dear r,
today you are three. three years old! three! years! old! for the last three months you have been asking me pretty regularly "today is my birthday?" "it's my birthday today?" well...today is your birthday! it's your birthday today! you love birthdays. and not just your own. sometimes it's your baby stella's birthday (recently renamed baby ivy). sometimes it's mommy's birthday. sometimes it's baby elmo's birthday. and there's always cake involved. and usually candles. this year i have fallen more in love with you, my baby. and you have fallen more in love with your babies. you have a lot of babies. you take such good care of them. and one of your favorite all time things are real live babies. which our friends have been gracious to share with you. and you are a very good mama. you push your dolls in the stroller. you take them to "the park." you rock them. you feed them. you change their diapers. you read books to them. you sing to them. repeat. you put them down for naps. you even put me down for a nap a time or two. you dress them too. but you also love to dress yourself. it started with dress up. shoes, tutus, hats, beads, singlasses. every accessory possible. and then you started really having opinions about your own clothes. so in the mornings you will tell me what color you want to wear. or what outfit you want to wear. sometimes you really have a strong opinion. of what you. must. wear. you really know what you want. and you really know how to get it. you make things happen. and then you tell everyone about it. in great detail. you had a way with words early on. people are often amazed by your vocabulary and how well you speak. what really amazes me is when you use words like "actually" and "in fact" in sentences. correctly. when you were about two and a half you almost knocked me over when you put your hand gently on my shoulder, looked into my eyes, and said "sweetie. it's ok." "well the thing is" is how you start many sentences. and you also thanked God for delivering your papa's birthday card. to florida. you are also very good at speaking spanish. and let me not forget the singing. oh the singing. i have never heard a more touching rendition of "this little light of mine" than yours. it brings joy to my heart and a smile to my face every time i hear you singing. and that's often. because not a day goes by that you don't burst into song. in fact, you kind of sing more than you talk. and shortly after your second birthday you busted out full choruses of songs. some of your favorites include indigo girls, stevie wonder, james taylor, and sha na na. sorry about that last one. your memory astounds me. you are still talking about the day at baby yoga when you were one and a half (exactly one and a half years ago) that a block fell on a baby and the baby got hurt. sometimes months will go by and we're on our normal errand to the grocery store, close to yoga, and you repeat the story. you really remember. especially people. you love to talk about people. names. kids. mommies. where they live. you could go on and on. but your favorite person is C. you always want to know what he is doing. where he is. sometimes you want to stand by his seat and feed him his food or give him his drink. or put on his shoes. you want to take care of him. the other day you and i went out to exchange one of your birthday gifts you received that you already had. you chose a cool new book. for C. you are a very good sister. plus you are lots of fun. you are a total firecracker. you can dance like nobody's business. and you have the best expressions. of. all. time. you are so animated. you have these beautiful daddy blue eyes. but i think you must actually have a light switch too because they can sparkle up a room. this year you got your first official haircut. you hair has gotten so long. it has the slightest most perfect amount of curl. you naturally look like you are wearing mascara and lipstick and have curled your hair but i promise i have not done any of those things. much to your disappointment. one day. sometimes you will walk over to me and crawl into my lap and say "i love you mama." and as i hold you, even though you're leggy and dangly now, it reminds me of when you were a teeny tiny 5 lbs making sweet baby cooooooo sounds. but this is better because now you say "i love you mama." and you can put your arms around me and hug me sooo tightly. and really who could ask for more than that? happy birthday. i love you.
love,
mommy
dear c,
today you are three years old. and all those parents of the past who have said things like "I don't know where the time goes." or "it goes so fast." or "you blink and they're grown up." are now making sense to me. oh my gosh you are three years old. and let me tell you something. you are wise beyond your years, mister. you started putting words together early. two word sentences well before two years old. but this year. i could barely keep up with your vocab. of all the words you were able to fire back at me, including "predicament," the ones that i can most easily recall occurred back in february. i don't know if you were feeling the valentine's spirit of love. but as i rocked you in my arms one night, you said "love you so much." and i think i am still melting. you are one of the sweetest little people i have ever met. you melt my heart on a daily basis. the melting also occurs due to your astounding what color do i call them-stop you in your tracks amazing eyes. we call them hazel. but i think they are grey. blue. green. specks of brown. specks of yellow. i'm talking about the most amazing color i have ever seen. and your lashes flap. and if you smile really big i can see your dimple in your right cheek. melt. lately i have been staying in your room while you and R fall asleep. you look at me with your heavy eyelids and you smile. you smile yourself to sleep. i haven't been able to regularly watch you fall asleep since you were a baby so i am savoring this time. i get to sing you songs. lately you've been requesting "you've got a friend" known to you as "the seasons." people are immediately taken with your stronghold on the english language. but they're also taken by your sweetness and your manners. you don't let a good deed go unthanked. and are happy to have added appropriate use of "you're welcome" to your repertoire. you are willing to share everything. and i mean everything. with everyone. a true democrat. speaking of democrats, you somewhat frequently mention that obama lives in washington d.c. and "we would have to take an airplane to get there." back to sharing. this year during our potty training adventure, you and r got to celebrate success with mini-cupcakes. you even offered your beloved cupcake to R sometimes when you received one and she did not. that's love. this year you were pretty excited to get your own sandbox. speaking of love. you would play in the sand for hours on end. you love the stuff. so imagine your excitement (well, i'm sure you can. it's your excitement after all) when you stepped foot on a beach for the first time. a whole land of sand! what to do?! the sand love was followed by the movie love. in a movie theater. the woman sitting next to us cracked up at you cracking up at curious george. and i did too. you totally got it and you totally loved it. i think curious george really inspired you because you really figured out sometimes you can do things that make people laugh. and that. is. awesome. sometimes i don't think it's funny. and i tell you it's not funny. and you say "well it's funny to me." touche. you have never met a tool you didn't like. lately you have been making up games which you teach me. and also making up rhymes. you are so excited when you have something new and cool you have come up with. you use your hands to express your excitement "tofu and zabu is a rhyme!" you really get focused when you are doing something you enjoy like golf or art. focus. focus. you're intense. last month you picked up your paining to move paint around the paper making "paths" with the paint. it was awesome. and beautiful. you are so creative. you love your tools and sports and art and you also love your sister. this year you, though we don't call her this, added a Y on to the end of her name. and it is so darn cute. sometimes she will put on her tutu and start to dance and you will start a lovely rendition of "ballerina girl" by lionel richie. "ballerina girl, you are so lovely." what a lucky girl to have you as her brother. and what a lucky mommy to have you as my son. happy birthday. i love you.
love,
mommy
