10 months

To my little Plum...at ten months.

You just got over having the highest fever (103.5) this past weekend...but you didn't complain. You just wanted to be held and snuggle and nurse.

You dance anytime you hear music.

You love meat! I will put fruit and veggies and meat in front of you and you always go for the meat first.

You like to rip up paper into teeny tiny pieces and then put those pieces in your mouth.

You are always doing something to look for a reaction. You look to me and then look to dada and look to me again. "Was that funny?" are the words I imagine you're thinking. Yes. Stella. You're cute and so funny.

You look at people with such an intensity...like you're looking right into their soul, their very being. Always observing others while snuggled next to mama.

To my dear 7 year old son

You just turned 7.  Just like that. 7.  Crazy.  Awesome.  Just like you.

You seem to be growing so fast.  It seems like you were just 3.  For real. 

You love to play.  You also love to be active.  Put those two things together and add some army guys or Star Wars guys or superheroes or Nerf guns (I do not like using the word, "gun", so we still mostly call them "shooters") and you are all set!  Like for your birthday party...we made it an "air force training" theme.  Your dad and I had a blast entertaining the friends you invited.  We hope you did also.  We love you so.

Whenever we make a few minutes in the day to play, you want to play our version of dodgeball inside (little soft ball, points scored for hitting and getting missed, first one to 20 wins).  You love to win, too.  You hate to lose.  So, you figured out you were good at throwing and good at dodging and boy, are you-and so you want to play--all. the. time.  I can't think of a time you have lost our version of dodgeball.

On this Memorial Day weekend, we started up a new game of Monopoly and you are doing great!  You have come a long way understanding money and counting the dice.  And, you even got a "go directly to jail" card and handled it very well.  I am so proud of you.  I thought of checking you for a fever (lol); but, I did not want to hurt your feelings.

I walk a fine line in trying to make you laugh and trying not to make you cry.  You, my dear, are wonderful and feel things very deeply.  Daddy says you have "big feelings".  This is not a bad thing.  The best thing is, I always know how you feel.  You tell me when I hurt your feelings.  You tell me when someone else does.  You tell me.  I am grateful.  I will pray you keep sharing your feelings with me and that God gives me the wisdom to know what to do with them. 

I will also pray that you have the patience to listen to others.  Sometimes, I am saying something good that you assumed would be bad and you have started caterwauling and did not even hear what I said.  I need patience, too, buddy.  Let's pray for patience for each other.  And practice it.  A lot.

This was a big year for you in school.  You learned how to read!  It's been a rough road, this reading thing.  Numbers you get.  Words are so hard for you.  But, you are doing it.  The world has come to life in words around you now.  It's exciting to witness.

You still love to draw in your notebooks.  And, then, you like to tell us a story of what you drew.  Your imagination is so big.  You love to draw good guys vs. bad guys still.  You are getting more detailed in your drawings; but, they still don't take you any time.  You are a quick sketcher...just like I learned from one of my art professors in college.  You can sketch out your picture in no time...and they look really good-exactly what you intended.

Just like your big brother, you have no qualms about speaking in front of a group.  You have done it at church and at our first poetry reading a couple of months ago.  That takes so much courage!  You did great!

I love you my dear, sweet son.  I look forward to the coming year because, the best is yet to come.

 

 

 

2.10

To my Greta baby...("I not a baby!")

You love olives! But only those fancy green European ones we sometimes get, which we de-pit for you.

You went on your very first bike ride with Daddy the other day and you loved it...you even came across a little circus and a concert with some violins and a cello (ah! the perks of living in the city!), but Daddy says you just wanted to get back on the bike and go.

You want to help so much and do everything your "selfie, selfie" these days. You even started dressing yourself and taking your diaper off when you need to be changed.

You ask to wear a bow in your hair nearly everyday. "Put one on Estella's hair, too!" you always say.

I feel like I could say so much more, but the words escape me, Greta. I just want you to know how very proud I am of the person you are becoming. You are kind and generous. You are smart and beautiful. You are perhaps the most empathetic person I have ever met. Your aunt pointed out this special quality of yours on a trip to Nashville recently. You hate it when I sing "A bushel and a peck". Perhaps it's my voice? You much prefer "Twinkle, Twinkle" or "Too ra loo rai". Regardless, I'll sing to you for as long as you will listen.