It may seem odd that I am writing these letters to you each month. Daddy and I swore we would not be the kind of parents who obsessed over monthly "birthdays." But so much is happening with you that I want to make sure I share it with you in these letters. I want you to know when you started doing certain things and how much more they made me love you!
This past month has been a whirlwind. It seems like every hour you are learning a new word or doing something to show me how much you have changed.
Here are some highlights:
- New words include No, bubby (bubbles), down (used for up, down, in or out)
- You understand almost any direction I give you. The other day, I told Lukie to take his cracker and sit in his Elmo chair to watch Barney. He turned away from me, walked across the room, and sat down quietly to watch Barney and eat his cracker. I was stunned. I asked Gracie to bring me shoes so that we could get ready for our day. She brought me a pair of shoes for her and a pair of shoes for Lukie. Two matching pairs: one Lukie's and one Gracie's!
- You are obsessed with crackers. When you had the stomach flu during the first week of my Spring Break, all you wanted was crackers. First, it was tons of Saltines and then, as you felt better, it was Ritz and finally, it was graham crackers. The first thing you ask me for in the morning are crackers. When we get in the car: "Mommy, cracka!" Morning, noon, and night!
- You "swim" in the bathtub and think it is hysterical. When I put the colored Elmo Fizzies in the bathtub, you shriek and giggle and pour the red or purple water all over each other.
- Lukie does a Happy Dance whenever he has a food that he likes. It goes like this: cracker goes into hand, Lukie (standing or sitting) shakes his hips and waves his arms. Aunt Bec loves it!
- Gracie's hair is insane! I remember this past summer when we were worried she would have Who-Hairs for the rest of her life. Now, she has so much that her hair looks like it is a big poof ball around her head. Luckily, I can gather it into ponytails or clippies.
- You can both use spoons! Your favorite are adult spoons. Gracie is an expert at carefully picking up rice or whatever you are eating and getting the spoon directly into her mouth. You can even use them to eat cereal with milk!
- Every time you see a phone, you yell "Papa!" and hand it to me so that I can call him. You recognize him immediately when you see his picture and whenever you see him, you smile and do Lukie's Happy Dance.
- You hold my hand, well, at least Gracie does, whenever we walk in dangerous places. Lukie usually holds my hand until he decides he would rather walk by himself and then he falls to the ground like a wet noodle. Luckily, I am smarter than that and he ends up being carried the rest of the way.
- Lukie has all of his baby teeth and Gracie is growing her last two on the bottom.
- You like Strawberry Nesquick. You don't like chocolate milk. That's one point for Daddy.
- You like to brush your teeth. Actually, "brush" is an exaggeration. You put the bristles in your mouth, suck off the toothpaste and wag the end of the brush back and forth to immitate me.
- You are the easiest children in the world to give medicine too. In a way, it is actually quite frightening!
- You are getting more and more independent every day.
- You LOVE Barney and Sesame Street. Gracie especially loves the Barney theme song and shouts and points at Barney when he comes into view.
- Lukie survived my attempt to trim his hair using the clippers. Even though around your ears has some rather interesting patterns, Aunt Bec came to the rescue and fixed the crazy long hairs that stuck out all over your head.
- You know that hitting isn't nice and do it anyway.
- Lukie tackles Gracie when she has something he wants and lays on top of her until she drops it (or I rescue her).
- You love to blow kisses when you say Goodbye, when we read the Counting Kisses book, and when you are trying to say "I'm sorry."
- You say "Hi" and "Bye" to everyone.
- You are obsessed with "Wow-wows" (dogs). Sometimes you call cats "wow-wows." We are working on that.
- You love to say "quack" whenever you see a bird. We are working on distinguishing between normal birds and ducks.
- You love the moon.
- You love to sweep and pick up trash.
- You think shovelling sand into a pail is one of the best activities ever.
- You are starting to realize that you can take off your clothes. Gracie knows how to take off her pants, but can't quite figure out how to get them over her feet. This is a good thing, because she also knows she can move her diaper. I'm really hoping we can avoid that!
- You love to try on all of your shoes.
- You love ice cream, but yogurt is even better.
- You will eat grapes and strawberries until your tummies stick out.
- And the most frightening of all: You both know how to open all of the doors inside our apartment. In fact, as I was sitting uploading pictures tonight, I heard the bedroom door open and then the door between the foyer and the bathroom opened. There, wearing his dino jammies, was Lukie. It is like the end of an era!
19 months is not very old. What it is, is the start of the countdown toward 2 years old. In five months, you will be two. I can't even fathom that! My hope is that when your second birthday comes, we can celebrate it in our house, our real house, not our temporary apartment with the yucky slab leaks, broken washers and dryers, and no Daddy. I hope we are home with Daddy and everything is wonderful again.
I am so proud to be your Mommy, Gracie and Luke. When things seem their bleakest, I need only hug you or watch you tickle each other or listen you to "talk" about something. In those moments, I remember how very lucky I am to be your Mommy.
I love you!
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