July 2012: 22 months

Dear Patrick,

• I love the way you say cheerios “chee-rows” - and even better when you say “chee-rows sea-ruhl” (cheerios cereal).
• This first weekend in July, you and I sat on the floor in the living room and watched some of the Tour de France on television.  It was a nice snugly moment.  I don’t think either of us cared much about the bicycles; I just liked combing my fingers through your hair and tickling your hands.   We stayed that way for a long time, and I was so happy.
• You wanted to “fist bump” the other day and even did the “pow” exploding hand move - who teaches you these things? 
• It was pointed out to me by my good friend Vicky that “life narration” according to Patrick is awesome.  You announce play-by-play observations of life, and it’s very entertaining.  It’s also rather cute how you refer to yourself in 3rd person.    
• You saw your first real train on the way to Macon this month - a “REAL train” - woohoo! I wish I had a camera to capture your expression - pure awe.
• When you said to me, “Mama so beautiful” out of the blue one morning this month, I actually swooned.  In fact, I may swoon at the mere thought of this moment for the rest of my life.
• We watched Wimbledon together, and when asked who is playing, you say “Roger” with this great level of familiarity that makes me laugh.  Its the same tone you use when you see your father’s Marley records. “Bob” you say.  Yep, you keep good company with Roger and your good ol’ buddy Bob.
• “Kiss to wake up” is a new game you created where you switch between kisser and kissie depending on your mood.    
• I witnessed your first act of real pretend the evening of 7/9 when you gave me invisible ice cream to eat - just handed me nothing and we both filled our cheeks with air and said, “yum, yum good!”  I thought this moment was so fascinating - especially since you were dispensing ice cream from an ambulance truck that you pretended was an ice cream truck.  You are amazing.   
• You counted to seven in Spanish - all on your own.  We have no idea who taught you this (perhaps your good friend, Dora?).  And Omi started teaching you to count in German too!
• Sometimes you ask a question and then answer it for us with your desired outcome.  “Watch a movie? Yes, Patrick” you say as if it’s one complete thought.   
• One evening as your father and I were making dinner, you were left alone with your juice box - a mistake we will not make again since you created a game of slinging juice on the floor and walls around you, resulting in a sticky red circle of regret.  Your father made you sit in your first time out.  “Who spilled this juice,” he asked.  “Patrick did it,” you answered quietly with sad, puppy eyes. 
• You walked down the aisle at Katie & Sonny’s wedding like a pro, and everyone cheered.  However, removing you from the spotlight presented its own challenge, but all ended fine and we watched your Aunt and Uncle marry on closed-circuit tv from the cry room.
• You woke up yesterday morning and asked for the remote and ice-cream, and told us that you “need a pop tart.”  You are not scared to ask for the world.  Keep shooting for the moon, my boy.

With all my love,
Mom

June 2012: 21 months

Dear Patrick, here are some notes from the month:

