You sing now! Before, you would only hum and musically said, “Doo, doot, doo!” This week though, you actually sang lyrics. I love to sing and hearing you sing and singing with you makes me just about as happy as I’ve ever been. You know the chorus of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” in part to the book Gee and Grandpa gave you for Christmas. You don’t quite say all the words right (“frolicked” usually gets glossed over), but you sound great.

Speaking of things you got for Christmas, we haven’t written to you about the Christmas we just had. You were very excited about Christmas and Christmas trees, which you called “Chri’mas trees.” Your ornament for 2011 was a giraffe, because giraffes are your favorite animals. It was nice to hear what you had to say about your other ornaments (the owl for ’09 and the gingerbread man for ’10, which you called “the cookie man”), because you hadn’t really been interested in Christmas before. You also got an ornament of Buddy from “Dinosaur Train.” The ornament you paid the most attention to though was one that Daddy and I got several years ago in Yosemite National Park. It’s wooden and has a bit of a twig that sticks out of it. It was low enough on the tree that you could reach it and you kept pretending you were pumping lotion out of it. You would tip the ornament into your hand and then rub your hands together. Then you would turn to us and say, “Want some?”

You got lots of nice gifts, but I think your favorites were your chalkboard easel, a couple of books, a Bullseye that makes horse sounds, and a matchbox sized Lightning McQueen. McQueen rarely leaves your hand. In fact, his paint is already chipping off and you’ve barely had him a month. He went with us on our trips to Chattanooga, Atlanta, and New Orleans. Anything with stripes is a road and you can often be found running McQueen along a flat surface, whispering “I am speed. Cha-cow!” Sometimes you actually say “Ka-chow,” but “Cha-cow” is much more common.

Some other things you say a lot are:
What are you saying about?
Like the same!
Oh, I got! (To mean, “Oh, I get it!”)
What’s this? (About things you know and things you don’t.)

I love that you talk a lot sometimes and other times you’re really quiet. You play well alone sometimes, but sometimes you want us to play, too.

We had a lot of fun traveling this month. We’ve been to three different aquariums and you’ve been surprising Gee and Grandpa by saying things like, “I want to go fishing and catch a beluga whale.” You liked the music in New Orleans. One man even played “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” for you on his trumpet. When you heard a couple singing “This Is the Day the Lord Has Made,” you recognized it and said, “Mommy, like you sing!” Oh, and when we took our first stroll down a street in the French Quarter, you said, “Like the bookstore!” because the only street you ever walk down is the one where I have my store.

Life is good when you’re around, sweet boy.

Love, Mommy

What an adventurous year we’ve had! This was your first real Halloween, and you got to help carve your first pumpkin! At first you were a little confused, and you weren’t sure if you liked touching the insides of the pumpkins, but once we were finished and had them lit, you were thrilled! Ever since then whenever you see pumpkins you go: “Pumpkins! Happy Halloween!”. Sometimes you say things like, “Pumpkin, Cats, Bats, Scary!”.

You got to wear your old Godzilla costume from last year, (which actually fit better this year) and a new costume Mommy made you. You were a skeleton! You called it your “bones” suit! And you loved it. She painted it with glow in the dark paint, so you would ask us to turn out the lights so you could see your bones glow.

This time you got to trick or treat three different days and you really got the hang of it quickly. You liked going and showing everyone your bones and getting the candy. You, of course, also loved eating the candy, and learned the words “Pretzel” and “Chocolate”!

I dressed up as a werewolf, and Mommy dressed up as a vampire, but you just called us Daddy-wolf and Mommy. I would howl like a wolf and then you would howl too, or sometimes you would say “No way, Daddy Wolf!”

Even though Halloween is long over sometimes I’ll still howl and you’ll say, “No Daddy, don’t be a wolf!”, but sometimes you’ll howl too, and then you’ll say it’s “Daddy Wolf and Baby Wolf.” Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I am so happy that you had such a great one.

