Dear Karsten,
In those first days of being your Mommy I remember wondering what it would be like when you were two. What would you look like? What kind of personality would you have? Would we be thinking of adopting another child? It seemed like a far off dream...light years away...we had so much time ahead of us.
And now....here we are...and you are TWO! It truly seems like when you become a parent time begins going by faster and faster, year by year....and yet the days can be long.
Here's what I want to remember most about you being two...because before I know it you'll be three and then four and then five....but that's light years away, right?!
The first thing that people notice about you is your captivating smile. The way your eyes crinkle up and sparkle when something delights you. You LOVE people; waving at them, smiling at them, and always waving goodbye to them. It could be the lady at the deli counter, the cashier, or a random person walking down the sidewalk. You always wave and smile and say "Bye!"
You love other kids, especially your friend Jack. Jack's parents are in our Life Group, so you see Jack once a week. The two of you love being silly together.
One of the most frequent comments that we receive is how happy you are. The people in the church nursery rave about how you're the most cheerful, easy going child in the room. You love life and it shows.
Don't get me wrong sweet boy, you have your not so easy-going, happy moments nearly every single day. Moments where you're frustrated, angry, irritated, or just plain tired. You cry, throw tantrums, kick, hit, whine, and say NO to everything. Thankfully, however, there are fewer moments like that than the great moments you have on a daily basis.
You have days where you play really well by yourself and days where you cling to me all day long and want to take my hand and guide me to a destination you have in mind.
You are still obsessed fish, or "shish" as you call them. You can now say "whale" and distinguish between a whale and fish. I'm amazed at where you can detect fish. At the Children's Museum a few weeks ago you kept saying "shish" and pointing and it took me forever to find the fish balloons floating in the corner of a very visually busy room. Anytime we're outdoors you bring me chalk and ask me to draw fish on the sidewalk or driveway. In the car we have several books, but you always want to look at the books with fish. You also recognize pictures of someone fishing and will say "shish." When you see water of any kind, like the lake behind our house or even a puddle, you say "shish," because you know that fish live in water. You are so bright!
You continue to look books and spend a lot of time looking through them. I think we have children's books in just about every room in the house. We read to you throughout the day and always at bedtime. Your favorite bedtime book is Daddy Hug, the most precious book that every daddy should have to read to their child.
At your Pediatricians appointment last week you weighed in at 24 lbs 12 oz and you're 32.5 inches long. You are small, but mighty. You can run really fast and hold yourself up on monkey bars. You are strong and ahead physcially of most children you're age. You're very athletic and I see a future watching you play soccer and flipping around at Gymnastics.
Daddy and I recently listed all of the words you know and can communicate to us (not everyone would understand just yet, but we do)...you're up to 60 words and learning to put short sentences together. You understand just about everything we say to you and follow directions pretty well. You love being a helper and wiping up the floor or dusting the furniture. The other day you helped carry laundry to the laundry room and were so proud of yourself for being Mommy's helper.
You call me Mommy and Daddy, "Dabby"...which could the the cutest thing I've ever heard. You call Zoe, "Zo" and Oliver, "kitty".
You're VERY busy and into everything...explorer describes you to a tee. I've given up on keeping the house picked up during the day. It's not uncommon to find things from our recycling basket in your playroom and things from the playroom in the recycling basket! We're teaching you to pick up messes and put things away.
If we allowed it, you would watch television all day long. Your current obsession are the Wiggles. We have 3 dvds and you have them all memorized and love to "sing" and dance along to them. You always know when to count to three and say "wake up Jeff!" For Easter you received Cars, the movie, and you are now loving all things related to cars. You point our cars everywhere we go.
I think the 2's will be trying, but not terrible. You have moments when you're a challenge, but mostly you're just sweet and happy and easy-going. We couldn't have asked for a more precious little boy. You are our sunshine and great delight.
Love,
Mommy (and Dabby)
