Dear Ransom,
You are four years old! Something you are VERY excited about! Having an August Birthday is a little hard when all your friends in preschool are having birthday parties 6 months before you! However, we eventually made it and you turned four in great style!
Our friend Dub Dub let us visit her airplane hangar, where you got to sit inside two airplanes and a helicopter, as well as watch planes take off and fly low overhead! One of the coolest things about your party this year was that ALL of your cousins were in attendance! We were having a family reunion with Nana's side of the family and so all 12 of your cousins got to come! You felt very special.
This year has been full of fun for you and your Mommy has loved ( almost) every minute! At the beginning of the year I was worried that someone had gotten it wrong and that it was actually the "terrible threes" not the terrible twos! But after walking out of a couple of targets because of tantrums you calmed down considerably. This year you sent your beloved Paci to live with another littler boy who needed a paci more than you. You took it VERY well! And we went to a trampoline place called Amazing Jump as a reward!
Since you were potty trained last year, you now know that you can go to the potty by yourself. However, that's a luxury your own mother hasnt had for several years now. This year during one of our family visits to the potty where you and Tabitha patiently waited for Mommy to do her business, you announced encouragingly that one day "You'll be able to go to the potty all by yourself too!" to Mommy. She's happy to know there is an end in sight.
This year you went to Saint David's Episcopal School two days a week and were in Ms. Amy's class. You really loved your school and by the second half of the year, you'd really found your stride. Your two best friends were Mary Wesley and Audrey. You are kind of a big hit with the girls. However, on Valentine's Day when all the kids in your class were helping your teacher decide what she should get her husband for V-day, you piped up very excitedly. You hopped up and down and said, "You should get him a big....big....biiiiiiggg.....*pause for affect*......CRAP!" Your teachers were luckily able to hold it together long enough to tell you that that was a good idea, and then they couldn't WAIT for Mommy to come pick you up at school to tell me what you'd said!
While you are very very good with the english language there are still a few things you haven't quite mastered, and I have to admit I kind of love how you say some things differently....for instance you said "Brooming instead of sweeping", "Gunning" instead of shooting and "work-outing" instead of "working out". Also in learning about Pirates you learned about their mascot the "Jolly Rodger"...you got it a liiiiitle backwards and spent a goodly amount of time calling it the "Jolly codger" and when we then taught you what "an old codger" is ( no idea why...) you said "Cold Roger" instead. Fun times.
You still love books and usually have at least 3 books read to you at nap time and then two more, plus your bible story at bedtime. This year you've really gotten into "Lego books" which are easy-reader books with pictures of legos that we get from the library. This isn't surprising since you got Legos for Christmas and will send happy hours at the dining room table playing with your legos ( anything other than towers we build for you). You also like super hero books ( also little easy readers with pictures of comic book heroes) you learned about various super heroes from school and will spend a lot of time playing dress up or playing pretend fighting bad guys. The best time of the day is after dinner when you run around shooting bad guys and protecting Mommy and Tabitha. You enjoy saying, "this is very danger" in a gleeful sort of way when we are pretending.
Your other favorite books are the Bernstein Bears. One day you asked to read the "Crack House" book and at first Mommy was a little taken back. She didn't remember The Bernstein Bears and the Crack House, but then she remembered they'd been reading a lot of The Bernstein Bears and the Worst Vacation Ever, sure enough, the house with "all the cracks" was the one Ransom wanted to read!
You were continually surprising me this year with the things you picked up, for instance I didn't know you had any concept of money until one day you saw a stand selling Spurs championship shirts on the side of the road while we were waiting for a traffic light, and you announced, " I wish I had some cash. Id buy two jerseys one for me and one for lily ( my friend Lindsay's daughter who came to visit this year). Do you have any cash? When I get some cash I'm gonna buy a jersey....
considering mommy usually uses plastic, I have no idea where this conversation came from but it was pretty cute at the time!
You actually really started enjoying sports this year. Daddy took you to your first year baseball game with the San Antonio Missions playing the Rough Riders. You LOOOOOVED the mascots and that is what you talked about for days. You also discussed the players as the "good guys in red" and the "bad guys in black".....you liked to pretend to be the guys in black ( its more fun to be the bad guys, I guess) . I was wondering if you'd learned anything about real baseball from the experience, but apparently you did! You and Daddy play catch and hit a lot, and you're actually remarkably good at hitting the ball!
You also saw several basketball games on TV ( thanks to those Champions the Spurs!) and also The World Cup introduced you to soccer as well! You now have a basketball hoop and a soccer net in the back yard! What a lucky boy you are!
You and Tabitha get along pretty well for the most part, while there is some violence on your part when she takes something that you wanted to play with or even look at certain toys, and you're also continually taking her stuffed animals and putting them in your bed ( you are very much "connected" to any and every stuffed animal that you see....whether its at a friends house or visiting family, if you see a stuffed animal you strongly suggest that maybe it wants to come home with you, and that it will "miss you" when you leave....we have to keep a close watch on you! You've already got a healthy dozen sleeping in your bed right now! Currently "Panda ( who you 'adopted' from Mimi when you were visiting Nana's house this year) and Bear and Lamb are still the favorites, but all the others are important too).
But in general you enjoy Tabitha's company and you're always dragging her along for your various games. It is helpful to have her around because you do not like to be in a room by yourself. It doesn't matter if the other people in the room are necessarily interacting with you ( though that is the hope!) but you definitely don't like being alone!
We did a video interview with you again this year and this is what you said:
Your favorite color: Blue
Favorite food: Strawberries
Favorite book: "I can't decide."- Bernstein Bears Have a Sitter
Best friend: Audrey and Mary Wesley
Favorite show: Little Bear
Favorite Movie: The Incredibles
Favorite thing about School: My teacher and the playground
Favorite thing to play: Trucks and cars
Favorite toy: Teeth ( silly boy!)
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Thursday, August 8, 2013
3 years old
Dear Ransom,
You are going to be 3 years old tomorrow. Right now you are in your room singing to yourself. You do this a lot. Sing to yourself. And to anyone that will listen. Lately you've been making up songs or just singing random words. Like your babysitters name over and over again or how Baby Jesus was a little boy once ( hmm) or how you'd like to be a dinosaur. All classic Ransom songs. You particularly like to sing if you have your guitar handy. In fact, that little orange Ukulele that we got for you over a year ago has not had a single day without being played with! You definitely love your music.
You now know several "adult" songs by heart and will sing them along with us if the mood strikes you. Your favorite and most requested is Amazing Grace. But you also like Take My Life and Let it Be and How Deep the Father's Love for Us. Those are your favorite for sure.
In looking back over this year I feel like the best way to describe you is going from a toddler to a little boy. It probably moved the process along that you had to spend three months without your Mommy and Daddy while we fought for Tabitha's life. During that time you experienced many new things and adjusted very well to new situations and people. We were so very proud of you! It helped that you always knew that you were loved and safe-being with Papa and Spicy and Nana is really not a trial! You probably had way more fun than if you'd been with Mommy all that time! But you did get to spend most weekends with me at the Ronald McDonald House ( or the Ol' MacDonald House as you called it) and there were just TONS of fun things there!
After your months of spoiling, you got a little sister, Tabitha. You were very sweet to her right away and definitely understood that she'd been in Mommy's tummy all that time and she was finally out! You very much appreciated the fact that she gave you a truck and a race car for being born. She is now 7 months old and you have varying interest in her. Mostly you just make sure we don't forget her when we're going places ( not that we would!) and you always pray for her first in your nightly prayers. You will periodically ask to hold her, but a few seconds is more than enough. You are not very excited, however, about her being about to reach your things or sit near you when you're playing. We suspect that it will be quite the horrible shock when she becomes mobile! But we pray that you will love and take care of her like a good big brother!
This year you definitely learned about geography! You learned about Georgia and Texas when we moved for Fort Benning, GA to San Antonio Tx. You definitely are enjoying some of the fun things to do in San Antonio and you very much like how much closer we are to Nacogdoches! You miss your family there a lot!
Some of your little quirks that we're currently enjoying are that you've moved from asking where various people are, to asking what we're going to do next. I have to give you a running itinerary of the day continually. You also like to ask "Why?" ALL. THE. TIME.
You love your Bear and Lamby and Paci. Incidentally, Bear is a boy, Lamby is a girl and Paci is also a boy. Its a little bit upsetting that you have personified Paci-especially since we'll hopefully getting rid of 'him' soon. While you are currently only allowed paci in bed, you will often visit him many many times during a day. If you are being particularly quiet or have disappeared, one can almost always bet that they'll find you lounging in your bed snuggling with your stuffed friends and getting a drag off of paci.
You are constantly saying funny things and have a very extensive vocabulary. In fact, pretty much everyone you talk to comments at how advanced you are in the speech department. You are very easy to understand which is also nice. I'm not sure why, but I'd hazard a guess that your love for books hasn't turn this particular advancement. I recently counted your books-the ones you read regularly-and you have 117!! We average reading out loud about 15 books a day and you're currently a big fan of the Bernstain Bears and the Little Bear books.
You also enjoy watching the Little Bear show and Mister Rogers Neighborhood in the mornings on the ipad. Your parents, who are NOT morning people, appreciate that you are also a "slow morning person". Your routine is to wake up around 7, yell that you want to get up ( you never get up on your own from naps or mornings), go to the potty ( we started potty training in June and you're pretty much 100% accomplished with only a few accidents here and there in August), then climb into bed with Bear, Lamby and Paci with the ipad. Watch an episode of ( currently Mister Rogers) then yell that you want Oatmeal. You are reminded that you have to ask nicely. Then you have your oatmeal which has usually been made and is cooling for you while you've watched your show. What a nice life you have!
This year you learned your letter sounds to go along with your knowledge of the alphabet, numbers, colors and shapes. You also know how to spell your own name and how old you are. You love to play doctor, playing with your brand new train set, your cars and trucks on your road rug, and riding your balance bike ( which you are incredibly fast on!).