Earlier this month, we took a very quick trip to California. It was a weekend of firsts for you, kiddo. You rode a plane for the first time and L-O-V-E-D it. You went to the ocean for the first time and L-O-V-E-D it. And you went to a wedding for the first time and I L-O-V-E-D how well you behaved!

We went to California to see our cousin Megan get married, but Daddy and I wanted to make sure you got to see the ocean, too. We met up with Fred and Patricia, who were also there for the wedding, and waded in the ocean and then went swimming in the pool at their hotel. You loved the water!

Once we showered and changed our clothes, Fred had come back with lunch…and he had picked up Grandpa! You were excited (and surprised) to see Grandpa.

After lunch, we headed to the resort where Megan got married on the beach! You talked a little during the ceremony, but mostly you were really good and played in the sand. At the reception afterwards, you got to eat a little cheese pizza and walk around with Daddy and look at bonfires.

We got you a toy plane that looks like the ones we flew on and you’ve played with it practically nonstop since we bought it in the Nashville airport on the way out. It doesn’t work as well anymore because it has sand in its wheels, but the lights and sounds still come work. A night or so after we got back, you said to me, “Mommy, want to ride purple plane. See Grandpa.”

You’re a sweet boy, Jack!

Love you,
Mommy

Today, for the first time, you stayed at Grandma’s house for the whole day while I went to work. This is probably the longest you and I have ever been apart. You and I have been like two peas in a pod.

People often say things to me like, “How wonderful for your son it must be to grow up in a bookstore!” And, so far, that’s what’s happened. You’ve come with me every day. For months, we had a play yard right by the counter. Then we set up a play area for you in the back, so you could crawl around without getting stepped on by shoppers. We even had your first birthday party at the bookstore!

A couple of days ago, I took you to a library for the first time. If I’ve ever worried that you’ll tire of books, that trip was a big indicator that you probably won’t (or, at least, you haven’t yet). I want to take you back. We had such a nice time.

You’re growing up now though. You’ll still be in the store a lot, of course, but it’s not fair to make you be here all the time. Little boys just need to be loud sometimes.

I want to encourage you to pursue what interests you. I want you to know that, whatever you want to do with your life, I’ll be cheering for you. That’s what my store is to me. It’s what I’ve made of myself. If it wasn’t so important to me, I would never be able to part with you for even a whole minute to be there.

I wonder sometimes if you can ever know how much I love you. I don’t think you can. I try to tell myself that maybe when you have your own children you’ll understand. But when that happens for you, and I do hope that it will, it will feel so profound and new that you will say to yourself, “Oh, no, there’s never been a love like this before.”

But there has been. Oh, my boy, your mommy loves you so much that the words she’s used to build her life fall short and useless. There are no words, Jack, for how much I love you.

I hope you’re being good for Grandma right now.

Love, Mommy

Yesterday was your birthday! You’re two years old now! I’ve been working with you for a month or so, trying to get you to hold up two fingers and say, “Two!” I want you to be able to answer when people ask how old you are. You do it sometimes and it’s usually one finger from each hand.

Even if you won’t always hold up your fingers, you are learning numbers. I can get you to count with me up to five, but you can identify all the numbers up to nine when we read your counting books.

Another thing you’ve gotten a lot better at lately is drawing. You really take your time. No more random scribbling for you! You draw circles, big and little circles, circles inside circles, all over a page, sometimes while saying, “Round and round and round and round!” You draw faces, too. Here’s a perfect example (I drew the train, you drew the face):

I usually keep crayons and paper with us all the time. You’ve had your own bound sketch book, a smaller version of the kind Daddy uses, for several months. You love it. You love it even more when we draw with you. Or, sometimes, you ask others to color, too…

“Steve, color? Pleeease?”

For a long time, you would say “Mama Dada” and “Dada Mama” (which sounded a lot like “edamame”) when you were talking to both of us. Now you call us Mommy and Daddy individually and “guys” when you want us both. This morning, you said, “Look, guys, train!”