• “Gummies please” you said the other day from your car-seat while your father and I were driving. “We don’t have anymore gummies, Patrick.” After a moment, this little voice from the back said, “Buy some.”
• You call the stuffed lion (a gift from you Uncle Michael) in your room “Waggy.”  Awesome nickname.
• “This is butterfly.  This is apple,” you say now.  Well, this is a big step as you start to add articles of speech to your vocabulary.  
• You like to count, and you try to do it very fast - all the way to 14...only skipping a few numbers along the way.
• We took you to your first baseball game at the Drive Stadium this month.  You liked playing with the folding seat more than watching the players. 
• Sometimes you wake up from a long night of sleep, and you look just like Gene Wilder - in hair only.
• When Jono and Jen came to Greenville this month for Jackson’s baby shower, you seemed to understand there was a baby in Jen’s belly.  I have a sweet photo of you outside of Soby’s restaurant as we waited for our brunch table that Sunday morning.  You put your hand on Jen’s tummy and said hello to your cousin for the first time.
• “Here comes the milk,” you said as you walked your sippy cup up the plank of the toy bus.
• We dug potatoes in the Howell's garden this month.  I was definitely more excited than you about uncovering “easter eggs” hidden in the dirt.  
• You do not like when Robin Hood is captured, or when the rat appears in Lady and the Tramp.  At those times in the videos, you run out of your room and down the hall to look for help.  
• You woke up at 4:00am in the morning crying on 6/23 and your father and I had no idea what was wrong - you never do that.  But as you held my hand and dragged me to the kitchen for “milk and cheese balls,” we learned you were just hungry!  (As an aside, we do feed you - you are just a growing boy this month!)  Then, after your snack, you went right back to sleep without a peep.
• Your “fort” is under the dining room table.  You invite everyone to crawl on their hands and knees and join you. 
• You went to your first day of school this month.  The teachers say you are very “verbal” and “can be reasoned with.”  (They did not say genius, but I think we can obviously assume they are thinking it.) Apparently, you get a little sad right when Gangie drops you off, but Ms. Debbie says you recover quickly.  She also asked that we pack you more food for lunch.  (I swear we feed you.) 
• You can barely walk under the island in the kitchen without bumping your head. 
• You made your father a frame at school for Father’s Day.  It was a cowboy theme, with your little green fingerprints making cactus and you dressed in a straw hat and bandana in the photo.  Your father keeps it by the sink in the bathroom so he can see his little cowboy first thing each morning.
• You tee-teed in the potty this month -- or as you say, "make bubbles in the water."  
• You threw blocks inside while we were playing one evening - after I warned you not to do it...so they were taken away.  There were a lot of tears initially but you haven’t done it again since.  We don’t give into whining.  
• You love your Winnie the Pooh book - the one Omi and Pop read to you.  We can hear their voices.  I like it too.  "Oh, baaa-thaaa" says Pooh (aka Pop).
• Annual beach trip with Sharon & Big Mitchell, Nannie & Papa, cousins and aunts and uncles was this month for a whole week.  Your father and I don’t know the details - only that you came home very happy, and that's enough for us.

I love you so much sweet boy,
Mom

May 2012: 20 months

Dear Patrick, this month:

• You said, “Happy Mudders Day” this month and yes, indeed, you made the day very happy for all of us. 
• One morning, you asked for the “big book,” which is the ipad. I looked around the living room and I didn’t see it so I told you, “I’m sorry, Patrick, I don’t know where it is.” You said, “Dada move?” and I was amazed that option even occurred to you. So I smiled at my brilliant child and simply said in reply, “Yes, maybe your Dad moved it.”  Knowing out of sight is out of mind, I thought that would be the end of the discussion.  Nope.  You paused for a moment and then looked me right in the eye and said, “Ask him.”  Wow...my brilliant, resourceful child - just wow.
• Things you would not realize unless you talked to a twenty-month year old: “Friar Tuck” (a character from Robbin Hood) and “fire truck” sound remarkably the same. 
• You received your second official haircut mid-month.  We’ve discovered the secret to keeping you happy at Great Clips is letting you squirt your father in the face with the water bottle.  Your dad is a good man.
• You love stickers.  Miss April gave you lots of stickers early this month, which we transfer to index cards and put in little photo books for you to carry around - your "sticky books," as you say.
• We’ve moved onto past tense verbs this month.  I handed you the “Runaway Bunny” book that Omi and Pop gave you and you took it to your father and said, “Mama gave.”  As an aside: you quote, “Aw shucks bunny” and “so he did” from the last page of that book.  Its very cute. 
• You love to be a naked baby, and you ask to take your clothes off often.  In fairness, this summer is hot already and there is a lot of sprinkler/baby pool fun to be had, which of course is just better nude.  
• You are starting school next month so Gangie is helping us get organized and prepared for the big day!  She is going to get you your first lunchbox.  Gangie is the best.
• Your dad brought you a computer even though I told him it will be outdated by the time you can you actually “use” it.  But it was explained that this computer was “an original, orange, clamshell Mac iBook” and it was not only sentimental to your father, but apparently only $40 on Craigslist.
• I softly tickle your forehead, cheeks, chin - and say, "butterflies on your face."  With eyes closed, you'll say, "Omi do."  That’s right, buddy -- Omi tickled my face when I was little and now I do it for you.  And you love it just as much as I did!
• Some of my favorite things you say this month are: “Get you Mama,” “fistles,” which are Willy’s favorite food (thistles), “A-choo Patrick,” "Sneaky-sneak," “Hug Mama," "Happy Mudders Day, Da-da!" and "Crawl baby."  
• Owl is a very important member of the family.  We had a scare this month when he went “hiding” at bedtime.  But we found him.  Please don’t ever fly away, Owl.
• My favorite exchange this month between us. Me: "Good Morning, Patrick!  Lets get some breakfast."  Patrick: "pop tart?" Me: "No, lets get some oatmeal instead."  Patrick after a long pause: "Da-da said pop tart."  Oh, he did now, did he?!!
• Although we are struggling with the amount of TV to let you want to watch, it’s so cute when you ask to “hold hand” so you can drag us down the hall to turn on the player (my old VCR player and VHS Disney tapes!) in your room. “Watch movie,” you say.
• We traveled to Macon for Memorial Day Weekend and you had a wonderful time watering the tomatoes and cutting flowers with Pop, playing on the ipad with Omi, splashing in the pool and fountain that your father and Bunky created for you, visiting with the Kings and Tom Hope.  There were also a lot of biscuits given to Winnie. 
  
