Little Drummer Boy

Dear Sawyer,

I love this age when you are doing so many new things every day. In the past few weeks, you:

-learned how to say nai nai (milk).

-walked into the kitchen while I was making smoothies, pushed me back away from the counter and raised your arms to tell me that you wanted me to pick you up.

-have been so cute in your gym class. You love going down the slide and are so good about cleaning up the balls and rattles when the teacher says it's time to put them away. You immediately start picking up all the toys and follow the teacher around so you can put them in her bag. One time, a boy was sitting on top of a ball during clean-up time and you stared at him and pointed at the ball, as if to say, "Um, hey, I need that now."

-have been sleeping for longer stretches at night after I put a sound machine in your room. One night, you slept in your crib from 9pm-6am! Gah! Why didn't I think of getting you a sound machine sooner?!

-started saying "woof" when you see a dog.

-have continued to eat well. You love broccoli (yay!) and when you see me with something you want to eat, you ask for it by going, "Mamamamamamama."

-covered your mouth and gasped when you dropped a (luckily, plastic) bowl. So cute!

-have been pumping your feet in the air really fast whenever I pick up up and say, "Run run run run run!"

-have been immediately reaching for my hand and holding it while I rinse your head during your baths.

-have been grabbing your nanny's hand and pulling her toward the play attic as soon as she comes through the front door in the mornings.

-hugged JieJie when she hurt her knee in the study one day and patted her on the back when she was feeling sad one time.

-sang along (kind of) to the ABC song.

-have started squealing with excitement when GuhGaw and JieJie come home from school.

-were sitting on your toy drum and looking so cute. I ran to grab my camera but you had already stood up by the time I got back to your room. When I said I'd wanted to take a picture, you, totally on your own, walked back over to the drum, sat down and posed for a photo. Click!

My cutie!

Love,
Mom

Lots of Kisses

Dear Sawyer,

When GuhGaw jumped up and shouted "ta-da!" this afternoon, you copied him and said the same thing. When you bumped your head later, you looked at me and motioned to the spot you had hurt. And when you, Daddy and I were sitting on the couch tonight, you crawled over to me and kissed me on the lips, then crawled over to Daddy and kissed him on the lips, and then crawled back to me and kissed me on the lips. You went back and forth between us and kissed us about 10 times. How cute are you? :-)

Love,
Mom

Stranger Danger

Dear Sawyer,

You moved up to size 18-month clothing today and you look so big!

And there were so many new behaviors this month! You know how to smile and nod your head yes when I ask you questions ("Do you want a snack?" always gets a head nod!) and you also know how to shake your head no and hold up both hands in the air when you want to say, "I don't know." You can say hi, yeah and baobao (bread) and you say "dadadada" and point when you see something that interests you.

You have 8 teeth in the front of your mouth and your molars are coming in. You can feed yourself with a fork and you do a little happy dance--you point your fingers up and rock side to side--when you eat something that tastes good, hear a song you like or encounter anything else that pleases you.You like to play in the kitchen and move stuff around--you move the bottles of water onto the floor, then into the hallway and then back onto the shelf or take the oatmeal container out of the cabinet or move the bag clips in the snack drawer from one box to another.

One day, you sat in a plastic toy box and read a book (something GuhGaw and JieJie both also did when they were around your age). You love to chase bubbles and attempt to blow them, your favorite toy right now is your little yellow school bus, you always stop whatever you're doing to listen to a passing ambulance or helicopter and you lift up my shirt and start nursing whenever the mood strikes.

You started your first gym class (you're still a little timid in class but you seem to like it) and you rode your first subway when I took you to Manhattan a couple of weeks ago. My friend Rob and his girlfriend Kimia were visiting from Amsterdam so we met them at a restaurant in Gramercy and it was a bit of a traumatic day for you. Riding the subway was a big strange event in and of itself--taking the (smelly) elevator underground, riding on the rocky, noisy subway while giant strangers loomed over you in your stroller--but then we also spent the entire day with the unusual hairy giant who spoke weirdly (Rob is more than 6 feet tall, has a full beard and is British, haha). Your stranger danger detector was on high alert and you didn't crack a smile or put your guard down for even a second, no matter how hard Rob tried to make you laugh. You wouldn't even sit in the high chair at the restaurant or walk around in Central Park; you just clung to me and shot wary glances at Rob and Kimia the whole day, haha.

