Burkley ~ 29 Months

A letter to my son at 29 months:

Burkley (AKA "Boogs" and/or "Lovie Love"),

Sledding, all by yourself!

You are 29 months. Almost 2 and a half years old. My, how our days (and nights!) have changed in your short little life. I love you to bits even though lately I've been pretty testy with you (it comes with being 9 months pregnant!). We've had some hard times these past few weeks with you growing and showing independence and me trying to figure out how in the world to parent you. But what amazes me is that through it all, you remain loyal and loving to me. You shower with me with kindness and encouragement telling me things like, "You're beautiful, Mommy!" and "Mommy, you're my best friend" each day. When you come in our bed in the middle of the night you grab my face and Daddy's and give each of us a big kiss telling us you love us before dozing off to sleep.

At the "Dinosaur Bones Museum" (as you call it)

You've come to adore your Daddy recently and eagerly give him a huge hug when he walks in the door each evening. You love to talk to him on the phone in the morning and snuggle with him before bed. You only want him to read you your bedtime stories. You like to pretend to be Daddy by wearing his hats and shoes around the house.

You're also eager for Baby C's arrival, daily telling my tummy things like, "Come out, Baby!" and "Hello, in there!" and "I love our baby!" I know you'll be a great big brother, even though we will have our challenges with the adjustment of it all. Speaking of the baby coming, you've been playing "baby" a lot lately. You nurse your dolls and stuffed animals and ask to be cradled like a baby quite often while sipping from your water bottle. You like to feed your dolls in a high chair and are playing all sorts of "house" and pretend-type of games that I've never seen you do before.

You still are obsessed with all things dinosaur, but have also broadened your scope to include a love of monsters. You are a good listener-- in that though you don't always obey, you are mature enough to handle a good, quality heart-to-heart to discuss various matters.

He asked me to take this picture of him,
but would not smile for it.

Each day you look and act older and older. You're such a little boy now, it's amazing. Your running commentary (and approval) throughout our days keeps me chuckling ("That's amazing!" "Yeah, that makes sense!" and "Oh, that's interesting!") and your inquisitiveness never ends. You LOVE reading and letters and are constantly asking me "What that say, Mommy?" when you see words on anything--tags of stuffed animals, street signs, papers, book titles, etc. You know all your letters, both lower and upper case, and the sounds almost all of them make. You like to play games where you have to guess what letter various words start with. Lately you've started to enjoy singing along to songs on the radio, but your long-love of the Sound of Music soundtrack takes the cake. You know most of those songs word for word.
I love that you can tell me what is wrong when something is bothering you and that you're learning all sorts of societal manners like wiping yourself with a napkin (after almost every bite!) and covering your mouth when you cough. You are great about using "please" and "thank-you," but struggle to apologize when you've wronged someone (don't we all struggle with that?).

One of his favorite activities- he calls it the "letter game."

Potty-learning...sigh...is going. You still will not poop on the toilet (though you did yesterday and shocked us all!) regularly, but you will pee on it every.single.time I put you on it. You will not tell us when you need to go, but I know when you need to go and give you the opportunity to do so about every 45-60 minutes. This works in public and at home, so I'm thankful for that because your squirmy-ness during diaper changes is almost impossible to bear with my huge belly in the way.

Your Daddy and I are doing our best to teach and train you, but at times we get frustrated and sad and confused. We don't always know the right thing to do, and I feel bad that you, as the oldest child, have to deal with the brunt of our "practice" parenting. But, you're a trooper.

We love you more than we could ever say. We are so proud of the child you are and the person you are becoming. You bring us joy every day and we cannot imagine our lives without you!

Love, Mommy