Mommy Kahdib

Dear Chase (28 months),

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Hi Mr. Talkative,

Talk about language explosion, Mister. You can now repeat mostly anything we say and you're staring to talk to us about things you're thinking about in cute little sentences instead of the cave-man speak we have gotten used to. You do still sound a bit like a cave-man, but some of the things you say are just adorable. You like to say, "Good job, mama, good job," when I give you a yummy lunch or get you a sippy of chocolate milk. It's funny that this little person is telling me that I've done a good job! You're also starting to say sorry...it's funny because usually we don't use sorry too much around here and opt to check in on the person we've hurt with an, "Are you ok?" and then see if there is some way we can help make the other person feel better...a pat on the back, a hug or a snuggle, a special picture to hang on the wall...but you'll say a pretty adorable, "Oh, I sorry, Mama, I sorry," even for little things like when you step on my foot. You are still so rough and tumble yelling when you don't get your way or feel as though someone is standing in the way of you getting something you desire...hitting and pushing and pulling hair and biting when you feel unlistened to....but it's getting to be more words and less violence here and there. You have developed a "look" though...and sometimes when we say something you don't like you'll give us the look...and you've also started giving the look to people you don't know who say hi to you...it's kind of a funny little death glare with furrowed eyebrows and a cute little scowl...and I'll say to you, "Say 'hi' Chase," and you'll break into a huge grin and say hi to them and move along.

You are kind of working on potty learning....you LOVE undies...you have some Thomas the Train ones, some from the movie Cars and some "robots" from Yo Gabba Gabba and you enjoy picking a pair to wear, you tell me you are cute when you put them on, and I would say for the first half of the day you're great at letting me know when you have to pee. Usually I just give you a choice if you have an accident...undies or diapers and sometimes you choose one and sometimes the other. So totally non-pressure because you're not even 2.5 and I hear boys just take longer...so the choice is yours but man, you do look cute in the little boy undies! You're very character driven, actually, you love Buzz Lightyear and Woody and insist on wearing your Toy Story jammies when you see them...and if it has someone from "Cars" on it you WANT it. There was a little boy at the beach this weekend with a Cars bathingsuit and you would have liked him to take it off and give it to you. You definitely have a really strong opinion and make it heard!

You're also such a sweetheart...if you see Emmie sad you'll often try and make her feel better with a toy, a hug, a kiss, surrender of what you're holding...if I pretend to cry or like today when we were pretending a stick was a dinosaur and he was biting my toe you get sad for me and tell me, "No cry, mama, no crying, I hug you..." and you will give me hugs and kisses and check in that I'm ok. And on the other end of that stick you will get a little overzealous with the loving and it turns to pinching or head butting or biting...so we're working on it! Right now you're playing with your sister on the couch...belly bonks. You make people nervous because you're so small but so confident in yourself...you'll climb so high and so fast and at Emmie's swim lesson there is a big climbing structure and all of the parents will go running thinking you may fall you've been pretty good at climbing your whole life so I watch and reassure them that you're ok.

You loved the beach, we went this past weekend, and you liked playing in the water, running in the sand, and building things so that you could stomp and smash them. You were hesitant to go too deep...but you would have chased a seagull a mile down the beach without looking back at me if I hadn't redirected you to another one closer by. You usually don't nap but the sun and the wind and the water makes us all really tired so you would crash around 2pm with your head on my shoulder and whisper, "hold me," and I would sway with you a bit near the edge of the water and you were out in a minute. I would lay you down on your Lightening McQueen towel and you would sleep in the tent with Daddy for 2-3 hours and wake up ready for more. We went crabbing one afternoon and you didn't like the sharp rocks with barnacles or the pinchy little crabs we were getting, but you watched your three snails crawl around in your bucket for a loooooong while and loved it.

You're a mischief maker...always getting into things when I least expect it. A bottle of windex that daddy left behind the TV after cleaning the screen turned into a car wash for your monster truck and then you dumped the rest of the bottle on the carpet. You pulled the chair over to the refrigerator while I'm in the shower and played with the water and ice dispenser to the point that there were about 50 cubes on the ground in a big puddle of water. You sprayed a film of hair spray all over the bathroom while I was in the kitchen making some zucchini bread. I mean, man, you used to just sit and play with your toys...now you're up to things in a big way!!! Funny that I have never felt like I needed to gate you in...but there is a part of me now that wishes I could! As it is I'm just making sure there aren't things out that you can get in trouble with and checking on you often!

Oh, and did I mention that in the last few months you've grown 2 inches and gained 2 pounds? Thank you growth hormone...and BTW you don't even cry anymore for the shots...you just pick your spot and we do the shot and you're off and running again.

I love you mister-mister!
Mama