• Owl use to just be a "crib friend" to help you sleep, but now apparently Owl wants toast for breakfast and makes other such demands, which he articulates through you.  I am particularly pleased that Owl seems to want hugs and kisses most often.  I am full of those.
  I love you, my sweet boy, Mom 
  
  

April 2012: 19 months

Dear Patrick,

• On the morning of April 5th, your dad had to go into work early and I got you up and changed your diaper and brought you to the couch with your owl lovie.  As you sipped on your juice and rested your little head (so warm and lovely) on my chest, I thought the day couldn't start more perfect.   
  
• I’m amazed how you are putting words and complete thoughts together.  You asked, “Gangie come?” and then later in the month, “Mama, Chair, Up” so you could watch me cut vegetables for dinner.  I also love how you say "Get that" or "Read this." 
  
• The transition away from bottles has gone really well.  We now read one book cuddled in the chair in your room and then you say, “bed!” and point to your crib.  You roll around, play and talk to yourself until you fall asleep.
  
• You have an amazing memory. You can say the end of nursery rhymes, which is absolutely fascinating to me.  “Humpty-Dumpty” and “Wee-Willy-Winkie” are your favorites.  And you can fill in the numbers “2, 3, 8 and 10” when we count.  And you know (about 90% of the time) the colors black, blue, orange, pink, white and red.
  
• Uncle Sonny and Aunt Katie came to visit you over Easter, and you may have a tiny crush on Aunt Katie - but who doesn’t?!  We all do.
  
• My new favorite word that you say so clearly and beautifully is “honeydew” and you say all three syllables perfectly. There is just no way to type it as cute as you say it.  I want to make it my ringtone.  (At the end of the month, you said “honeysuckle” - your first four syllable word. I also love the way you say “headcake” for headache.)
  
• I gave you your second official “trim” haircut the evening of 4/11 and only nicked you once. I then had to sticky-roll you up and down to collect the pixie dust hair that fell on your clothes, the floor and couch.  You never took your eyes off Dora the Explorer.
  
• We’ve had our first experience with a mini temper-tantrum this month. You asked me for “canny” (candy) one evening and I said, “no.”  So, you thought for a moment and then turned without missing a beat to your father and asked him.  When he said no you thought the world would end and told us all about it.
  
• You like to put on your monkey boots and jump in the puddle at the end of the Turner’s driveway.  
  
• Pop came to visit mid-month and you showed him how you can slide at the park, “jump,” which is basically raising one foot off the floor, and “dance” by moving your arms up and down like a monkey.
  
