredibly
proud of you.
You are a huge talker, though a lot of it is still in a
language only you understand. But you are adding words every week, and I think
we may have squeaked in at the finish with the “required” fifty words by age
two. We’ll talk with your doctor next week and see what she says, but I’m
hoping our earlier worries about your language development were just paranoia.
Of course if you need help, you will get it. I love the way you say “Hey!” and “shoosh”
(shoes), and “Yeah” like you are the saddest boy in the world. You say “There
it is!” with such joy and surprise, and “Go!” with determination. I can’t wait
for “I love you.”
I especially like how you say “Mickey!” because he is just
your favorite thing in the world right now. You carry around little figures of
the characters like they are made of gold, and the tv shows are the fastest way
to chill you out at Indigo’s baseball games or Periwinkle’s soccer games. I
wish we could take you to Disney during this magical time. I hope you still
love him when we can.
Maybe my favorite is “Hug,” which you say as you run to
people to snuggle them. Sometimes you try to use it to avoid going to bed, but
often you want to take your nap so much you say “Night night” and grab your
loveys and pacifier and meet me at your crib. (That pacifier, or “chooch” as
you say, aka “chuchetto” in Italian, is going away soon. Sorry, kiddo.) I just
put you to bed and out you go, whether for naps or night. People can’t believe
you are so easy! *knocks wood* I’m hoping when we finally finish our reno and
move you to your OWN room upstairs at long last, you’ll still love your sleep.
Tonight I gave you a pillow for the first time. You seemed pretty excited.
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| You still rock a hat at age two |
So I guess my point here is that you are an incredible ball
of energy in our lives, and watching you learn and grow has been one of the
true pleasures of the past year (and the year before, of course). I love having
you as my little sidekick when you are not at school.
Never stop thinking the world is yours for the taking, but
maybe learn to share just a *little* bit?
Love,
Mama
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