Tomorrow I will interview you about your favorite things, and who knows what you will say, but this is what *I* would guess is the correct answer:
Who is your best friend: Kilsyth
What is your favorite book: Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, Richard Scarry
Favorite movie: Winnie the Pooh
Favorite TV show: Mister Rogers
Favorite Food: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Favorite Drink: "Juice" ( which he rarely gets)
Favorite things to do: ride his bike
Favorite Subject in school: just getting to go is pretty exciting
Favorite Song: Its a Beautiful Day in the neighborhood
You are a very happy little boy who is continually exclaiming "My isn't it a beautiful day?"...whether its daytime or nighttime or whether its raining or sunny or cold. It is your saying for when you are particularly happy, and it never fails to make ME happy hearing it come out of your mouth. Thank you for always posing it as a question and therefore making me stop and realize that it IS a beautiful day! Especially because we get to have you as a son!
We love you so much,
Mommy and Daddy
You are going to be 3 years old tomorrow. Right now you are in your room singing to yourself. You do this a lot. Sing to yourself. And to anyone that will listen. Lately you've been making up songs or just singing random words. Like your babysitters name over and over again or how Baby Jesus was a little boy once ( hmm) or how you'd like to be a dinosaur. All classic Ransom songs. You particularly like to sing if you have your guitar handy. In fact, that little orange Ukulele that we got for you over a year ago has not had a single day without being played with! You definitely love your music.
You now know several "adult" songs by heart and will sing them along with us if the mood strikes you. Your favorite and most requested is Amazing Grace. But you also like Take My Life and Let it Be and How Deep the Father's Love for Us. Those are your favorite for sure.
In looking back over this year I feel like the best way to describe you is going from a toddler to a little boy. It probably moved the process along that you had to spend three months without your Mommy and Daddy while we fought for Tabitha's life. During that time you experienced many new things and adjusted very well to new situations and people. We were so very proud of you! It helped that you always knew that you were loved and safe-being with Papa and Spicy and Nana is really not a trial! You probably had way more fun than if you'd been with Mommy all that time! But you did get to spend most weekends with me at the Ronald McDonald House ( or the Ol' MacDonald House as you called it) and there were just TONS of fun things there!
After your months of spoiling, you got a little sister, Tabitha. You were very sweet to her right away and definitely understood that she'd been in Mommy's tummy all that time and she was finally out! You very much appreciated the fact that she gave you a truck and a race car for being born. She is now 7 months old and you have varying interest in her. Mostly you just make sure we don't forget her when we're going places ( not that we would!) and you always pray for her first in your nightly prayers. You will periodically ask to hold her, but a few seconds is more than enough. You are not very excited, however, about her being about to reach your things or sit near you when you're playing. We suspect that it will be quite the horrible shock when she becomes mobile! But we pray that you will love and take care of her like a good big brother!
This year you definitely learned about geography! You learned about Georgia and Texas when we moved for Fort Benning, GA to San Antonio Tx. You definitely are enjoying some of the fun things to do in San Antonio and you very much like how much closer we are to Nacogdoches! You miss your family there a lot!
Some of your little quirks that we're currently enjoying are that you've moved from asking where various people are, to asking what we're going to do next. I have to give you a running itinerary of the day continually. You also like to ask "Why?" ALL. THE. TIME.
You love your Bear and Lamby and Paci. Incidentally, Bear is a boy, Lamby is a girl and Paci is also a boy. Its a little bit upsetting that you have personified Paci-especially since we'll hopefully getting rid of 'him' soon. While you are currently only allowed paci in bed, you will often visit him many many times during a day. If you are being particularly quiet or have disappeared, one can almost always bet that they'll find you lounging in your bed snuggling with your stuffed friends and getting a drag off of paci.
You are constantly saying funny things and have a very extensive vocabulary. In fact, pretty much everyone you talk to comments at how advanced you are in the speech department. You are very easy to understand which is also nice. I'm not sure why, but I'd hazard a guess that your love for books hasn't turn this particular advancement. I recently counted your books-the ones you read regularly-and you have 117!! We average reading out loud about 15 books a day and you're currently a big fan of the Bernstain Bears and the Little Bear books.
You also enjoy watching the Little Bear show and Mister Rogers Neighborhood in the mornings on the ipad. Your parents, who are NOT morning people, appreciate that you are also a "slow morning person". Your routine is to wake up around 7, yell that you want to get up ( you never get up on your own from naps or mornings), go to the potty ( we started potty training in June and you're pretty much 100% accomplished with only a few accidents here and there in August), then climb into bed with Bear, Lamby and Paci with the ipad. Watch an episode of ( currently Mister Rogers) then yell that you want Oatmeal. You are reminded that you have to ask nicely. Then you have your oatmeal which has usually been made and is cooling for you while you've watched your show. What a nice life you have!
This year you learned your letter sounds to go along with your knowledge of the alphabet, numbers, colors and shapes. You also know how to spell your own name and how old you are. You love to play doctor, playing with your brand new train set, your cars and trucks on your road rug, and riding your balance bike ( which you are incredibly fast on!).
Tomorrow I will interview you about your favorite things, and who knows what you will say, but this is what *I* would guess is the correct answer:
Who is your best friend: Kilsyth
What is your favorite book: Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, Richard Scarry
Favorite movie: Winnie the Pooh
Favorite TV show: Mister Rogers
Favorite Food: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Favorite Drink: "Juice" ( which he rarely gets)
Favorite things to do: ride his bike
Favorite Subject in school: just getting to go is pretty exciting
Favorite Song: Its a Beautiful Day in the neighborhood
You are a very happy little boy who is continually exclaiming "My isn't it a beautiful day?"...whether its daytime or nighttime or whether its raining or sunny or cold. It is your saying for when you are particularly happy, and it never fails to make ME happy hearing it come out of your mouth. Thank you for always posing it as a question and therefore making me stop and realize that it IS a beautiful day! Especially because we get to have you as a son!
We love you so much,
Mommy and Daddy
Sunday, June 30, 2013
This morning...
We recently read about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and not getting to eat for 40 days during Ransom's bible story. This morning Ransom was eating some yogurt and he asked if Jesus was hungry. At first I was confused. Then he said, " did Jesus not get lunch or dinner or breakfast?"
That made more sense since that was almost a direct quote from the story.
"Yes, Jesus was very hungry because he didn't eat for 40 days."
*pause*
"I think I better share my yogurt with Jesus."
That made more sense since that was almost a direct quote from the story.
"Yes, Jesus was very hungry because he didn't eat for 40 days."
*pause*
"I think I better share my yogurt with Jesus."
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
30 months
Dear Ransom,
One of the things I love that you've been doing a lot lately is thanking me for things. Little things like, "Thanks for pushing Tabitha and me in the stroller!" or "Thanks for driving me to the museum!"
and even "Thank you for feeding Tabitha!"....who said being a mom was a thankless job?!? Not when I've got you around!
Thanks for being my favorite son,
Mommy
One of the things I love that you've been doing a lot lately is thanking me for things. Little things like, "Thanks for pushing Tabitha and me in the stroller!" or "Thanks for driving me to the museum!"
and even "Thank you for feeding Tabitha!"....who said being a mom was a thankless job?!? Not when I've got you around!
Thanks for being my favorite son,
Mommy
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Texas Time
Dear Ransom,
The last few months have been truly different for our family. For one thing, you are currently separated from your Mommy and Daddy and are staying with Papa and Spicy in Nacogdoches.
When we first decided to come to Texas to give Tabitha the best possible care, we thought that you would get to stay with Mommy in Houston. However, things changed and you are now living in Nacogdoches at Papa and Spicy's house. You spend Monday's with Nana and you go to school on Tuesday's and Thursday's with Kilsyth. And then, on the weekends you usually get to go visit Mommy at the Ronald McDonald House, which you call the "ol' McDonald House".
As your Mommy I cannot tell you how proud I am of you and how well you have adjusted to all of the changes that have taken place in your little life these last few months. One habit you have developed is to ask what people are doing over and over again. It usually goes like this:
"What's Daddy doing?"
Answer: "Daddy is at work."
"What's Mommy doing?"
Answer: "Mommy is at the Doctor ( or as the case may be now...) she is at the Ol' Mcdonald house."
You will ask these questions many times in a day, even if you just so happen to be with us, sitting across the table from us! But you are always happy with a simple answer and I am grateful that you seem comforted by an answer that you feel like you already know is coming. In fact, if we answer something different from "Daddy is working" you will correct the person and tell them that, no, Daddy is at work! You are a funny fellow!
As hard as it is to not get to see you every single day, we are so glad that you're having so much fun with the rest of your family. You are such a talkative little boy and you now can easily tell us about your day in pretty good detail. We are so proud of your extensive vocabulary. You still love fire engines and ambulances and anything else that have lights and loud sounds! And you are one lucky little boy, because since your birthday in August you have gotten to visit a Fire Station, you've "driven" an airplane, motorcycles and even a real race car! We are lucky that you love cars and trucks so much because traveling with you is really quite fun! You point out all the different cars and big rigs and construction equipment that you see along the way and have a grand time telling everyone about it.
You also love this opportunity to go to school with your cousin Kilsyth. Every time you see each other, even if its only been a few hours, you always run and give each other a big hug and a kiss. It is such fun to see you play together and lately you've really enjoyed talking to one another on the phone. You have full blown 2-year-old conversations with one another! You love going to school and getting to play and see your teacher "Miss Allison". You've only gotten in trouble once, when you and Kilsyth ganged up on another kid, and you apparently threw such a fit when you got in trouble that other teachers were coming to check on your class to make sure everything was OK! You definitely do not like to get in trouble and usually try your best to "punish" whoever is punishing you with a huge spectacle.
You've had fun getting to spend time at Nana's house too. You love how much you get to play outside at her house and that she has a dog and a cat AND a tricycle for you to ride. We are so grateful that you've built such a strong relationship with your grandparents because of this particular situation. But with all the good that has come from this time, we can not WAIT to be back together as a family! Your mommy and daddy miss you terribly every single day we are apart!
We love you,
Mommy
The last few months have been truly different for our family. For one thing, you are currently separated from your Mommy and Daddy and are staying with Papa and Spicy in Nacogdoches.
When we first decided to come to Texas to give Tabitha the best possible care, we thought that you would get to stay with Mommy in Houston. However, things changed and you are now living in Nacogdoches at Papa and Spicy's house. You spend Monday's with Nana and you go to school on Tuesday's and Thursday's with Kilsyth. And then, on the weekends you usually get to go visit Mommy at the Ronald McDonald House, which you call the "ol' McDonald House".
As your Mommy I cannot tell you how proud I am of you and how well you have adjusted to all of the changes that have taken place in your little life these last few months. One habit you have developed is to ask what people are doing over and over again. It usually goes like this:
"What's Daddy doing?"
