Eli: 3 Years Old

Dear Eli,

Happy 3rd birthday! I am totally shocked by how fast time has gone since you were my tiny little baby in hospital.  I remember the first time we sent you to the nursery during your first night of life.  We were so exhausted and as much as we loved and adored you, we were desperate for a little sleep.  We sent you away with the nurse, but it wasn't long before we were missing you.  Your dad and I snuggled together in my hospital bed and looked through the pictures we had taken of you during the day.  We both cried as we talked about how perfect you were and how much we loved you even though we had only known you for a few hours.  We finally couldn't take it any longer and we buzzed the nurse's station and asked them to get you from the nursery and bring you to us.  We waited for what felt like forever.  We kept hearing the squeaky wheels of little bassinets as they were rolled down the hallway. We heard bassinet after bassinet pass by our room, and we were growing anxious to see your perfect little face again.  Finally, you arrived.  We snuggled you and breathed in your perfect baby smell and held you all night long.  We couldn't bare to be away from you.  The love I felt for you that day was strong, but it's nothing compared to the way I feel about you now.

You have grown into an amazing little boy. You are becoming very agile, quick, and athletic.  You love to jump off anything that's "high" and are really getting into scaling poles and walls.  Your body is really lengthening out and you look tall and skinny to me.  The only remnants left of your baby fat are in your cheeks, hands, and belly.  Everything else is all boy without even a hint of baby.

I feel like you've hit a major growth spurt the past few weeks.  For the first time in your life, you've started asking for food.  It's like you're finally getting an appetite!  I couldn't be happier about it!  I finally got smart and hid all of the junk food in the house so instead of asking for it every time we opened the cupboards, you're starting to ask for cheese, nuts, and apples for snacks.  It warms my mother heart.  You're not really eating any new foods, but you're doing better at eating more on your own more instead of us having to trick you into eating every single bite.  You've also really picked up the whole drinking thing.  Three months ago, we were still giving you all of your fluids with a syringe but now, we never use the syringe.  You're finally drinking an acceptable amount on your own, for which I am very grateful.  You can drink a whole glass in one sitting!

Thanks to your recent growth spurt, you continue napping like a champ. I usually put you down around 1:30 or 2:00 p.m. and you sleep until 3:30, 4:00, or occasionally even 4:30.  It's lovely!  I really need that break in the middle of the day. Now if only I could figure out how to get both you and Oliver to nap at the same time.... :) You go to bed around 8:00 p.m. and wake up around 7:00 a.m.  I'm happy you sleep a lot because I know how good it is for your brain.  I love thinking of all those little neurons and brain cells recharging while you sleep.

For some random reason, you're really into asking "Who bought that?" to any new item you come across. I don't know why, but it's really important to know whether I bought it, or grandma bought it, or daddy bought it, etc. It's puzzling.

You talk nonstop and ask a million questions.  I love it. And I promise it's only a *little* tiring by the end of the day.  You have a funny little tilt to your voice where you raise the pitch at the end of every sentence whether it should be or not.  Your dad and I have been noticing that we do it when we talk to you and your brother, so we've been trying to tone it down the past few weeks and it's been helping you too.  You're not doing it quite as much.  There's nothing wrong with it, but we just want you to put the right emphasis on the right word. That's all.

In the past few months, your imagination has started to soar.  I'll walk into the room to find you talking to yourself all the time. It's so funny. I can hear you pretending that your toys can talk back and that they have personalities.  It's so good to see you doing that. You've recently become obsessed with playing hide-and-seek in the basement and we frequently play it as a family.  The funny thing about it is that you suck at it. You love to crouch down in tiny places to hide, but as soon as the seeker comes into the room to find you, you start giggling and are found immediately.  You need to be a little more discreet, dude.

Your current interests are trains, cars, dogs, cats, the moon, tractors, garbage trucks, and any kind of farm animal. You're getting better at coloring, thanks to nursery.  I'm pretty sure you color every week.  You like to sing along to primary songs and have recently become really naughty during prayers. You won't hold still. You roll around on the floor and giggle instead of kneeling and folding your arms.  You love books and will read them on your own.  You love going to the pool, the aquarium, and the pet store.

A few days ago, we started potty training.  We used the balls-to-the-wall method of taking all of your diapers away and telling you that the diaper fairy took them into the clouds.  You were pretty excited about it and have done really well.  You had a few pee pee accidents on the first day, but haven't had any since.  Poop is another story, just like I predicted.  You love to poop in your bedroom as you brace yourself against your door, and that is exactly where you went yesterday, just on the floor this time.  I'm interested to see how long it takes you to finally get good at pooping on the potty.  My prediction is a few months.

