Feb. 2007 (29 months)

Well I have somehow forgotten to do monthly letters since he turned two, so I thought I'd do a random one tonight for his I'll-be-29-months-in-a-week celebration.

Dear Goosey,

This is what you look like now. It's a lot different from what you looked like one year ago:

And it's a whole lot different from how you looked two years ago:

I gotta say that I really just THOUGHT that I liked you then compared to how much I like you now. You just keep growing on me! (Pun intended.)

I don't know what to do with you these days now that you can carry on a conversation on any given topic in the free world. The other day you marched into the kitchen with two videos in your hand (we had made a trip to the library earlier that day), and you said, "Mom. I watch GROVER first and kitty cats second."

TRANSITION WORDS! You've got 'em.

And the other, other day, when it was freezing cold and you had enough energy for sixteen horses, we went looking for an indoor playground (read: McDonald's Playplace -- a mother's winter dream). But after two tries (most of the playplaces south of the Mason Dixon have at least a portion of their equipment on the OUTSIDE of the building), we ended up at Chick-fil-A. Their playplace was a lot smaller (and cleaner) and there was only one other desperate mother and child there. Ryan, age 3, and his mom, age at-least-a-couple-years-older-than-me (and pregnant with another one) were happily discussing the CAR and STEERING WHEEL which were apparently located in the top, Momma-Cannot-Fit-There portion of the playplace.

First of all I had to correct you for continually calling him "That boy." As in, "That boy! Come on up here! Play boy! Climb boy!" That's how we discovered that his name was "Ryan."

Secondly, I nearly died when, from the top of the playplace, I hear you and Ryan discussing the accoutrements of the car. He is saying, "Look! The cah's steehing wheel! It has a hohn!" And then your reply, "It's a CARRrrrrr. CARRrrrr." This from a kid who still says "Look at that lellow school bus."

This pronunciation correction incident is only interesting because apparently I had the same tendency as a child (a born ESL teacher). There was an incident in which my friend David (one year older and now a DOCTOR) said, "Look! A titty tat!" and I replied, "You mean 'kitty cat'."

Touché.

According to your Grandaddy, I am just getting payback. Fully deserved payback.

According to your Nana, you are just like Aunty Amy: I DO IT MYSELF!

But then there is the issue of your directional smarts, which you CLEARLY did NOT get from either me or Aunty Amy.

The other day we passed by the "salon" where you got your first (and only) professional hair cut. We hadn't passed by there in probably three months, but you, casually, from your backseat throne, piped up, "A haircut there. No, no do it the haircut."

And one final note about your verbal abilities (and my payback). When I picked you up from school last Monday, Ms. Lorene said, "He has talked nonstop all day. He has been saying things that I didn't think he would be able to say ... or even know about."

And I wanted to shout from the mountaintop, "HALLELUJAH THAT 22 MONTHS OF NURSING WASN'T FOR NAUGHT!!!!!!!!!!!"

But I refrained. Didn't want to embarrass you.

And don't even get me started on your acquisition of modal verbs.

Buddy, I may eat these words in 10 years when you're a pre-teen alien from you know where, but ...

IF THIS IS PAYBACK, I'LL TAKE IT.

Love,

Mama