You’ve started playing with your toys in a whole new way. You ask us to play with you and hand us toys. You like to make the toys speak to each other. The conversations are you usually about eating, we’ve noticed. Then all the toys bounce or dance. You say to them, “Bounce, friends!” and then, “Stop! Stop! Stop! Dance!” Daddy and I have lots of fun seeing what you’ll think of next.

You’re such a fun, friendly boy. No mommy could be prouder.

Happy birthday! I wonder what joys your third year will bring…

Love, Mommy

What a difference

one year

can make.

You’ve spent a lot of time outside this summer. We like to take you to Centennial Park in Nashville, to the little Holland Park, and the train museum down the street from Mommy’s bookstore. Recently Mickma and I took you to Kelly, KY, for a small outdoor festival commemorating a bunch of UFO sightings in the fifties. It was a silly little affair, but there was live music and other little kids, mainly little girls, running around. You would run little circles around them, smiling and saying “Hi! Me Jack!” and pointing at your tummy. You would run next to them waving your hands, or stand in front of them bobbing up and down and say “Dance!” Sometimes you would touch them on the shoulder and say “Chase! Me!” and then run away. Sometimes it feels like you’re flirting with the little girls, but more often it just seems like you are being friendly. You are so friendly. You say hello to everyone, and when you are ready to leave, you always say “Bye bye, you soon!”, which means see you soon.

Lately you’ve learned how to say “excuse me” when you burp, and a whole lot of other words, like fish, beach, dark, dog, and the names of a bunch of cartoon characters. You’ve been swimming a couple times this summer, and the last time we were over at Papa Hill’s. You’ve outgrown your baby float, and now you wear your water wings. You haven’t quite gotten the hang of them yet, but you’re very brave and you love trying to swim. Sometimes you forget to close your mouth though! But you love it!

It has been a great summer playing cars and dinosaurs and trains and coloring books with you. In just a few weeks you will be 2! What will you be like then?

Love,
Daddy

We’re having such a busy summer!

Daddy is going to grad school now, which means you’re getting to watch a lot of really neat, old cartoons for his history class. You’re pretty impressed with Popeye a short called “Red Ball Express” that’s full of trains and bluegrass music. A couple of times a day, you’ll walk up to Daddy at his desk and say, “Watch? Choo choo? Watch choo choo? Watch! Choo choo! Watch choo choo!”

We went back to Uncle Dave Macon Days again this year. You loved the music, but I think you loved playing with Sara more. You were also pretty thrilled to play in the creek that runs through the festival area. I think you liked it almost as much as you did playing in Mrs. Martha’s pool on July 4th. It has been an especially hot July though, so we haven’t been outside as much.

The big news right now is that last night you went peepee in your little potty for the first time!  You really pay attention to what goes on around you and we’ve talked about your potty only a few times. When you asked to peepee, I didn’t expect you to actually do it yet! We clapped and danced. It was so exciting. It will still be a long time before you’re really potty trained, but so far it’s going excellently.

I know I say this in every letter, but you really are changing so fast. A few weeks ago, you wouldn’t say “ouch” quite right. You pronounced it “oak.” Now you say “ouch,” but thankfully you don’t have to say it often! My new favorite thing is that when I say “I love you,” you say “Too.” This morning I said, “I love you, Jack.” You answered me, “Too, Mama.”

And I do love you so.
-Mama

Sometimes, Jack, there are things I think about as being commonplace (which means I probably don’t think about them at all) and so I don’t write about or take pictures of them. Then, one day, I look back and realize that we’ve changed and what was once commonplace is now infrequent, if it happens at all. You’re not even 2 years old yet and already Dada and I talk about the way you used to be, like it was so very long ago. Even though it may not have been so long, really, it feels like a long time because you’ve changed so much.

This morning, during your bath, you were kicking your legs and water was splashing out of the tub. I hadn’t corrected you (sometimes, it’s too fun to watch you have fun that I forget I should be saying things like, “Jack, you’re getting water all over the bathroom!”), but you must’ve known you were making a mess. You shook your little finger and said, “No, no, no, feet!” Your feet wouldn’t listen though and you kicked water everywhere and we both laughed.