Answer: "Daddy is at work."
"What's Mommy doing?"
Answer: "Mommy is at the Doctor ( or as the case may be now...) she is at the Ol' Mcdonald house."
You will ask these questions many times in a day, even if you just so happen to be with us, sitting across the table from us! But you are always happy with a simple answer and I am grateful that you seem comforted by an answer that you feel like you already know is coming. In fact, if we answer something different from "Daddy is working" you will correct the person and tell them that, no, Daddy is at work! You are a funny fellow!
As hard as it is to not get to see you every single day, we are so glad that you're having so much fun with the rest of your family. You are such a talkative little boy and you now can easily tell us about your day in pretty good detail. We are so proud of your extensive vocabulary. You still love fire engines and ambulances and anything else that have lights and loud sounds! And you are one lucky little boy, because since your birthday in August you have gotten to visit a Fire Station, you've "driven" an airplane, motorcycles and even a real race car! We are lucky that you love cars and trucks so much because traveling with you is really quite fun! You point out all the different cars and big rigs and construction equipment that you see along the way and have a grand time telling everyone about it.
You also love this opportunity to go to school with your cousin Kilsyth. Every time you see each other, even if its only been a few hours, you always run and give each other a big hug and a kiss. It is such fun to see you play together and lately you've really enjoyed talking to one another on the phone. You have full blown 2-year-old conversations with one another! You love going to school and getting to play and see your teacher "Miss Allison". You've only gotten in trouble once, when you and Kilsyth ganged up on another kid, and you apparently threw such a fit when you got in trouble that other teachers were coming to check on your class to make sure everything was OK! You definitely do not like to get in trouble and usually try your best to "punish" whoever is punishing you with a huge spectacle.
You've had fun getting to spend time at Nana's house too. You love how much you get to play outside at her house and that she has a dog and a cat AND a tricycle for you to ride. We are so grateful that you've built such a strong relationship with your grandparents because of this particular situation. But with all the good that has come from this time, we can not WAIT to be back together as a family! Your mommy and daddy miss you terribly every single day we are apart!
We love you,
Mommy
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
2 years old
Dear Ransom,
You are going to be 2 years old tomorrow. Which means, that 2 years ago today I was in labor. Thanks for that.
That being said, I've been thinking recently about the sentiment that you often hear from mothers, how they wish they their little babies would stay little babies forever. I never understood this. I loved you when you were a baby, sure. But I really could hardly wait for the fun things to come. Well, I think I've finally reached the point. The point when I'd like to keep you like this forever. You are so very very fun to be around. You are constantly saying funny things, doing funny things. You are bubbling over with excitement for life and you can hardly contain it all.
I love how you so very much wish you knew more words. You can speak in short sentences now, but its quite clear that, in your mind, some things deserve to be talked about in paragraphs. Of course, your lack of vocabulary does not stop you. Oh no. You'll just repeat the words you DO know until they have adequately filled the proper space that is needed.
You have a very good sense of humor and are continually cracking yourself up. But this is not enough, you have also started yelling for Mommy or Daddy until one of us acknowledges what your incredible wit has come up with now. Why, yes, Ransom...two pacifiers in your mouth is hilarious. Putting a little piece of play dough into that lantern where a candle should go....pure genius. Of course, we laugh with you. We laugh because we are delighted by your discoveries of the world around you. We too, have renewed interest in firetrucks, motorcycles, mail trucks, ambulances, police cars, bicycles, pianos, guitars, dogs and anything else you might have come to love.
We think its great that you love the Wheels on the Bus song so much, that for a while you would ask us to put anything and everything on the bus. Not just normal things like people and animals (one could argue that they do not belong on the bus either) but airplanes and helicopters, pacifiers, showers, rain, various foods...all of them have been on the bus, and we have done our very best to come up with the proper sounds for each one.
We think its great that have recently started pushing two of your stuffed animals around perched on top of your lawnmower like it were a stroller. Every so often you will take one off, cradle it like a baby and bounce and "shhh" it. We assume that God is subconsciously preparing you for two sisters....but whatever the case, you are quite the little Daddy.
We think its great that you like to eat grapes and bananas, strawberries and you LOVE cheese. We love that you now understand bargaining and will at least try bites of new foods if you know that you'll get a bite of something you like afterwards. In this way you have found that you are actually not as picky as you may have thought you were...and that your food tastes really DO branch out past four foods. geez.
Yes, there are definitely things that are not fun about two year olds. 2 year old tantrums are REAL. And you have them from time to time. Especially if things change quickly or if something different from what you were expecting happens. Or if someone looks at you wrong and doesn't give you exactly what you want. ha! ;-)
But, honestly, the good outweighs the bad so very much. And I love that you are still my little boy. My little boy who gives the very best hugs and kisses. My little boy who is the very best cuddler and who likes to hang out in bed playing under pillows and blankets ( Mommy likes beds too). I love that your hair grows super fast and gets curly when its humid. I love your stinky little feet and how you like to hold hands when we pray. I love that you sing in your crib when you wake up in the mornings and before you go to sleep at night.
Your Daddy and I are so very grateful for you in our lives, above all you have taught us that we know very little and must rely on our Lord Jesus for all wisdom when it comes to raising you. We are thankful that you point us to Him every single day, and we pray that one day you will come to love Him as much as we do.
Happy Birthday, my little two year old!
Mommy
You are going to be 2 years old tomorrow. Which means, that 2 years ago today I was in labor. Thanks for that.
That being said, I've been thinking recently about the sentiment that you often hear from mothers, how they wish they their little babies would stay little babies forever. I never understood this. I loved you when you were a baby, sure. But I really could hardly wait for the fun things to come. Well, I think I've finally reached the point. The point when I'd like to keep you like this forever. You are so very very fun to be around. You are constantly saying funny things, doing funny things. You are bubbling over with excitement for life and you can hardly contain it all.
I love how you so very much wish you knew more words. You can speak in short sentences now, but its quite clear that, in your mind, some things deserve to be talked about in paragraphs. Of course, your lack of vocabulary does not stop you. Oh no. You'll just repeat the words you DO know until they have adequately filled the proper space that is needed.
You have a very good sense of humor and are continually cracking yourself up. But this is not enough, you have also started yelling for Mommy or Daddy until one of us acknowledges what your incredible wit has come up with now. Why, yes, Ransom...two pacifiers in your mouth is hilarious. Putting a little piece of play dough into that lantern where a candle should go....pure genius. Of course, we laugh with you. We laugh because we are delighted by your discoveries of the world around you. We too, have renewed interest in firetrucks, motorcycles, mail trucks, ambulances, police cars, bicycles, pianos, guitars, dogs and anything else you might have come to love.
We think its great that you love the Wheels on the Bus song so much, that for a while you would ask us to put anything and everything on the bus. Not just normal things like people and animals (one could argue that they do not belong on the bus either) but airplanes and helicopters, pacifiers, showers, rain, various foods...all of them have been on the bus, and we have done our very best to come up with the proper sounds for each one.
We think its great that have recently started pushing two of your stuffed animals around perched on top of your lawnmower like it were a stroller. Every so often you will take one off, cradle it like a baby and bounce and "shhh" it. We assume that God is subconsciously preparing you for two sisters....but whatever the case, you are quite the little Daddy.
We think its great that you like to eat grapes and bananas, strawberries and you LOVE cheese. We love that you now understand bargaining and will at least try bites of new foods if you know that you'll get a bite of something you like afterwards. In this way you have found that you are actually not as picky as you may have thought you were...and that your food tastes really DO branch out past four foods. geez.
Yes, there are definitely things that are not fun about two year olds. 2 year old tantrums are REAL. And you have them from time to time. Especially if things change quickly or if something different from what you were expecting happens. Or if someone looks at you wrong and doesn't give you exactly what you want. ha! ;-)
But, honestly, the good outweighs the bad so very much. And I love that you are still my little boy. My little boy who gives the very best hugs and kisses. My little boy who is the very best cuddler and who likes to hang out in bed playing under pillows and blankets ( Mommy likes beds too). I love that your hair grows super fast and gets curly when its humid. I love your stinky little feet and how you like to hold hands when we pray. I love that you sing in your crib when you wake up in the mornings and before you go to sleep at night.
Your Daddy and I are so very grateful for you in our lives, above all you have taught us that we know very little and must rely on our Lord Jesus for all wisdom when it comes to raising you. We are thankful that you point us to Him every single day, and we pray that one day you will come to love Him as much as we do.
Happy Birthday, my little two year old!
Mommy
Friday, July 13, 2012
"Guitar"
Dear Ransom,
Over the last few weeks your love of guitars has grown exponentially. It started one day when we showed you a video of Great Steve playing one of his guitars on Youtube. That is when you learned the word, and also learned the sound that guitars made. From then on if a song started on the radio with a guitar solo you would yell out "GOOOO-TAR" very loudly.
Your interest and love grew even more when your Daddy one day let you play with his guitar. The guitar lives propped up in a corner of our living room and from then on Mommy has been bombarded by your requests to play with it again. Lets just say that it got so incessant that a Ukulele was quickly purchased on Amazon for 20 dollars so you could have your own guitar.
You LOVE it. At night it is the last thing you talk about before going to sleep. When you wake up from your naps it is the first thing you want to go find. And in the mornings.....well, in the mornings you watch video after video of people playing guitars on youtube while Mommy does her quiet time. No more sesame street or preschool prep videos for you! Nope, straight up people doing guitar rifts is the only thing for you.
Love, Mommy
Over the last few weeks your love of guitars has grown exponentially. It started one day when we showed you a video of Great Steve playing one of his guitars on Youtube. That is when you learned the word, and also learned the sound that guitars made. From then on if a song started on the radio with a guitar solo you would yell out "GOOOO-TAR" very loudly.
Your interest and love grew even more when your Daddy one day let you play with his guitar. The guitar lives propped up in a corner of our living room and from then on Mommy has been bombarded by your requests to play with it again. Lets just say that it got so incessant that a Ukulele was quickly purchased on Amazon for 20 dollars so you could have your own guitar.
You LOVE it. At night it is the last thing you talk about before going to sleep. When you wake up from your naps it is the first thing you want to go find. And in the mornings.....well, in the mornings you watch video after video of people playing guitars on youtube while Mommy does her quiet time. No more sesame street or preschool prep videos for you! Nope, straight up people doing guitar rifts is the only thing for you.
