Dear Graham, 22 Months

Dear Graham,

Every night when we say prayers together before I put you down to sleep I thank God for the joy that you bring to our lives. This month, I added to it a prayer for those times that aren’t as joyful too. Yes, during the last month you have decided you have an opinion. And you usually voice that opinion with a “no,” even if you don’t know what it means or what’s being asked or if you just won the lottery. Because of this new trait, I have placed a hold on several library books that talk about parenting for toddlers. Hopefully they get in soon. 

But with that opinion of yours has come a whole new world of discovery. I can share with you all kinds of things from trees to flowers to bugs to sports and here’s the kicker: you actually remember what I shared with you the next day. Or the next week. It’s exciting to see how your little brain has expanded to include the ability to recall more and more. It also means I can no longer let you do something “just one time” because you’ll know and want to do it a thousand more times.

This recall ability has also impacted your memorization of songs, the alphabet, books and numbers. You complete the last word of many of the pages of your books and you can count to 15, but still skipping the numbers 6 and 7 just to get to 8 a bit faster. You love singing and music and when I ask you if you want to sing a song you’ll say yes, but then when I start to sing a song that apparently isn’t the one you want, you quickly say “no.” And I never pick the right song to sing first. So our little conversation typically goes like this:

Me: “Twinkle, twinkle?”

You: “No.”

Me: “Old MacDonald had a farm?”

You: “No.”

Me, “Row, row, row your boat?”

You: “No.”

Me: “B-I-N-G-O?”

You: “No.”

Me: “Itsy, bitsy spider?”

You: “No.”

Me: “Wheels on the bus?"

You: “No.”

Me: (Starting to wonder how many kids songs are left in the universe) “Where is thumbkin?”

You: “YES!”

Except you say it in this way that’s like “Duh, mom! Of course I want Where is thumbkin, why didn’t you know that and we could have been saved from the last 5 minutes of conversation.” But the next time when you want to sing and I start with Where is thumbkin that’s not the song you want, so the above conservation ensues again.

We traveled to Florida again during your 22^nd month to celebrate your Uncle Troy’s college graduation from a school that’s not quite as good as Florida State. Fortunately though, mommy’s best friend from growing up lives in the same town as the aforementioned school and kindly volunteered for us to stay with her and to watch you during the ceremony. She has two little boys and you had so much fun joining right in to play with them. Aside from a few times that you wondered where your mommy had gone, you were great and loved playing. In fact, when we left the next day and flew back to Houston, you would say Noah and Asher’s names and then say “bye-bye.” 

You now comprehend that your daddy flies airplanes and so every airplane you see you say “daddy.” You also point to the pilots in your airport book (which is one of your favorites) and say daddy. During your 22^nd month you also started to understand the concept of “on.” As in I want to get “on” the airplane or “on” the bus or “on” [insertanythingthatmoveshere]. So, when we drive to school in the morning and see a bus, you say “on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on.” So I say, “Do you want to get on the bus, Graham?” And you say “yeah.” Then you do it again.

This was cute for about the first 1,000 times. But when we’re stuck in traffic on a 10 lane road surrounded by things you want to get “on,” let’s just say it gets a bit repetitive.

You continue to be such a boy through and through. You love your cars, trains, bugs, sports of any kind on TV (which is fascinating to me), any type of roughhousing and being put up on daddy’s shoulders.

I love seeing you on your daddy’s shoulders the most…my two favorite people holding onto one another. 

Love,

Mommy