Dear Graham, Months 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 (Part 1)

(After finishing this entire post, I realized it was way too long to hold anyone’s attention. So just consider this first of a two part series.)

Dear Graham,

Yes, I am aware that this is five months of letters. And yes, I am aware that this will likely be a long post.

But, I have two really good reasons for both.

1.       You are going to be a big brother.

2.       We now live in Florida.

It’s amazing how 13 words can summarize an inordinate amount of change, work, excitement, exhaustion, worry, and hopefulness. And did I mention exhaustion?

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s get started where we stopped off in your last monthly letters.

Month 31

For being a short month, February was a full one for us. For starters, I had to teach you the words, “I’m going to be a big brother.” Which is exactly how you told your daddy the news that our family would be expanding by one.

Other (huge! incredible! exciting!) news for the month is that you officially were potty trained. While you certainly are proud of each time you “pee pee in the potty”, your mommy and daddy are so, so much more so. You sport a cute collection of underwear featuring Lightening McQueen, Elmo and the characters from Toy Story, although you ask to wear your Lightening ones almost every day.

Valentine’s Day this year was even more fun as you now know more and more of the characters that adorn the various valentines you received. You also discovered that some valentines are accompanied by candy, which you had a good time enjoying.

You didn’t get the memo that Christmas isn’t celebrated year-round, so your movie of choice continued to be The Polar Express and one morning when I was getting ready for work and you were waking up in your crib I heard you singing Jingle Bells to yourself over the monitor. Speaking of Polar Express, there are a few scenes in the movie that you don’t necessarily appreciate, but instead of asking me to turn it off or fast forward, you cover your eyes with your little hands and every once in a while you’ll spread your fingers wide enough to see if that part is over. It’s precious and endearing all at the same time.

Also in February, we went to a “Touch the Truck” event in The Woodlands. It essentially was a gathering of all your favorite things: buses, garbage trucks, a helicopter, a fire truck, ambulance, a monster truck and more. We spent lots of time walking from vehicle to vehicle and getting on each, until you found the ICE Truck. You see, the ICE Truck had lots of computers onboard, with a small little holding cell in the back. You could care less for everything about this truck, except for the fact that the ICE agents had put cartoons on one of the computers. So you wanted to sit right there in front of the computer and watch the cartoons, despite the many other kids and parents who were walking through the truck to get the tour. I finally distracted you enough to get off the truck, and we made sure to stay far away from that truck during the rest of our time there.

In what is seemingly a routine thing to do, we also got your hair cut this month. We take you to a place that has videos to watch and where you sit in an airplane during your actual haircut. While that makes you sit still during the haircut, what really drives you to want to go there is the fact that they have a train table. And you get to play it before and after your haircut. This apparently made such an impression on you that you now know where the hair salon is located (which unfortunately for me is right by the Target we frequent) and you ask to go to it anytime we pass it. When I tell you that you don’t need another haircut yet,  you respond with saying, “But I do need one, momma. My hair is long.”

Month 32

March brings some of the nicest weather we experience in Houston during the year, so we spent much of the month outside. You continue to love to play with your water table, but you’ve now turned it into a ramp for your matchbox cars to slide down on in the water.  You also spent a lot of time in your jump house this month, and you continue to want to have mommy or daddy jump with you. This would ordinarily not be a problem for your mom, but seeing as how my morning sickness peaked at its worst in March, about the last thing I wanted to be doing was jumping up and down.

So, we compensated with lots of other fun activities, like play-dough, St. Patrick’s Day crafts and helping mommy make green smoothies, which is something you love to drink without realizing the health benefits simply because they are your favorite color.

With March in Houston comes the rodeo, a tradition that’s unlike any other. Normally we mark the rodeo by actually going to the rodeo and watching one of the many country music concerts, but this year we took the kid-friendly route and took you to the rodeo for the first time. We knew you would love the many animals, and we were a bit unsure about how you would do on the rides. Spoiler alert: you loved them all.

We started the day off early before the crowds hit and you got to see all of the animals you cared to see. They also had a petting zoo area and you were a bit shy with the very boisterous goats, who apparently are very used to being fed. Once you realized that you could hold your hand out for them to eat right out of, you got the hang of it very quickly. When we were leaving the goats you saw what you called a “carousel” but in all actuality was the pony rides. We went to go wait in line for you to ride the pony and you asked about 1 million times to get on one right now. You had ridden a pony at Charlie’s birthday party about six months earlier and still were talking of the experience, so it was definitely something you were excited to do again. When it was finally your turn, you rode like such a big boy and had a smile on your face the entire time.

Next came the rides. You were tall enough for many of them, and you walked from ride to ride picking out which one you wanted to go on next. We would pay, buckle you in, and wave good-bye as we watched from the approved distance behind the gates. And once the ride would start, you would have a smile on your face the entire time.  Apparently though, you had too much of a good time and didn’t want to leave when it was time to go. So we went from being that family with an adorable 2-year-old who loved the animals and rides to that family with a screaming 2-year-old as we pushed you in your stroller out of the parks. Good times in the life of a toddler.

At the end of the month, we flew to Chicago for a quick Easter weekend trip to meet your cousin Nikolas for the first time and to participate in his baptism. It had been awhile since you had seen all of your cousins and you were excited to play with Emelie and Christopher.

As always, you loved the airplane ride and everything associated with going to the airport. Your schedule, however, was pretty thrown off with flying during naps and late evenings. On Saturday, the baptism was performed at an Easter vigil service that evening, which meant we didn’t get home until after 10:00 that night. Once we got you in bed, we thought you would sleep well, but instead you were up at 4:00 a.m. (yes, that ugly hour does exist) and ready to celebrate the Easter bunny coming. No amount of coaxing could get you to go back to sleep.

Once we finally got to a decent hour where the rest of the house awoke, we went downstairs in search of what the Easter bunny had left overnight. You liked combing through your basket, although you really cared less for hunting for Easter eggs or eating any of the candy contained inside those eggs. Your cousins (minus Nikolas) made up for your lack of excitement by helping you find the eggs.

Thankfully you (and mommy and daddy) took a long nap before it was time to pack up and fly home the evening of Easter. Despite being tired, you were great on the plane watching Polar Express (on Easter).

Stay tuned for part 2…