Love, Mommy
Monday, June 25, 2012
Special Friends
Dear Ransom,
The last few months you have become more and more attached to your stuffed animals. Not only do you love Bear and Lamb, who have slept with you since you were an infant, but you have added to the pack. Now you have Bear, Lamb, Bear 2, Liger and most recently Fox. I will seriously have to have people ask me for permission to give you more stuffed animals because its already almost impossible for you to carry all of your friends-and yet you give it your best effort. You have them all stuffed in your arms and you carry them around with you throughout the day. However, probably for your ease, you will often choose one or two of them to be your "favorites" for several days. Last week it was most definitely "Lamb". Your love for Lamb coincided with a little trip to Texas while Daddy was in the field for work. And you need to have Lamb with you while we flew on an airplane to TX. I had not noticed until we were in public the pitfall of your love for lamb combined with your inability to pronounce the "L" sound. Yup. There we were in the airport, around tons of people, and you were calling out for your Daaaaaaaammmmmnnn. Yup. Lamb with a "D" at the beginning is a totally different word.
This week you are attached at the hip to Bear 2. You enjoy having him sit next to you while you eat dinner, and you feed him all the things you don't like. Which is usually a lot. Since you eat about 5 food items and sniff disdainfully at everything else. Don't worry, Mommy won't let you go so easily and we've been having quite the epic meal sessions where you cry and scream for an hour or so before finally giving in and eating whatever I serve you. You also take Bear 2 with you in the car and into StoryTime. Or anywhere else we might go during the day. Its definitely nice to have a friend to share things like pointing out all the cars, trucks, ambulances, buses, fire engines, balloons, and tractors that you might see in a given trip.
You are such a fun kid and I love you so much,
Your Mommy
The last few months you have become more and more attached to your stuffed animals. Not only do you love Bear and Lamb, who have slept with you since you were an infant, but you have added to the pack. Now you have Bear, Lamb, Bear 2, Liger and most recently Fox. I will seriously have to have people ask me for permission to give you more stuffed animals because its already almost impossible for you to carry all of your friends-and yet you give it your best effort. You have them all stuffed in your arms and you carry them around with you throughout the day. However, probably for your ease, you will often choose one or two of them to be your "favorites" for several days. Last week it was most definitely "Lamb". Your love for Lamb coincided with a little trip to Texas while Daddy was in the field for work. And you need to have Lamb with you while we flew on an airplane to TX. I had not noticed until we were in public the pitfall of your love for lamb combined with your inability to pronounce the "L" sound. Yup. There we were in the airport, around tons of people, and you were calling out for your Daaaaaaaammmmmnnn. Yup. Lamb with a "D" at the beginning is a totally different word.
This week you are attached at the hip to Bear 2. You enjoy having him sit next to you while you eat dinner, and you feed him all the things you don't like. Which is usually a lot. Since you eat about 5 food items and sniff disdainfully at everything else. Don't worry, Mommy won't let you go so easily and we've been having quite the epic meal sessions where you cry and scream for an hour or so before finally giving in and eating whatever I serve you. You also take Bear 2 with you in the car and into StoryTime. Or anywhere else we might go during the day. Its definitely nice to have a friend to share things like pointing out all the cars, trucks, ambulances, buses, fire engines, balloons, and tractors that you might see in a given trip.
You are such a fun kid and I love you so much,
Your Mommy
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Gymnastics
Dear Ransom,
Today was you first day of gymnastics. You were pretty excited when we arrived and you wanted to get into everything. But as soon as you had to do the first "structured" activity which was running down a trampoline you balked big time. It became pretty clear that you do everything on your own terms and your terms are described with one word: slower. As long as I didn't push you, or gave you time to watch the other kids do it, you were usually really good at what ever activity it was, but all in all it was a lot like herding cats trying to keep you on track and doing what every one else was doing! I was impressed, however, with your really good balance and how well you did all the climbing and jumping! I'm looking forward to next week and seeing how you warm up to the class!
Love you!
Mommy
Today was you first day of gymnastics. You were pretty excited when we arrived and you wanted to get into everything. But as soon as you had to do the first "structured" activity which was running down a trampoline you balked big time. It became pretty clear that you do everything on your own terms and your terms are described with one word: slower. As long as I didn't push you, or gave you time to watch the other kids do it, you were usually really good at what ever activity it was, but all in all it was a lot like herding cats trying to keep you on track and doing what every one else was doing! I was impressed, however, with your really good balance and how well you did all the climbing and jumping! I'm looking forward to next week and seeing how you warm up to the class!
Love you!
Mommy
Thursday, April 5, 2012
19 months
Dear Ransom,
I know its been a while since I've written, but you and I have been busy! Daddy was gone for a whole month of March and that was a bit different for us both!
While there are tons of things I could mention, like how you know 90 % your letters ( most of the time) and you can sing ( most of) the ABC Song, ( you're favorite part is definitely the "now I know my ABCs" part...which is ironic, since you don't reeeeally know them all). And how your vocabulary continues to blossom...there are two things I don't want to forget.
While your Daddy was away, I was both happy and sad at how much you missed him! You mentioned him all the time, especially if you thought you heard the back door open in the evenings. And when you saw anyone with a Hoodie, hood up ( something daddy always does in the mornings or while lounging) you immediately thought it was Daddy. You always took special care to point out any picture of Daddy when looking through pictures. And while you liked to watch the videos he made for you of him reading to you...you liked the video of just you talking better. *sigh* I guess you ARE just a toddler. ;-)
This month you've also become very attached to your "Bears" this month, and you especially enjoy carrying your Mommy's special "Brett Bear" around with you whereever you go ( I'm very nice about sharing) ...You also really like to put diapers on your bears. You aren't very good at it, but you enjoy the process of going and getting the diapers out of their basket, bringing them in to your bear and then placing the bear on top of them. You also like to have you bears hug each other and give each other big smacking kisses and fed them your sippy cups.
You continue to be the pride and absolute delight of my days. Your Mommy and Daddy love you SO much,
Mommy
I know its been a while since I've written, but you and I have been busy! Daddy was gone for a whole month of March and that was a bit different for us both!
While there are tons of things I could mention, like how you know 90 % your letters ( most of the time) and you can sing ( most of) the ABC Song, ( you're favorite part is definitely the "now I know my ABCs" part...which is ironic, since you don't reeeeally know them all). And how your vocabulary continues to blossom...there are two things I don't want to forget.
While your Daddy was away, I was both happy and sad at how much you missed him! You mentioned him all the time, especially if you thought you heard the back door open in the evenings. And when you saw anyone with a Hoodie, hood up ( something daddy always does in the mornings or while lounging) you immediately thought it was Daddy. You always took special care to point out any picture of Daddy when looking through pictures. And while you liked to watch the videos he made for you of him reading to you...you liked the video of just you talking better. *sigh* I guess you ARE just a toddler. ;-)
This month you've also become very attached to your "Bears" this month, and you especially enjoy carrying your Mommy's special "Brett Bear" around with you whereever you go ( I'm very nice about sharing) ...You also really like to put diapers on your bears. You aren't very good at it, but you enjoy the process of going and getting the diapers out of their basket, bringing them in to your bear and then placing the bear on top of them. You also like to have you bears hug each other and give each other big smacking kisses and fed them your sippy cups.
You continue to be the pride and absolute delight of my days. Your Mommy and Daddy love you SO much,
Thursday, February 9, 2012
18 months
Dear Ransom,
You're a year and a half old today! Where has the time gone? Its gone so fast that I didn't even write you a letter last month! This is probably because I was busy chasing after you- you're quite the fast little runner...and you're favorite is running up and down the hall, giggling and landing in the basket of blankets at the end. Or running up and down the front walkway- mouth open, expression of delight on your face...
And I've been busy answering your questions: " What's that?" or "How are you?" (you ask this all the time now). And while I'm not a morning person and I doubt I ever, ever will be...the fact that I can count on your little curly head poking up out of your crib and saying, "Hi! How are you?" when I come in every morning...well, that's about as good as a double tall soy latte.
Of course, you've also been busy the last two months. You've gotten more attached to your "bears" ( all your stuffed animals) your favorite being your Mommy's Brett Bear that Daddy got her while he was deployed. You carry it around a lot during the day, pretending to feed it your sippy cup and pretending to put a "die-purr" on it...you're quite the good little babysitter. You also are really into trucks and are constantly crawling around the floor pushing a car, making car noises ( how do little boys know all the car sounds from such an early age?!).
We've also started going to two different story times during the week, the one on Monday's is at the Columbus Library and the one on Wednesday's at the Fort Benning Library. Even though we've been going for some time now you still stand perfectly still and watch all the other kids during any dancing/singing segment. At first I just thought you weren't interested in the music, but now I know its just that you're a major observer when you're in a large group. But, once we get you home you absolutely looove to do the Hokey Pokey and Wheels on the Bus with all the hand motions. ( you usually ask us to repeat ANY and EVERY song we sing to you with a very loud "MO!")
You also still love being outside, and you love going to the little park behind our house. Going down the slide is definitely your favorite, though you'd rather have Mommy or Daddy go down the slide with you. And you've been perfecting your climbing up steps skills in a big way, which is good since we live on the top floor and have to climb stairs every day!
Speaking of top floor, our dear friends the Fones have moved in down stairs, and we get to share baby monitor channels with them! One of the things you ask for all the time is to see "Baby" on the baby monitor. You also know all the places that Lily plays when she comes up stairs to visit us and you often point at her empty Bumpo and ask for the Baby ( Lily is a hard name to say, but you do try every so often...).
You still love to draw and sit at your table and chairs and "write" for a good part of every day. You don't like "big crayons" that most kids your age use, but prefer to have a normal pen ( we have these cool crayon pens that twist up that I love!) . You also hold the pen correctly which also plays nicely into your ability to feed yourself. You are very good with both spoons and forks, but honestly the hard part is keeping that OTHER hand out of your food bowl. Its just SO much fun to stick your hand in your food...
Ransom, I could go on and on about all the fun things that you do and have learned in the past few months. And even though you only take one nap a day I have actually caught myself a few times during nap time thinking that I can't wait till you get up so we can play together some more.
You are such a cuddly and loving little dude ( you're very nice about saying "I love you" back when someone says it to you.) and your hugs and wet open mouthed kisses are some of the best parts of my day.
