Thursday, January 27, 2011

It's Been Awhile

Dear Isaac and Eleanor,

This is the longest I've gone without writing to you since I started the blog.  I don't know what I've been doing - avoiding snow mostly - we have so much here in NYC!  But you've both been doing some cute things, so it's time to get back to it!

Eleanor, you have started eating solid foods, and you love them.  So far your favorites are peas and pears, but you've also had squash, carrots and rice cereal and have eagerly eaten them all!  You can almost sit up by yourself - a few seconds here and there - and you are constantly trying to roll everywhere and then get frustrated because your head gets in the way.

Isaac, you're having another "word explosion" and have added such words and expressions as "why?", "quickly" and "That's why!" Every day when you get home from school you update me on who got time out that day and why, and remind me that you're a good boy, so you don't get time out.  You often think you're the boss of me, telling me not to sing, dance or talk to you.  Power struggles are fun.

You're both still really cute.

Love,

Mommy

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Please Eat Your ...

Dear Isaac,

You've always been a good eater.  Recently though, you are veggie obsessed.  Clearly, this is not a bad problem to have.  I'm fairly certain, however, that you are one of the few two and a half year-olds who has to be told nightly that you can have more salad when you eat something else. 

Here's to healthy habits starting young.

Love,

Mommy

Sunday, January 16, 2011

What to do?

Dear Isaac,

After your nap today, we were trying to think of something we could do to get out of the house for a bit.  I asked you what you thought would be fun and you told me you wanted to go to a birthday party.  I guess you had so much fun at Celia's party on Friday you'd like to repeat the experience as often as possible.  I told you we couldn't go to a party because we weren't invited to any and that we're not birthday crashers.  Never fear, you had another idea, we could be "cake crashers".  I guess you really just wanted the sweet parts of birthdays.  You were happy enough with a trip to Barnes and Noble to get a "speshul tureet" and a few new books with a gift card you and Eleanor got for Christmas.

Love,

Mommy

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Natural Instinct

Dear Eleanor,

You've been rolling from back to front for quite some time and I've been wondering when you would go in the opposite direction.  You often rock back and forth when you're on your tummy, but until today had never actually made the roll.  We have your friend Elea to thank.  She is a very curious little baby who wanted to reach out and touch you.  On the face.  In the eye.  As soon as her hand touched your face you quickly rolled from front to back to get out of her reach. 

Necessity is the mother of invention...or something like that.

Love,

Mommy

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Way With Words

Dear Isaac,

You and I had a great day today.  I had a bunch of errands to run and you had some Christmas money to spend, so I thought it would be fun for us to go do both together.  I was a little apprehensive about going out late morning, as I knew it would mean you would miss your nap, but I took a chance anyway.  We started by going out to lunch.  Yours was chicken with some steamed broccoli and mine was a salad with shrimp and edamame.  You ate most of the shrimp on my salad and quite a bit of edamame and then took on your own food.  You did a great job of eating a lot of broccoli and chicken when you announced, "I want ice cream."  This might not be an unusual request from a normal kid, but as we know, you are anything but.  I thought maybe you saw someone who had ice cream which prompted you to want it, but after asking you, I soon found out from the neighboring table that you had been eavesdropping and they were ordering ice cream.  They did the usual parent apology, but I didn't mind since you had eaten anyway.  I was going to tell them as much, when you piped up, "It's fine!  It's fine!"  When the waitress came over, you told her, "I want ice cream sundae, please."  The ice cream arrived, and in your typical fashion you decided you'd rather eat more broccoli than ice cream.  Thanks for the dessert.

Next, we stopped to buy Eleanor some pajamas.  You helped me pick out the ones you thought she would like best and told me we definitely had to buy the ones with an elephant on it, because he was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  I'm not sure how you knew this, but you were convinced.  When we checked out, you told the cashier, "Eleanor NEEDS jammers."

Our next stop was to buy diapers for Eleanor and for you to spend some of your Christmas money.  You have been obsessed with the Toy Story movies and I thought it would be fun for you to buy a Buzz Lightyear or a Woody doll.  They were out of Buzz, but I showed you the Woody doll, which you thought was cool, until you saw a very inexpensive cash register you HAD to have.  So instead of getting the toy I thought you would want, we bought the cash register.  You also suggested a few things you thought we should get for Eleanor, like a gigantic pillow and a sippy cup that said "David".  You assured me "Eleanor like it!"  Buyer's remorse struck as soon as we got in the car, and you said, "I want Woody, I want Woody."  Lucky for you, you had plenty of Christmas money left and we had another stop to make where you could get Woody.

We made our last stop at Target where you found your beloved Woody doll and pulled his string all around the store while we got what we needed.  I did not heed your suggestion of the purple argyle socks for Daddy, only because he doesn't have anything that matches.  Of course, when we got in the car with Woody, you told me "I want Buzz Lightyear."  Nice try.

When we got home, you showed Daddy your new toys and insisted he write "Isaac" on the bottom of Woody's shoe, since Andy tagged him in the movie.  Pretty cute.

The last nugget of the day is perhaps the cutest thing you've ever said, and you've said some pretty adorable stuff.  I was tucking you in and you ran your fingers through my hair which desperately needs to be cut and told me, "You haircut beeeyooootiful, Mommy."

You're a real character.  What a way with words you have.

Love,

Mommy

Saturday, January 8, 2011

I Guess You Won't Wear Diapers to College

Dear Isaac,

Daddy and I have been trying to encourage you to use the potty.  We tell you about how much fun it is and often ask you if you'd like to use it.  Santa even brought you underwear for Christmas.  You thought they made a nice hat.  Today you told me that your "bum hurts" and "it's a little red" so I explained that if you used the potty and didn't wear diapers it wouldn't hurt anymore.  Your response?  "Cream works too, Mommy."

Surely someone with your logic skills can master toilet training?

Love,

Mommy

Host with the Most

Dear Isaac,

Today my good friend Lauren came over to visit us.  You were a very gracious host.  When she walked in, you introduced her to your sister, saying, "This is my sister."  You entertained her with your cuteness and then said, unprompted, when it was time for her to leave, "Thank you for coming to my house."  As soon as the door closed behind her, you were sad she was gone.  "I miss Lauren," you told me.  With such a nice boy to visit, I'm sure she'll come back soon.

Love,

Mommy

Gone Fishin'

Dear Isaac,

You come home with lots of neat pieces of art and crafts from school.  At Christmas time they took a picture of you and you made a snowman frame to put it in.  It is on our bookshelf in the living room.  Today you went up at look at it and said, "That's a beautiful picture."  Daddy wanted to make sure he heard you correctly and said, "It's a beautiful picture?"  Your response?  "Thanks, Daddy."

I guess we haven't complimented you enough recently, so you went looking for some yourself.

Love,

Mommy

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Not Nice!

Dear Isaac,

You often self-regulate and tell me you need a time-out when you start to get grumpy.  You usually just sit down for a minute and then are happy to go play.  This morning you gave yourself a time-out for something I did that you didn't like.  When I asked you why you put yourself on time-out you replied, "Mommy's singing not nice.  Need time-out."

I'll just assume you didn't like that particular song.

Love,

Mommy

Monday, January 3, 2011

Hungry Like the Wolf

Dear Eleanor,

You have a great interest in what everyone's eating these days.  Unfortunately, you're still a little young for food.  The doctor said you can start at 5 months, which is on Thursday, but I prefer to wait until you can sit up on your own.  Sorry to disappoint you, but even if I did give you some food on Thursday it would be a strained vegetable or some rice cereal, not the celery you were just eye-ing ravenously.

Love,

Mommy