I think back on how much you've learned and grown these past three years and I'm amazed. I like to think I've grown a lot as a person too. Being a mother has taught me to give of myself more than I ever have before.  There are so many times when I want to be selfish, but I can't because you need me to take care of you more than I need to take care of myself.  You and your brother and the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about when I fall asleep.  I worry constantly that I'm not doing a good enough job and that I could be doing more.  I have so much mom guilt!  But what I do know is that you are a really, really, really good kid.  You're the perfect amount of sensitive, smart, funny, goofy, and curious all rolled into one really amazing boy.  I feel so honored to have spent the last 1,095 days by your side.  They have been the best days of my life.

With all the love I possess,
Mama

36 Month Stats
Weight: 35.6 lbs (85th percentile)
Height: 39 inches (77th percentile)
Head Circumference: 20 inches (75th percentile)

One Year Old & Two Years Old

Goofy Boys

The boys do adorable things on a daily basis.  Duh.  They're only the cutest children in the whole world, why wouldn't they?  I've renewed my efforts to catch more of them on camera so that when they're older and fighting like crazy, they can see that they actually used to like each other. Here is a gem that I recorded a few weeks ago.



They love playing in Eli's bed. In case you're wondering, the thing they're grabbing and playing with is a little mesh wall to keep Eli from rolling out of his bed at night. Before we had it, he'd frequently fall out of bed multiple times every night. We'd hear "thud, thud, thud" all night long. It was pretty funny, but pretty sad too. ;)

Oliver: 13 Months Old

Dear Oliver,

You have certainly because one sassy little man this month.  Gone is my sweet content little baby that will just happily sit on the floor and play quietly without complaint.  No siree! You are not that baby anymore!  You have opinions now!  You want to move!  You're not afraid to let your voice be heard!  You have become even more feisty and hilarious than ever.

You are obsessed with going outside.  If your dad or I have to step outside for a second but don't let you go out too, you throw a huge tantrum.  It's gotten to the point that we usually take you out of the room if one of us has to go out.  Otherwise, we have to deal with your thrashing around and crying. It's so funny.  You love to just crawl around on the grass and the driveway, picking up little rocks and sticks.  You love handing them to me one by one with a big smile on your face.

At the beginning of the month, you started standing on your own without assistance.  Occasionally, you'll even use those meaty thighs of yours and push up to standing without holding onto anything.  You always look so proud of yourself when you do and you give us a big old grin.  You never stand for more than a few seconds at at time, not because you can't do it for longer, but because you get scared. I still think you're a month or two away from walking, which is totally fine with me!

You continue to be an awesome napper.  Your naps are very consistent and are usually an hour to an hour and a half each.  The past few nights you've been waking up to nurse at both 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. which I totally don't get because you were sleeping through the night like a champ.  Maybe your teeth are hurting? I am still nursing you down for both of your naps (10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.) and bed (7:30 p.m.).

You love to nurse, but I worry that you love it a little too much.  Most days, you still only want to nurse and don't want to eat much food.  This causes me to worry, of course, but it's just frustrating more than anything. It gets really old offering you food over and over and have you reject it.  Your pediatrician told me that I should cut the nursing down to twice a day because he thinks the breast milk may be keeping you full enough that you think you don't have to eat real food. We've tried it here and there, but it really hasn't seemed to make you eat food any better and then I worry that you're not getting enough fluids.  I don't know what to do with you!

Your first word was "dada" (or daadoo), your second was "juice" (dooce), and to my delight, you just added "mama" to your repertoire yesterday. It's about time you say my name!  I've been working on that one with you for a long time. One of your very favorite things to do lately is to play on our bed naked.  Sometimes we'll take your diaper off you and let you roll around naked.  You grab the foot board and stand up, squealing in happiness.  It's so cute.

Your relationship with your brother is getting more fun to watch every day. You two are best buds.  You definitely fight, but it's usually pretty harmless like Eli stealing toys from you.  I do feel bad for you when he does it, but to be honest, you're pretty darn dramatic about it. You throw your head back in anguish and let out a wail which is accompanied by big crocodile tears.  Your face turns bright red and you sob until I get the toy back for you and send Eli to time out. Not that I'm excusing Eli's behavior, but you're going to have to get used to it a little, buddy.  It's just what comes with the territory of being the little brother!

You're a pretty intense little guy.  People always comment on how serious and emotionless you seem, but I know that you're like that because you're just studying things around you and are soaking everything in .  I can't wait to watch you learn and grow even more. You're such an awesome little man.

Love forever and ever,
Mama

13 Month Stats:
Weight: 24.2 lbs (58th percentile)
Height: 30 inches (36th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 3/4 inches (75th percentile)