I love you with all my heart,
Mommy
You're a year and a half old today! Where has the time gone? Its gone so fast that I didn't even write you a letter last month! This is probably because I was busy chasing after you- you're quite the fast little runner...and you're favorite is running up and down the hall, giggling and landing in the basket of blankets at the end. Or running up and down the front walkway- mouth open, expression of delight on your face...
And I've been busy answering your questions: " What's that?" or "How are you?" (you ask this all the time now). And while I'm not a morning person and I doubt I ever, ever will be...the fact that I can count on your little curly head poking up out of your crib and saying, "Hi! How are you?" when I come in every morning...well, that's about as good as a double tall soy latte.
Of course, you've also been busy the last two months. You've gotten more attached to your "bears" ( all your stuffed animals) your favorite being your Mommy's Brett Bear that Daddy got her while he was deployed. You carry it around a lot during the day, pretending to feed it your sippy cup and pretending to put a "die-purr" on it...you're quite the good little babysitter. You also are really into trucks and are constantly crawling around the floor pushing a car, making car noises ( how do little boys know all the car sounds from such an early age?!).
In the mornings you get to watch one of your Movies in Mommy's bed while she does her Quiet Time. You've been watching an ABC's video for a few weeks now, and while you don't seem to differentiate any of the letters when it comes to how they look, you DO prefer certain letters because of how they sound coming off your tongue. Your first favorite letter was "E" ( or "eeeeeeeeeee") your second favorite letter was "O" ( or "ooooooohhhhh") and now you've given all other letters up for "W" ( or "double-yoooooooooou") . ALL letters are "W" to you now, and any time you see any letter you point and say 'W'. You are a genius for sure.
We've also started going to two different story times during the week, the one on Monday's is at the Columbus Library and the one on Wednesday's at the Fort Benning Library. Even though we've been going for some time now you still stand perfectly still and watch all the other kids during any dancing/singing segment. At first I just thought you weren't interested in the music, but now I know its just that you're a major observer when you're in a large group. But, once we get you home you absolutely looove to do the Hokey Pokey and Wheels on the Bus with all the hand motions. ( you usually ask us to repeat ANY and EVERY song we sing to you with a very loud "MO!")
You also still love being outside, and you love going to the little park behind our house. Going down the slide is definitely your favorite, though you'd rather have Mommy or Daddy go down the slide with you. And you've been perfecting your climbing up steps skills in a big way, which is good since we live on the top floor and have to climb stairs every day!
Speaking of top floor, our dear friends the Fones have moved in down stairs, and we get to share baby monitor channels with them! One of the things you ask for all the time is to see "Baby" on the baby monitor. You also know all the places that Lily plays when she comes up stairs to visit us and you often point at her empty Bumpo and ask for the Baby ( Lily is a hard name to say, but you do try every so often...).
You still love to draw and sit at your table and chairs and "write" for a good part of every day. You don't like "big crayons" that most kids your age use, but prefer to have a normal pen ( we have these cool crayon pens that twist up that I love!) . You also hold the pen correctly which also plays nicely into your ability to feed yourself. You are very good with both spoons and forks, but honestly the hard part is keeping that OTHER hand out of your food bowl. Its just SO much fun to stick your hand in your food...
Ransom, I could go on and on about all the fun things that you do and have learned in the past few months. And even though you only take one nap a day I have actually caught myself a few times during nap time thinking that I can't wait till you get up so we can play together some more.
You are such a cuddly and loving little dude ( you're very nice about saying "I love you" back when someone says it to you.) and your hugs and wet open mouthed kisses are some of the best parts of my day.
I love you with all my heart,
Mommy
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
16months
Dear Ransom,
We're in full fledge Christmas prep around here lately, but I felt like I needed to write a few things before we head to Texas for the Holidays, because I KNOW there will be so much to share about the trip I just don't want to forget the "every day" things of being a 16 month old.
One of your favorite favorite things is looking out of windows. This does not seem to change. Today we went to story time at the library which you seem to enjoy *sidenote* ( you stand and sway and sometimes clap during the songs...but mostly you just watch everyone else), but today you spent a good amount of time before story time started, climbing onto things so that you could look of the windows of the library.
Same goes for home. In fact, I now have a little stool under your bedroom window so that you can climb and look out to your little hearts content.
Just as last month you were becoming a picky eater, this month you're eating CONSTANTLY. You go up to your highchair many times a day and ask for a snack. Luckily you're pretty good with anything I give you and have therefore become a "six small meals" rather than a "three big meals" kind of a guy. For now that seems to be working for us.
Your favorite word right now is "shoes". You say it with an exaggerated SH sound and you purse your lips together in a dramatic way SHHHHHooooes. Its pretty much the most adorable thing ever.
And speaking of adorable ( that one day may construed as "embarrassing"), you think that ALL kisses must be on the mouth and you usually have your mouth WIDE OPEN when going in for a kiss. Yes, kissing a Ransom is a full on experience. Hahaha!
You are such a fun little ball of energy and I love trying to keep up with you. It seems like every day you are learning something new and it is fun to watch you discover your world!
Your Daddy and I love you so very much,
Mommy
We're in full fledge Christmas prep around here lately, but I felt like I needed to write a few things before we head to Texas for the Holidays, because I KNOW there will be so much to share about the trip I just don't want to forget the "every day" things of being a 16 month old.
One of your favorite favorite things is looking out of windows. This does not seem to change. Today we went to story time at the library which you seem to enjoy *sidenote* ( you stand and sway and sometimes clap during the songs...but mostly you just watch everyone else), but today you spent a good amount of time before story time started, climbing onto things so that you could look of the windows of the library.
Same goes for home. In fact, I now have a little stool under your bedroom window so that you can climb and look out to your little hearts content.
Just as last month you were becoming a picky eater, this month you're eating CONSTANTLY. You go up to your highchair many times a day and ask for a snack. Luckily you're pretty good with anything I give you and have therefore become a "six small meals" rather than a "three big meals" kind of a guy. For now that seems to be working for us.
Your favorite word right now is "shoes". You say it with an exaggerated SH sound and you purse your lips together in a dramatic way SHHHHHooooes. Its pretty much the most adorable thing ever.
And speaking of adorable ( that one day may construed as "embarrassing"), you think that ALL kisses must be on the mouth and you usually have your mouth WIDE OPEN when going in for a kiss. Yes, kissing a Ransom is a full on experience. Hahaha!
You are such a fun little ball of energy and I love trying to keep up with you. It seems like every day you are learning something new and it is fun to watch you discover your world!
Your Daddy and I love you so very much,
Mommy
Friday, November 18, 2011
15 Months ( ish)
Dear Ransom,
Its been a few weeks since I last wrote and I feel like I should write a few things down before they are long gone and we've forgotten about the little things that make having a 15 month old unique.
When we come in to get you out of your crib, or if you see someone new walk into the house or into the room-you will frantically look about you for something to "show" them...you'll grab the nearest stuffed animal, sippy cup, or block and hold up high in the air, straight at their face as if to say, "HEY! HEY! Have you seen THIS!??!"
You've pretty much given up your second to last nap...*sigh* That's a hard one to stomach. Just one little bitty nap in the day, but we still have you lay down in the afternoon for about 30 minutes-which you seem to take ok, and little do you know, its probably kept mommy from loosing it several times. Sometimes we ALL need our "alone" time.
You're currently cracked up by the word "Boom!" You enjoy it being said to you, and then you trying to repeat it...it cracks you up in a major way.
Your favorite game is what I like to call "extended clean up". You'll take a block ( or whatever) out of its box and bring it over to Mommy or Daddy-or whoever else. And then you'll wait for them to say thank you and accept the block. then you hurry back over and collect ANOTHER block. This block you will also bring over and you'll do this until all the blocks or gone or you get bored and then comes the "clean up" part...Mommy will then hand you a block back and say "clean up!" and you'll return it to its box...one...at...a....time.
It can take a while. especially if your route takes you by the mirror that lives in front of the fireplace. You dig checking yourself out as you walk by! "Like, who is that super cool kid walking there with those two balls in each hand!??!"
Your eating habits have really come to a crawl and the things that you like can be counted on one hand. Luckily spinach is still on the list otherwise. can one live on carbs alone!?! ( Mommy would like to think so.)
And your sleeping habits are still pretty great. You go to bed around 7 or 7:30...and you sleep until around 7...though you then, happily stay in bed until around 7:30/7:45 while Mommy catches a few more Zzzs. I guess this is why you don't need that second nap and your nap that you do take is only an hour long. 12 hours at night?!?! That's livin'!!
You are still the cutest, sweetest boy and we love you dearly! I'm so excited about Thanksgiving next week and all the family and friends that will be gathered around our table to give Thanks! Its hard to believe its your second Thanksgiving!
Much love,
Mommy
Its been a few weeks since I last wrote and I feel like I should write a few things down before they are long gone and we've forgotten about the little things that make having a 15 month old unique.
When we come in to get you out of your crib, or if you see someone new walk into the house or into the room-you will frantically look about you for something to "show" them...you'll grab the nearest stuffed animal, sippy cup, or block and hold up high in the air, straight at their face as if to say, "HEY! HEY! Have you seen THIS!??!"
You've pretty much given up your second to last nap...*sigh* That's a hard one to stomach. Just one little bitty nap in the day, but we still have you lay down in the afternoon for about 30 minutes-which you seem to take ok, and little do you know, its probably kept mommy from loosing it several times. Sometimes we ALL need our "alone" time.
You're currently cracked up by the word "Boom!" You enjoy it being said to you, and then you trying to repeat it...it cracks you up in a major way.
Your favorite game is what I like to call "extended clean up". You'll take a block ( or whatever) out of its box and bring it over to Mommy or Daddy-or whoever else. And then you'll wait for them to say thank you and accept the block. then you hurry back over and collect ANOTHER block. This block you will also bring over and you'll do this until all the blocks or gone or you get bored and then comes the "clean up" part...Mommy will then hand you a block back and say "clean up!" and you'll return it to its box...one...at...a....time.
It can take a while. especially if your route takes you by the mirror that lives in front of the fireplace. You dig checking yourself out as you walk by! "Like, who is that super cool kid walking there with those two balls in each hand!??!"
Your eating habits have really come to a crawl and the things that you like can be counted on one hand. Luckily spinach is still on the list otherwise. can one live on carbs alone!?! ( Mommy would like to think so.)