• Gerald has been updating the front yard this month and you ask about the Bobcat and Hank's shovel often.
• I love that you think the lawnmower naps.
• You are such a sensitive soul.  We mentioned that Nana (Nannie) had arm surgery and you are so worried about her.  Anytime we mention Nannie’s name, you immediately say, “arm” and touch your own arm.  Then Aunt Su Su came to visit and had a bandage on her hand and every few mins you would check on it.  Also, Mr. Frumble, a character in one of your books, lost his hat and you get this very worried look on your face and ask about “hat” with wrinkled eyebrows out of the blue. 
  
  
  I love you very much, 
  Mom

March 2012: 18 months

Dear Patrick,

We are the proud parents of a year and a half year old, as of today!  Wow.

• You say (or rather repeat, my little parrot,) everything we say.  Everything.  And you know words for things I don’t even remember teaching you! For example, the other day you pointed to a rock and said “moss.”  And there was indeed moss on that rock!  How did you know that word?
• You spent five days at the beach with your grandparents (BB/Grammie) and your GREAT grandparents (Papa/Nannie) and your Aunt Su-Su, and you had a wonderful time.  They said you didn't cry once.  Of course, they also gave you everything your heart desired.
• We pulled out the humidifier and had the doctor prescribe allergy medicine for you this month.  Spring came early and has covered your world in yellow pollen dust.  So, you’ve been waking up in the middle of the night because you can’t breathe through a stuffy nose.  It hurts my heart.
• You have now started saying words in the middle of the sentences that you hear - not just the last word.  “Do you want to go to the park?” we might ask, and you’ll repeat the word “want” or “go,” in addition to saying “park.”  It’s like we can actually watch your little brain work to remember all the parts of the sentence.  It’s fascinating.
• Your doctor thinks you should stop drinking from bottles this month. Personally, I wouldn’t care if you took your bottle to college, but I respect the doctor’s advice.  So at the end of the month, we have moved to a sippy cup and the transition is going fine.  A little crying and thrashing around in your crib but you get over it and are asleep within ten minutes.
• Pop came to visit you in the middle of the month and after he left, you thought you saw Pop everywhere.  “Pop!” you shouted at the butcher.  “Pop!” you say as you point to strangers on the street.  (We’ve got to get Pop back here again soon.)   
• Your toenails are crazy.  I’ll never get over it.  Even on the day you were born, you were this little perfect nugget with crazy, crooked toenails.  
• You love to draw (“write,” you say) with pens and markers. And I know its only a matter of time before the house is your canvas, but for now you’ve kept your masterpieces on paper.
• At your 18 month check-up, you were 90% height and 40% weight.  When the nurse walked in the room you said, "heeeey" and waved.  However, when the doctor walked in you started to cry and said "nooooo...." It was sweet and pitiful.
• Your father and I are planning to travel to Macon to celebrate Omi’s retirement the last weekend of the month, so you will be with Grammie and BB.  My guess is that you will eat your weight in Reese's pieces and acquire a few more toys this weekend.  Oh, its good to be 1.5!

Love always,
Mom

February 2012: 17 months

 

Dear Patrick,

Today is Leap Year and we are celebrating your seventeen months by thinking how quickly they have "leaped" by.  Here are the highlights from the month: 

