Dear Graham,
You have become so much fun. Who knew having a 32 inch walking and talking little guy around could provide all of this entertainment. You've become my little buddy rather than my baby and I love watching your curious mind at work.
During the month of November your grandma flew out to spend a week with us while mommy had a work conference for a few days. You got some wonderful one on one time, even though some of it came during the (gulp!) 3:00 a.m. hour following this torturous event that they call a time change. By the end of her time here she had all kinds of tricks to make you giggle and you went right along with it.
One of your 16 month obsessions involves all things related to animals, but especially the neighbor's cat. While our pre-Graham reaction to the cat was often one of disdain as it used our yard as a litter box, our post-Graham reality includes looking out the front window to see if we can see kitty cat so you can go pet her. You stomp your legs in excitement if she's anywhere near you. She's only slightly afraid of you, which means she normally runs in the opposite direction.
You continue to love to be outside but now you can take either your mommy or daddy by the hand and bring us over to the door that you want to go out. In theory, this is a huge positive that you are communicating your wants and we can actually understand them. Unfortunately, you don't understand why we can't go outside when the sun's not up yet or when it's freezing cold. We'll be excited when you can understand us too.
We often play music and sing songs with you and your favorite last month was "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." Except you never move past the head with your hand gestures. Ever. Despite singing the song over and over, we can't get you to gesture to your shoulders, knees or toes. Hence the rest of the song. But you're awfully cute standing there with your hands on your head for the duration of the song.
You are slowly learning more words, although you are grasping so much more than you speak. You have an alphabet book that lists different objects for each letter of the alphabet. You can pick up the closed book and open it to find the airplane, puppy, cat, apple, owl, wagon, moon, train, bird and more if we ask you to. You flip page to page until you find the said object and you get so excited to point it out to us.
In light of not yet having many words, your universal word is "huh?", which you say for anything and everything. It means you want something. It means you don't want something. It means you noticed something or that you are hungry or that you just want the European debt crisis to end. Seriously, every "huh?" you utter is followed by a good few minutes of mommy or daddy trying to figure out what you mean. Once we do find it, we say the word to you or sign the sign, and you're catching on to more words and signs that way.
Over Thanksgiving, you and I flew to Nashville, rented a car and drove down to Huntsville so you could meet your great-grandma Cahalan, the last of your great-grandmothers to meet. While in Huntsville we put you on your deceased great-grandpa's tractor, which was something that I (along with all of our other cousins) did as a child. It was surreal to see you on your grandpa's lap this go around.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving we drove back up to Nashville and attended my dad's wedding to MJ. You were such a good baby throughout all of this travel and despite sleeping and eating at crazy times. And it was so much fun to see you interact with all of this family.
The holiday season is always time to be especially thankful for our many blessings, and we are so incredibly thankful for you.
Love,
Mommy