And your sleeping habits are still pretty great. You go to bed around 7 or 7:30...and you sleep until around 7...though you then, happily stay in bed until around 7:30/7:45 while Mommy catches a few more Zzzs. I guess this is why you don't need that second nap and your nap that you do take is only an hour long. 12 hours at night?!?! That's livin'!!
You are still the cutest, sweetest boy and we love you dearly! I'm so excited about Thanksgiving next week and all the family and friends that will be gathered around our table to give Thanks! Its hard to believe its your second Thanksgiving!
Much love,
Mommy
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Walking!!
Dear Ransom,
Yesterday ( well actually the day before) you hit a really huge milestone! So backing up, on Monday night ( the 24th of October) you took TWO steps towards me! It happened so fast that I could hardly believe it, and since it was pretty much bedtime-you refused to try again and you left me excited to try again the next day...
So YESTERDAY we went out for our morning walk with our friend Miranda. We have a pretty solid routine of running or walking with Miranda every day at 9am. You chill in the jogging stroller and Miranda and I suffer it out ( while catch up on life)....yesterday it was a little chilly so I had gotten a blanket to lay over your lap to keep some more warmth in, and when we returned home we realized the blanket was gone!! So we all loaded into the car and I drove like a crazy old woman ( slowly and swerving) up and down the various neighborhoods where we'd walked that day, while Miranda kept an eye out for the blanket and you babbled in the backseat. We finally found the blanket and got home where we got you out of the back seat and I told Miranda about your walking adventure the night before. We decided to see if you'd try again...you always seem to be a bit more "brave" outside and I've had way better luck getting you to stand by yourself outside than inside ( maybe the softer ground?). Anyway, we set you down and you IMMEDIATELY stood by yourself...and then just TOOK OFF WALKING!! And not just one or two steps! like TONS of steps!! It was shocking and Miranda and i were so excited! I got out my camera to try and capture the moments for Daddy and you were a trooper and continued walking all around so I could capture so footage for Daddy...
Incidentally, later that day I was leaving the house to run some errands while you hung out with your babysitter, Liz, and I couldn't find the keys ANYWHERE. I ended up calling Miranda for help and she reminded me that we'd let you play with them during your walking episode on the front lawn. Sure enough. My car keys had been laying on the front lawn all morning! A blanket and keys all in one day! Good thing with live in a pretty safe area!
So, later yesterday evening I took you to visit your Daddy at work, he wanted to make sure he got to see you before he left for a few weeks for work. You were SO good in his office and spent most of your time sitting quietly on Daddy's lap while he worked. You then got down and actually walked a few steps so that Daddy could see it in person! At the time I didn't know this was so special, but since today you've refused to take ANY steps at all and are even refusing to stand alone, I now know that you walking yesterday really WAS a gift from God to your Daddy! He would have been SO SAD if he'd missed that special milestone in your life!
But, here we are the next day and you're back to your old crawling ways...luckily we'll be headed to Texas tomorrow where I'm sure your cousin Kilsyth will be willing to give you lots of walking lessons!
I love you tons,
Mommy
Yesterday ( well actually the day before) you hit a really huge milestone! So backing up, on Monday night ( the 24th of October) you took TWO steps towards me! It happened so fast that I could hardly believe it, and since it was pretty much bedtime-you refused to try again and you left me excited to try again the next day...
So YESTERDAY we went out for our morning walk with our friend Miranda. We have a pretty solid routine of running or walking with Miranda every day at 9am. You chill in the jogging stroller and Miranda and I suffer it out ( while catch up on life)....yesterday it was a little chilly so I had gotten a blanket to lay over your lap to keep some more warmth in, and when we returned home we realized the blanket was gone!! So we all loaded into the car and I drove like a crazy old woman ( slowly and swerving) up and down the various neighborhoods where we'd walked that day, while Miranda kept an eye out for the blanket and you babbled in the backseat. We finally found the blanket and got home where we got you out of the back seat and I told Miranda about your walking adventure the night before. We decided to see if you'd try again...you always seem to be a bit more "brave" outside and I've had way better luck getting you to stand by yourself outside than inside ( maybe the softer ground?). Anyway, we set you down and you IMMEDIATELY stood by yourself...and then just TOOK OFF WALKING!! And not just one or two steps! like TONS of steps!! It was shocking and Miranda and i were so excited! I got out my camera to try and capture the moments for Daddy and you were a trooper and continued walking all around so I could capture so footage for Daddy...
Incidentally, later that day I was leaving the house to run some errands while you hung out with your babysitter, Liz, and I couldn't find the keys ANYWHERE. I ended up calling Miranda for help and she reminded me that we'd let you play with them during your walking episode on the front lawn. Sure enough. My car keys had been laying on the front lawn all morning! A blanket and keys all in one day! Good thing with live in a pretty safe area!
So, later yesterday evening I took you to visit your Daddy at work, he wanted to make sure he got to see you before he left for a few weeks for work. You were SO good in his office and spent most of your time sitting quietly on Daddy's lap while he worked. You then got down and actually walked a few steps so that Daddy could see it in person! At the time I didn't know this was so special, but since today you've refused to take ANY steps at all and are even refusing to stand alone, I now know that you walking yesterday really WAS a gift from God to your Daddy! He would have been SO SAD if he'd missed that special milestone in your life!
But, here we are the next day and you're back to your old crawling ways...luckily we'll be headed to Texas tomorrow where I'm sure your cousin Kilsyth will be willing to give you lots of walking lessons!
I love you tons,
Mommy
Saturday, October 22, 2011
14 months
Dear Ransom,
You are such a cool kid. While you continue to refuse to walk ( you've stood up unaided several times, but only when so thoroughly distracted that you didn't realize you weren't being supported. *sigh*) you have been growing in other ways. You're talking a lot more. And when you're not talking you make fun noises. The noise you're probably most famous for among those who know you is the "eeee--ooooo-eeee-ooooo" sound ( imagine a much cuter and less annoying fire engine.)
Your favorite things to say are "thank you"......"What's that!?" which is always said as an exclamation while pointing. "All right!" and recently you call any four legged animal "Doggie".
You still call most people in pictures "Daddy" ( since I guess I've confused you by getting excited about pictures of your Daddy.) and you use the Please sign language really well whenever you want something. And when you REALLY want something you'll say the word "Please" too...
However, one thing I never want to forget about this season in your life, is your love for "writing" ( pen cap securely in place). While at first you wrote on just about ANYTHING when given a pen to hold, you now have preferences. You prefer to write in Mommy and Daddy's bible study books or in Mommy's journal. You seem to know that THAT'S the proper place to write.
If given paper and pen you will spend TONS of time turning the pages, talking to yourself and writing.
I would give just about anything to know what's going through your head! I do love the fact that you've obviously got an active imagination and are already understanding the value of the written and spoken word. ;-)
All my love,
MommyFriday, September 23, 2011
13 months and a few weeks
Dear Ransom.
You're currently not sleeping in your crib. Its been about an hour, but at least you're being quiet for the most part and so we'll assume you're getting some sort of rest in there. But, I decided to take this opportunity to write up a few of the things you've been up to in the last month or so-before I forget them completely!!
For one thing, you not sleeping is actually not common. You're a rockin' sleeper and usually nap time and bed time happen without much drama. But, drama DOES occur, like a week or so ago you came down with some sort of mysterious illness where you lost your appetite completely ( not even cheese! or waffles! or cookies! made you happy) and threw up twice. Its really the first time you've ever really thrown up and boy was it AWFUL! Poor baby! lets hope we never have to experience that drama ever again ( wishful thinking).
Anyway, other than your little sickness you've had a great month. You got even more into your books ( saying "bookie, bookie, bookie" while you read turned into you having a "favorite" book every few days that you wanted read to you over and over again. Mostly it was "Night Night Little Pookie" and you'd repeat the words on the first page over and over "ooooooh ooooookie" ( oh pookie) after we read them.
You've also gotten very into "walking" with the help of your little Red Fire-engine. Its suppose to be a little push rider, but instead you hold onto the front and the back ( so its side ways) and use the friction of the sideways wheels as support and literally run ALL over the house. Its pretty exciting. ;-)
You also figured out that you could push your activity table around the house like a old person walker too. Pretty much anything to help you in the walking department without you actually having to WALK.
Seriously, I think its going to be a bit longer before you walk for real. You are still very cautious and do not like to have to even stand by yourself.
You do enjoy saying "weeeoooo weeeeoooo" ( almost like a siren ) and "Ma-ma" and "Da-da" while pointing at things that are NOT ma-ma or da-da. You also still enjoy looking at yourself in the mirror and waiting for the garage door to close after we go for our morning walks-you squinch up your eyes and grin waiting for the loud sound of the door slamming shut.
One thing I've been trying to teach you for WEEKS now is how to say "please", you've finally done the sign-language for it a few times but its still a battle and we're definitely having to fight the whole whining thing. We've made some progress, but its been quite a challenge for both of us!
Well, speaking of...I better go relieve you from your crib/prison and have one of my favorite times of the day, "sippy cup snuggles" where we sit on the couch together and snuggle as you wake up from your nap. It is honestly one of my favorite parts of the day.
I love you,
Mommy
You're currently not sleeping in your crib. Its been about an hour, but at least you're being quiet for the most part and so we'll assume you're getting some sort of rest in there. But, I decided to take this opportunity to write up a few of the things you've been up to in the last month or so-before I forget them completely!!
For one thing, you not sleeping is actually not common. You're a rockin' sleeper and usually nap time and bed time happen without much drama. But, drama DOES occur, like a week or so ago you came down with some sort of mysterious illness where you lost your appetite completely ( not even cheese! or waffles! or cookies! made you happy) and threw up twice. Its really the first time you've ever really thrown up and boy was it AWFUL! Poor baby! lets hope we never have to experience that drama ever again ( wishful thinking).
Anyway, other than your little sickness you've had a great month. You got even more into your books ( saying "bookie, bookie, bookie" while you read turned into you having a "favorite" book every few days that you wanted read to you over and over again. Mostly it was "Night Night Little Pookie" and you'd repeat the words on the first page over and over "ooooooh ooooookie" ( oh pookie) after we read them.