• You announced to us on Superbowl Sunday morning that you had just pooped.  Thanks, buddy.
• Grammy and I went to the “switch-a-roo” consignment event and bought you 18 month winter clothes and some 24 month summer outfits.
• It was 70 degrees on February 5th - a beautiful day in the middle of winter.
• The official sign language for "please" is done by making a small circular movement on your chest with one hand.  You say please by rubbing your whole body up and down.  Sometimes with both hands. 
• You desperately want to be able to jump but can't understand yet how to get both feet off the ground. 
• Your face broke your fall on the driveway this month and earned you the nickname “Bruiser Byrd.”
• You started a music class with Grammy this month.  I’m not sure you knew what to make of the other kids sitting in a circle singing songs.  You got up and stood right in the middle of it all - the center of attention.
• You made a new friend: “Snowy” the owl.  And when we read the "Owl Babies" book you say “No-eee," and run to get her because she must so obviously be their cousin.
• You have more little bumps and bruises this month than ever before - everyday, everywhere.
• You don’t have much hair to cut but we took you for your first official “trimming” on Monday 2/20 at Great Clips.  You didn’t like the bib-cover (which we didn't use), but really enjoyed the swivel chair and squirt bottle.  
• We took you to visit “school” this month at Fourth Presbyterian church and hope to enroll you two mornings a week in their summer program starting in June.
• You love to hide in the closet under your father's shirts. We say "Where is Patrick?  Is he here?" And you say, "no."  
• You love to dance, sit in the car and pretend to drive, and play "tee-he-he" (a game you and your father made-up) in the pillows on the bed.
• The child development books state that most babies your age can say ten words.  But you, my son, are a linguistical superstar.  You can say: fish, juice, dis (this), wa-wa (water), no, man, bonga (bone), ta-ta (thank you), bean, wrecker (record), dudes (garbage dude - thanks Grammie) mote (remote control for the TV), poon (spoon), bush (brush), broom, mop, soup, keeni (zucchini), canny (candy), bike, moon, rain, shoes, ball, ollies (olives), ownie (onion), hole, write (and you love to scribble on paper), truck, bus, poop, tee-tee, wooka (worker), hoops, railroad, stick, blue, black, sand, soap, gone, circle (and you know the shape), ba-ba (bottle), moaw-moaw, (mailman), heeey (and you always wave when you say it), mama, dada, barr (bear), taxi, sticky (which you use for sticker too), one two (and you can count), boo-boo, nose, knee, copper (helicopter), yucky, sneaky, meow, moo, Ganggie (Grammie), Nanny (Nana), Papa, Bunk, Gin-gin (Ginny his friend up the street), Noey (Snowy the owl), bee, buzz, toast, Backer (Baker the cat) and Pop (for your grandfather Neil and pop-tarts.) You also say “night” for the book “Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site,” and something that sounds like “Road Work,” another favorite book this month.

January 2012: 16 months

Dear Patrick, starting off the new year this month:

• I bought a children’s song CD to play in the car and you love it.  Especially the “Ants go Marching” but you really love all songs.  If you are ever upset and someone begins to sing any melody at all - you will forget your worries and stop to listen.
• You love the moon and look for it in the sky all the time now - day or night.  You point upwards and say “moooon.”
• You play “ah-boo” with Dad on his iphone.  And then you bring the game to the dining room table when you peek over the top to look at us on the other side.  I can't see your mouth (only your eyes) but I know you are smiling.  Your height amazes me since just last month, we watched you walk under the table without bumping your head.  
• If you are talking to us and we aren’t giving you our full attention (the quality attention you deserve!) you pull our faces to look at you.
• Uncky and your father do push-ups in the living room and you run over and jump on their backs.
• We took you to the Mexican place around the corner for dinner the night of Monday 1/16 and you had no desire to sit at the table in the high chair they provided.  Good thing its so loud in there.  Your father and I took turns noisily walking the length of the restaurant as you visited other patrons, splashed in the fountain, banged on the windows.
• You have both bottom molars in now.
• You are going to bed closer to 8:00pm vs 7:30.
• You can open the front door, which is scary.  So it now has to stay locked at all times because you desperately want to get outside.  Even when you are wearing nothing but a diaper...in the middle of winter.  Did I mention its January?  
• You love to taunt Cooper.  You demand to have a bone (“bonga”) from the pantry only to wave it in Cooper’s face and run in the other direction.  And when Cooper does finally take it, you cry buckets of tears in surprise.
• You don’t say “please” often but when you do it sounds like “plah.”
• We sing “Naked Baby Time” and no matter where you are in the house you go running for the bathroom to stand by the tub.
• You were always a good eater, but you’ve become a little picky lately.  Your father has gone so far as to write on the grocery list not actual "things" but instead phrases like “More exciting dinners for P” or “Ideas for breakfast?” We are trying.