(There are no pictures in this post because I need to access our backup hard drive and that's giving me some problems but I didn't want to delay the post any longer. I promise lots of pictures in the next post to make up for it. :)
Dear Graham,
You
are two! And when asked how old you are, you proudly reply “two!”
Although I am witnessing your growth live every day, somehow I feel like
I put my swaddled baby boy down for bed one night and came in the next
morning to discover a big boy. A big boy who likes to hand me every
single item out of his crib in the morning as if leaving one stuffed
animal or blanket behind would be a form of solitary confinement. A big
boy who wraps both arms around my neck and squeezes tight when giving
hugs. A big boy who will respond with “mommy, daddy and Graham” when
asked who is in our family.
Your
language development continues to be such a fascinating thing to
witness. I have realized lately that I don’t want to restrict your
growth by thinking you may be too young or that you may not understand,
so I try to explain everything to you, from red lights meaning “stop” to
trying to explain what “pride” meant when we watched nonstop Olympics.
Speaking of the Olympics, you might have been their biggest two-year old
fan. We watched them pretty much nonstop during the two weeks they were
on, with sports ranging from bicycling to gymnastics to track and field
to soccer and all those others in between. Anytime you would hear NBC
play the Olympic melody, you would say Olympics (which sounded strangely
like “pimp-ics,” a fact your daddy found incredibly funny) and run to
the TV. Basketball was your favorite and you couldn’t quite understand
why it wasn’t on every time you wanted it to be.
Speaking
of your TV frustrations, I have realized lately just how spoiled you
are by the DVR. You don’t watch a lot of TV, but the TV you do watch is
either on DVDs or our DVR. Sesame Street works great for the DVR, as
there are no commercials. However, your new favorite movie is Cars,
which we recorded on DVR. I think if we were to let you, Cars would be
on all.day.long. You can’t get enough of that movie. But you can
get enough of the commercials in the movie. You know that they can be
fast forwarded through and so any time one comes on, you want to fast
forward to get back to the movie. I dread the day you learn about live
TV and the fact that you’ll actually have to wait through those 90
seconds of commercials. Oh, the agony.
We went on a quick weekend trip to visit your Granddad and Grand-Gale during your 24th month. If I have my math correct, this was the 17th
round trip flight of your first 24 months, and your last one that you
are considered to be a lap child. You have long loved airplanes and
everything about them, but on this trip it was fun to see you notice so
many other details. You know what the cockpit is, and what wings and
engines are. You liked to watch them put fuel in the airplanes and load
the bags. You were loving all things flying until I happened to mention
that we were going to get on a bus when we landed to go to our car. And
boy did you want on that bus. Right now. When we were at 30,000 feet.
There was no amount of explaining that I could do to get you to
understand that there was no way to get on the bus at that moment. It
taught me an important lesson of the timing of your communication.
We
had a great time in Florida and squeezed in an afternoon at the beach.
It had actually had been just over a year since you had been to the
beach (I know, we are bad parents) and your daddy and I were both eager
to see how you would react. You were timid at first, but then you
discovered all of the fun that sand, water and sun can offer and you
didn’t look back. You somehow thought it would be a good idea to try to
eat a bite of sand, and you quickly learned that was not your best idea.
But playing in a large hole someone dug and left behind was lots of fun
to you!
Of
all your developments, perhaps the one that stood out the most was one
that involved a little boy at school, Kash. You see, Kash was new to the
school and new to your class and was having a hard time adjusting. When
I would come in to get you in the afternoons, Kash would cry and the
teachers said it was because I looked like his mommy. So one day when I
was picking you up Kash was crying so I picked him up before you ran
over to me. You didn’t quite know what to do seeing me show affection to
another boy. He calmed down and I handed him to the teacher and
swallowed you up with hugs. On the drive home, I explained to you that
Kash was sad and that you needed to share with him, give him hugs and
play with him to help make him feel better and to not be so sad.
The next day at school when I was picking you up the teacher told me that you had a new friend. “Oh, yeah?” I asked? “Who?”
“Kash. Graham kept holding his hand and giving him hugs and playing with him today.”
Graham
Mason, I could not have been more proud of you in that moment. I know
empathy is a big word for two-year-old, but it wasn’t too big of an
action a two-year-old. Being empathetic to others is something that I
hope you will grasp on to and never let go. It doesn’t matter how big
you will get, how much money you may make or what career path you may
choose. Recognizing, acknowledging and responding to someone else’s
emotion will never be below you.
Love,
Mommy