You've also gotten very into "walking" with the help of your little Red Fire-engine. Its suppose to be a little push rider, but instead you hold onto the front and the back ( so its side ways) and use the friction of the sideways wheels as support and literally run ALL over the house. Its pretty exciting. ;-)
You also figured out that you could push your activity table around the house like a old person walker too. Pretty much anything to help you in the walking department without you actually having to WALK.
Seriously, I think its going to be a bit longer before you walk for real. You are still very cautious and do not like to have to even stand by yourself.
You do enjoy saying "weeeoooo weeeeoooo" ( almost like a siren ) and "Ma-ma" and "Da-da" while pointing at things that are NOT ma-ma or da-da. You also still enjoy looking at yourself in the mirror and waiting for the garage door to close after we go for our morning walks-you squinch up your eyes and grin waiting for the loud sound of the door slamming shut.
One thing I've been trying to teach you for WEEKS now is how to say "please", you've finally done the sign-language for it a few times but its still a battle and we're definitely having to fight the whole whining thing. We've made some progress, but its been quite a challenge for both of us!
Well, speaking of...I better go relieve you from your crib/prison and have one of my favorite times of the day, "sippy cup snuggles" where we sit on the couch together and snuggle as you wake up from your nap. It is honestly one of my favorite parts of the day.
I love you,
Mommy
Thursday, August 11, 2011
ONE YEAR! ( 12 months)
Dear Ransom,
You are a year old today! I can hardly believe it! And yet at the same time, it seems like you've been with us forever, and in that way your Daddy and I know we were always "meant to be" with you!
Speaking of your Daddy, he's had to work many late nights this last month and sometimes he gets home after you go to bed. When that happens he always sneaks in and looks at you while you're asleep. You always have funny ways of sleeping, either all sprawled out, hugging either Lamb or Bear, or huddled up with your little rear sticking up in the air.
On days that Daddy gets home while you're still awake you are SO excited to see him. You are definitely your Daddy's little boy! You start talking very loudly and pointing, obviously telling Daddy all about your day and then you go and sit outside the bathroom door while he showers, waiting ever so patiently for him to come out and play!
This month you've continued to perfect your standing and walking skills. You can now stand up against just about any surface and when we took a surprise visit to Texas to visit Nana and Grandpa and Spicy and Papa, you looooved Spicy's magnet letters on the fridge so much that we had to get you some too! Your favorite letter is "I" because it fits so nicely in your little fist.
Yes, we took another trip to Texas this month and you spent two WHOLE nights with your grandparents while your Mommy and Daddy took a much needed mini-vacay. Everyone had fun and we celebrated the end of our trip with a little "trial run" first birthday for you! You had your first chocolate cupcake with bright green icing and you LOOOOOVED it! You got it ALL over you and had to take a bath before opening presents from Aunt Anna and Uncle Ryan and Kilsyth as well as Grand Billie and Great Steve, Nana and Grandpa, and Pawpaw. ( Spicy and Papa saved there present for your real birthday!)
This month you've also expanded your vocabulary quite a bit! You now say, "Mama, Daddy, Uh-oh, Ouch, Bye, Hi, and Book. You've also said "Cow" and "Donkey" when playing your Peekaboo barn game, but since you've never repeated them any other time I'm not sure if we can really add them to the official list! Something to work towards, huh?
My favorite word that you say is "book". You say it like "book-e" with the emphasis on the "k" and you usually repeat the word over and over again while you read your books. This is something that you looove to do. This month you would sit for a good twenty or thirty minutes at a time pulling books out of your book basket, looking at them very carefully and then on to the next! Your Daddy and I are so glad that you are already a great lover of books!
For your birthday week Spicy and Papa were able to come for a visit and they loved getting to see you, and you looooved getting to play with them all day! You loved getting squeezed by Papa and getting his famous Mind-melds. And on your birthday we had a little gathering of friends who came to celebrate your life so far. We strung up pictures of you and all the people that have been a part of your life this year! We had over 40 pictures and it didn't even cover all the people in your life! It reminded your Mommy that we have been truly blessed this year with so much support and help and we know that we could not have gotten you this far without all these wonderful people! We pray that every year is stuffed full of wonderful people to support and love you, teach and guide you and be your friend in all circumstances. Your Daddy and I know that there will be many important people who impact you through the years and we pray that there will be many who are reflections of Christ in your life.
Your official birthday cake was shaped like a drum, because you like to bang on things so much, you didn't get into the cake as much this time around, but it was also a little bigger and probably very overwhelming. However you did overcome and make a huge mess that required two baths to clean up! You also opened presents from friends and cried very hard at the giant stuffed Yoda doll. We're assuming that your love for Starwars will just have to grow through the years.
Yes, you are officially a year old and your little attitude is already coming out and your Mommy is already having to "remind" you of how to be a good boy sometimes. But, this just reminds your Mommy, who loves you so much and who finds it easy to think your just perfect, that you are in fact, NOT perfect and we pray daily for you to one day give your life to Jesus.
Once again we pray the verse that we were reminded of when you were born at 14:21 on August 9, 2010:
He who has my Commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by the Father and I too will love him and show myself to him.
May you learn to love the Lords commands early in your life and may He reveal Himself to you in ways we cannot even fathom!
Your Mommy and Daddy love you!
You are a year old today! I can hardly believe it! And yet at the same time, it seems like you've been with us forever, and in that way your Daddy and I know we were always "meant to be" with you!
Speaking of your Daddy, he's had to work many late nights this last month and sometimes he gets home after you go to bed. When that happens he always sneaks in and looks at you while you're asleep. You always have funny ways of sleeping, either all sprawled out, hugging either Lamb or Bear, or huddled up with your little rear sticking up in the air.
On days that Daddy gets home while you're still awake you are SO excited to see him. You are definitely your Daddy's little boy! You start talking very loudly and pointing, obviously telling Daddy all about your day and then you go and sit outside the bathroom door while he showers, waiting ever so patiently for him to come out and play!
This month you've continued to perfect your standing and walking skills. You can now stand up against just about any surface and when we took a surprise visit to Texas to visit Nana and Grandpa and Spicy and Papa, you looooved Spicy's magnet letters on the fridge so much that we had to get you some too! Your favorite letter is "I" because it fits so nicely in your little fist.
Yes, we took another trip to Texas this month and you spent two WHOLE nights with your grandparents while your Mommy and Daddy took a much needed mini-vacay. Everyone had fun and we celebrated the end of our trip with a little "trial run" first birthday for you! You had your first chocolate cupcake with bright green icing and you LOOOOOVED it! You got it ALL over you and had to take a bath before opening presents from Aunt Anna and Uncle Ryan and Kilsyth as well as Grand Billie and Great Steve, Nana and Grandpa, and Pawpaw. ( Spicy and Papa saved there present for your real birthday!)
This month you've also expanded your vocabulary quite a bit! You now say, "Mama, Daddy, Uh-oh, Ouch, Bye, Hi, and Book. You've also said "Cow" and "Donkey" when playing your Peekaboo barn game, but since you've never repeated them any other time I'm not sure if we can really add them to the official list! Something to work towards, huh?
My favorite word that you say is "book". You say it like "book-e" with the emphasis on the "k" and you usually repeat the word over and over again while you read your books. This is something that you looove to do. This month you would sit for a good twenty or thirty minutes at a time pulling books out of your book basket, looking at them very carefully and then on to the next! Your Daddy and I are so glad that you are already a great lover of books!
For your birthday week Spicy and Papa were able to come for a visit and they loved getting to see you, and you looooved getting to play with them all day! You loved getting squeezed by Papa and getting his famous Mind-melds. And on your birthday we had a little gathering of friends who came to celebrate your life so far. We strung up pictures of you and all the people that have been a part of your life this year! We had over 40 pictures and it didn't even cover all the people in your life! It reminded your Mommy that we have been truly blessed this year with so much support and help and we know that we could not have gotten you this far without all these wonderful people! We pray that every year is stuffed full of wonderful people to support and love you, teach and guide you and be your friend in all circumstances. Your Daddy and I know that there will be many important people who impact you through the years and we pray that there will be many who are reflections of Christ in your life.
Your official birthday cake was shaped like a drum, because you like to bang on things so much, you didn't get into the cake as much this time around, but it was also a little bigger and probably very overwhelming. However you did overcome and make a huge mess that required two baths to clean up! You also opened presents from friends and cried very hard at the giant stuffed Yoda doll. We're assuming that your love for Starwars will just have to grow through the years.
Yes, you are officially a year old and your little attitude is already coming out and your Mommy is already having to "remind" you of how to be a good boy sometimes. But, this just reminds your Mommy, who loves you so much and who finds it easy to think your just perfect, that you are in fact, NOT perfect and we pray daily for you to one day give your life to Jesus.
Once again we pray the verse that we were reminded of when you were born at 14:21 on August 9, 2010:
He who has my Commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by the Father and I too will love him and show myself to him.
May you learn to love the Lords commands early in your life and may He reveal Himself to you in ways we cannot even fathom!
Your Mommy and Daddy love you!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Month 11
Dear Ransom,
I cannot believe you've gotten so big! Sometimes I look at you crawling around ( you have mastered the "real" crawl for a while now) and pulling yourself up on things and I can hardly believe you're the same little baby who joined our lives last August. Don't worry, though, you are still my little baby and I try to get as many cuddles out of you as I can.
I think that now that it is more of a challenge to get you to cuddle with me, I find that I want your cuddles EVEN MORE. hehe.
So, this month you went on your very first beach vacation with your Spicy and Papa, Aunt Anna, Uncle Ryan and Kilsyth ( and of course Mommy and Daddy). You loooved the beach-mostly the splashing and the getting sand ALL over your body, but you also didn't mind the waves too much ( as long as they didn't get too big) and the taste of salt that would get on your face with all your splashing. Of course, a week with family made you one little spoiled boy and you were not particularly happy to be home with just your Mommy for entertainment, but lucky for you we had MORE visitors coming!
This month you also perfected your pointing skills and you now point at just about everything and usually say, "oh!" along with it to make whatever point you're trying to make.
Right now your favorite foods are still waffles, but you've also added turkey lunch meat and cubes of cheese to the favs list and you stuff your face with those almost as fast as those good ol' fashion carbs.
And you like to babble on and on about all sorts of topics. This month your Mommy has also been trying to train you to "Come!" on command and you've gotten pretty good at it! Most of the time you start crawling very fast towards Mommy, laughing all the way! I think you think that we're playing a game!