And you didn't even get a break when we got home later that evening. My friend Dennis was also visiting, from California, so he came over for dinner. You had managed to keep your composure around Rob and Kimia but when Dennis arrived, said hi and patted you on the head, it was too much. You burst into tears and started wailing. My poor guy. So much stranger danger for one day!

Love,
Mom

School Day

Dear Sawyer,

Today was GuhGaw and JieJie's first day of school, but you were able to go to school, too! Since it was JieJie's first day of pre-K, we accompanied her to her new classroom and stayed with her during the first hour. JieJie seemed to acclimate right away--and so did you! You were totally comfortable walking around the room, playing with the toys, scribbling with the crayons. When JieJie and her classmates gathered in a circle on the rug, you walked right over to her and hugged her, as if you were saying, "Hey! Don't leave me behind!"

When we went back later to pick JieJie up, we were waiting in the hallway with the other parents. You were toddling about and, thinking it was me, walked up to another mom and hugged her legs. Then you looked up and the expression of shock and confusion on your face was so funny, haha!

Love,
Mom

Morning Rush

Dear Sawyer,

Daddy is traveling for work this week, so when I took GuhGaw to camp this morning, I had to take you and JieJie, too. So instead of waking one kid up, I had to wake up three. And instead of feeding one kid breakfast, I had to feed three. You see where I'm going with this. Everything about the usual morning routine was multiplied by three (well, four, since I had to get myself ready, too) and everything about this morning was. A. Total. Disaster.

First, GuhGaw and JieJie did not want to wake up so I had to cheer and sing and shout and draaaaag their tired butts out of bed, which took about 15 minutes. Then JieJie spilled her milk on the dining room table. Then you dumped all of your cereal and yogurt bites onto the floor. Then GuhGaw couldn't find the sunblock. Then when I found the sunblock and was taking it downstairs, I didn't realize the cap was open and squirted half the bottle all over my dress. Then you wouldn't stay still while I was trying to put sunblock on you and more of it ended up on the coffee table than on you.

Then when everyone was fed, brushed, dressed, sunblocked and ready to go out the door, I picked you up and discovered that you had pooped in your diaper. And then I said, forget it, I give up, I'm not rushing anymore, GuhGaw is just going to have to be late for camp today.

Oh good lord.

Love,
Mom

First Cut

Dear Sawyer,

First haircut! (And first fauxhawk!)

Love,
Mom

Thirsty Boy

Dear Sawyer,

More adventures in the land of cute and funny:

-I left you in your crib the other night and went to help JieJie brush her teeth. While we were in the bathroom, you suddenly cried out in fear and I ran to your room to discover that you had gotten your sleep sack stuck on your head (it was in your crib with you and I guess you had tried to put it on by yourself?). You were unable to pull the sleep sack off and couldn't see anything, so you got scared. Aww, sweetie! I shouldn't have laughed but the sight of you shaking your head back and forth with the sleep sack draped over you was funny!

-You are way too old for your baby seat but you still fit into it and sit in it all of the time. I guess it's cozy!

-You like to play your toy piano with your butt.

-A couple of days ago, I walked by your room and you were pacing back and forth with your toy phone to your ear, as if you were on a very important phone call. It was especially funny because you were only wearing a diaper.

-You are so affectionate with your stuffed animals! You often hug them and put your mouth on them to "kiss" them.

-Like GuhGaw and Daddy and Uncle Tony and countless other little boys before you, you looooove playing with toy cars and trains. Pushing them around on the floor easily keeps you entertained for a long time.

-Like JieJie, you are shy around people you don't know. JieJie's friends came over to play today and they were all in her room. You were too scared to come into the room and play with them, but you were curious so you sat right outside her room and kept peeking in to see what was going on. 

-So you, um, kind of boobie-raped me yesterday. You were standing up in your crib and when I walked over to you, you pulled down my shirt, latched onto my nipple and started nursing, just like that. Wha huh? I was totally blindsided; GuhGaw and JieJie had never done that. You must have been really thirsty!

Love,

Mom