All in all you are pretty good about obeying, though you do still try to open most of the cabinets in the kitchen even though you get in trouble every time. You also do NOT enjoy playpen time, which Mommy is not very good about making you stay in! You are currently only doing about 15 minutes a day in the mornings before she gives into your crying and lets you out! I guess I'm not THAT tough of a Mommy! :-)
As I mentioned earlier we had some guests this month too, Mommy's friends Christa and Esther came to visit from Texas and you loved, loved, LOVED the added attention. No matter where we went you could hardly let out a whimper before someone was there to make you giggle.
You celebrated your first fourth of July, which you spent with your friend Elizabeth and a baby sitter ( Mommy and Daddy wanted to stay up and see the fireworks!), you obviously had fun because Elizabeth taught you how to crawl while holding blocks in both hands ( what a great loud banging sound it makes!).
This month you've also enjoyed going to the on post pool with Mommy and friends, because, anywhere were you can splash water ( including the bathtub) you one happy boy! In fact, every time see Mommy turning on the water in the bathtub for your bath, you pull up and start squealing and dancing around! You are SO excited to get in and start playing with your bathtoys! What a far cry from your early days when you HATED bath time! I'm so glad that things have changed.
So many things have changed, and yet one thing remains the same, you are still such a joy to our lives and you make every day interesting! Your Daddy and I love you so very much!
Mommy
I cannot believe you've gotten so big! Sometimes I look at you crawling around ( you have mastered the "real" crawl for a while now) and pulling yourself up on things and I can hardly believe you're the same little baby who joined our lives last August. Don't worry, though, you are still my little baby and I try to get as many cuddles out of you as I can.
I think that now that it is more of a challenge to get you to cuddle with me, I find that I want your cuddles EVEN MORE. hehe.
So, this month you went on your very first beach vacation with your Spicy and Papa, Aunt Anna, Uncle Ryan and Kilsyth ( and of course Mommy and Daddy). You loooved the beach-mostly the splashing and the getting sand ALL over your body, but you also didn't mind the waves too much ( as long as they didn't get too big) and the taste of salt that would get on your face with all your splashing. Of course, a week with family made you one little spoiled boy and you were not particularly happy to be home with just your Mommy for entertainment, but lucky for you we had MORE visitors coming!
This month you also perfected your pointing skills and you now point at just about everything and usually say, "oh!" along with it to make whatever point you're trying to make.
Right now your favorite foods are still waffles, but you've also added turkey lunch meat and cubes of cheese to the favs list and you stuff your face with those almost as fast as those good ol' fashion carbs.
And you like to babble on and on about all sorts of topics. This month your Mommy has also been trying to train you to "Come!" on command and you've gotten pretty good at it! Most of the time you start crawling very fast towards Mommy, laughing all the way! I think you think that we're playing a game!
All in all you are pretty good about obeying, though you do still try to open most of the cabinets in the kitchen even though you get in trouble every time. You also do NOT enjoy playpen time, which Mommy is not very good about making you stay in! You are currently only doing about 15 minutes a day in the mornings before she gives into your crying and lets you out! I guess I'm not THAT tough of a Mommy! :-)
As I mentioned earlier we had some guests this month too, Mommy's friends Christa and Esther came to visit from Texas and you loved, loved, LOVED the added attention. No matter where we went you could hardly let out a whimper before someone was there to make you giggle.
You celebrated your first fourth of July, which you spent with your friend Elizabeth and a baby sitter ( Mommy and Daddy wanted to stay up and see the fireworks!), you obviously had fun because Elizabeth taught you how to crawl while holding blocks in both hands ( what a great loud banging sound it makes!).
This month you've also enjoyed going to the on post pool with Mommy and friends, because, anywhere were you can splash water ( including the bathtub) you one happy boy! In fact, every time see Mommy turning on the water in the bathtub for your bath, you pull up and start squealing and dancing around! You are SO excited to get in and start playing with your bathtoys! What a far cry from your early days when you HATED bath time! I'm so glad that things have changed.
So many things have changed, and yet one thing remains the same, you are still such a joy to our lives and you make every day interesting! Your Daddy and I love you so very much!
Mommy
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Month Ten
Dear Ransom,
What a month you've had! You're now ten months old and you've seriously learned SO MUCH in the last month, it blows my mind!
The biggest thing you learned this month was how to crawl. Now, mind you, it all started with a weird wonky crawl where you tucked one leg under you for support, used one leg to push with and your arms to pull you along...and while it still very much looks like this-since I think you've just gotten use to it, you now spend most of your time on your traditional all fours. Now when I see you speedly getting all over the house its hard to imagine how immobile you use to be!
It probably helped that you had a whirlwind weekend trip to Ohio for you Daddy's cousin Jonathan's wedding where you spent time with your cousin, Cal, who is only a few weeks younger than you and who's been crawling for ages! I think he may have shamed you into trying harder at the crawling thing!
You are definitely delighted in your mobility and you have gotten into the habit of crawling up and down the hall laughing to yourself-hysterically. It seemed a bit odd at first, but I guess your new found freedoms really ARE that funny! You have definitely gotten into some funny circumstances-you've gotten into just about every cabinet on your level in the kitchen, gotten stuck under the dinning room table, and gotten caught several times doing a major no-no-pulling books off of bookshelves. We're still working on that one ;-)
Because you are now so mobile we've had to have some changes around the house, one of which was a baby gate at the foot of our stairs. AND you now spend a few minutes ( not very long because you HATE it!) in the playpen that I set up in the dinning room corner. One good thing has come from your imprisonment in the playpen, though- a week and a half ago you I finally heeded your whines and went to get you out of the playpen and you started clapping! We hadn't even been practicing that particular skill, but we went ahead and added it to our repartee. Now you will wave bye on demand or when anyone says the word "bye" in conversation...or just when you're leaving-basically its your favorite things to do. You also strum your bottom lip ( sometimes you even try to strum our bottom lips too) and love to make sounds with your mouth. In fact, if you are fussy or bored one of the fastest ways to make you happy again is to make a certain sound that you can easily mimic. Then we go back in forth, we make the sound, then you make the sound...and then every so often I'll throw in a different sound to throw you off and you'll belly laugh like its the funniest thing ever. Being your mom is a great ego boost. I've never had such a great audience.
This month you also learned the inevitable. That not only could you sit up, pull up and crawl throughout the day...but you could ALSO do those things in your crib. This was a grave disappointment for me. I was kind of hoping you'd never figure that out and would always think that you had to stay lying down in your crib. But, luckily you've been pretty good about playing for ten minutes or so and then letting me lay you down again and then you go straight to sleep. Whew!! I guess we've got more sleep training in our future though.
In not so pleasant firsts, this month you had your first trip to the ER. It seems that cutting your 7th and 8th teeth has been pretty hard on you, and not only have you been cutting them off and on since the end of April, this past week you started to run a very high fever. It kept going up and up and finally when it got close to 104 we decided to take you in just to make sure nothing else was wrong. It was scary for your Mommy and Daddy, but you handled it like a pro. You even flirted with all the nurses.
Yes, you continue to steal the hearts of all that you meet and we pray that you will always be able to have a good attitude in the face of trials. For there will be trials. I just hope that they are trials for the sake of The Kingdom of God.
We love you,
Your Mommy
What a month you've had! You're now ten months old and you've seriously learned SO MUCH in the last month, it blows my mind!
The biggest thing you learned this month was how to crawl. Now, mind you, it all started with a weird wonky crawl where you tucked one leg under you for support, used one leg to push with and your arms to pull you along...and while it still very much looks like this-since I think you've just gotten use to it, you now spend most of your time on your traditional all fours. Now when I see you speedly getting all over the house its hard to imagine how immobile you use to be!
It probably helped that you had a whirlwind weekend trip to Ohio for you Daddy's cousin Jonathan's wedding where you spent time with your cousin, Cal, who is only a few weeks younger than you and who's been crawling for ages! I think he may have shamed you into trying harder at the crawling thing!
You are definitely delighted in your mobility and you have gotten into the habit of crawling up and down the hall laughing to yourself-hysterically. It seemed a bit odd at first, but I guess your new found freedoms really ARE that funny! You have definitely gotten into some funny circumstances-you've gotten into just about every cabinet on your level in the kitchen, gotten stuck under the dinning room table, and gotten caught several times doing a major no-no-pulling books off of bookshelves. We're still working on that one ;-)
Because you are now so mobile we've had to have some changes around the house, one of which was a baby gate at the foot of our stairs. AND you now spend a few minutes ( not very long because you HATE it!) in the playpen that I set up in the dinning room corner. One good thing has come from your imprisonment in the playpen, though- a week and a half ago you I finally heeded your whines and went to get you out of the playpen and you started clapping! We hadn't even been practicing that particular skill, but we went ahead and added it to our repartee. Now you will wave bye on demand or when anyone says the word "bye" in conversation...or just when you're leaving-basically its your favorite things to do. You also strum your bottom lip ( sometimes you even try to strum our bottom lips too) and love to make sounds with your mouth. In fact, if you are fussy or bored one of the fastest ways to make you happy again is to make a certain sound that you can easily mimic. Then we go back in forth, we make the sound, then you make the sound...and then every so often I'll throw in a different sound to throw you off and you'll belly laugh like its the funniest thing ever. Being your mom is a great ego boost. I've never had such a great audience.
This month you also learned the inevitable. That not only could you sit up, pull up and crawl throughout the day...but you could ALSO do those things in your crib. This was a grave disappointment for me. I was kind of hoping you'd never figure that out and would always think that you had to stay lying down in your crib. But, luckily you've been pretty good about playing for ten minutes or so and then letting me lay you down again and then you go straight to sleep. Whew!! I guess we've got more sleep training in our future though.
In not so pleasant firsts, this month you had your first trip to the ER. It seems that cutting your 7th and 8th teeth has been pretty hard on you, and not only have you been cutting them off and on since the end of April, this past week you started to run a very high fever. It kept going up and up and finally when it got close to 104 we decided to take you in just to make sure nothing else was wrong. It was scary for your Mommy and Daddy, but you handled it like a pro. You even flirted with all the nurses.
Yes, you continue to steal the hearts of all that you meet and we pray that you will always be able to have a good attitude in the face of trials. For there will be trials. I just hope that they are trials for the sake of The Kingdom of God.
We love you,
Your Mommy
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