You get attached to a toy and want to have it in your hand at all times. Only the toy changes periodically, so I have to be alert and not accidentally leave behind the toy you’re most attached to at the moment. For weeks you’ve carried around a little red car with yellow wheels (which replaced a little red dump truck), but now you’ve moved on to a red wooden car with black wheels. Each time you change toys, I feel a little sad. I know, when I’m really, really old, I’m going to have a box of little red cars and dinosaurs and frog rattles hidden in my closet, each of which were your comfort, your security, for a few days or weeks. A box of the things you cherished the most, for a brief moment in time.

You have become a world champion hugger. Truly, it’s the best thing ever. I can’t imagine a better feeling than when you run up, throw your arms around me, and say, “Mamaaaa!” It’s especially great if I’m sitting on the floor, so you can wrap your arms around my neck. Sometimes, you even say “I love you” to me and Dada. When you’re feeling extra sweet, you hug me and say, “Mmm, mmm, mmm!”

Somehow, no one really knows how, you’ve learned over half the alphabet. (Upper case only, but we’ll work on lower case at some point.) It was really something to figure out that one day, about a month ago, you just, sort of, knew letters. Sure we read alphabet books and you’ve watched “Word World,” but no one was really trying to teach you. You just pay attention and pick up on things.

I’ve turned our cuckoo clock on because I thought you’d like it. I’ve been working on getting the pendulum in the right place so it can keep time correctly. It’s a picky piece of machinery, but I think I’ve got it right now. I’d never really bothered before, but you love the cuckoo so much, it’s worth it. Actually, I’m not sure which you love more, the cuckoo or the dancers that come out of the house and spin around.  You’ve known the word “clock” for a while, but now sometimes you’ll point to it and say, “Clock, tweet tweet, doo doo doooo!”

Lately, your name for Grandma is “G.” Sometimes Gigi. We have no idea where it came from. Maybe you saw “Grandma” written out somewhere and one of us pointed out that it starts with G? That seems unlikely, but we have no other clues.

You’ll be waking up from your nap soon, so I better go finish some things around the house while I still can.

I love you!

-Mama

We’ve been having a great summer so far. Whenever the weather has been good, we have been going to different parks and play grounds, and you have been able to spend a lot more time with your cousins. You’ve grown up so much. You really like to sit and watch things now, like “Sesame Street,” “Word World,” and Disney movies. But you also love to have people read to you, and to sit and color in your coloring books, or the special sketchbook we bought for you.

Your coloring has gotten a lot better. Mommy and I can really see how you are trying to color individual objects now, and to seperate objects by different colors. Sometimes you still like to try and eat the crayons, but that’s okay.

You’ve started using a lot more words now, too. Just today you said “Yes.” You say “I love you” and “Thank you” and “Tractor” and so many others. You seem to have a new way of expressing yourself every day. You can also recognize several letters. A, B, D, E, Z, and sometimes T, P, and C. You always recognize “O” and love to yell it out whenever you see an “O” or a Zero, or a circle.

You’ve also gotten really good at opening and closing things, connecting your train track, and stacking blocks. You love to make a big stack and then show it to us, saying “Mama, Dada….blocks!” and then you like to knock them over and go “Uh-Oh!”.

We recently took you to the Adventure Science Center, which is the science museum in Nashville that Mommy and Daddy used to visit when they were kids. It has changed a lot, but you really enjoyed it. Your favorite thing was a slide inside the human body area, and the big robot dinosaurs they had! You kept going up to them and saying, “Hi, Roar!” (“roar” is what you call dinosaurs) and “Bye, Roar!” I can’t wait to take you back there and back to the zoo.

Love,
Daddy

Dear Jack,

Life is slowly getting back to normal after our first big family vacation. We had such a wonderful time at Disney World, it’s hard to get back into the swing of regular life again.

We left on Thursday, March 24, and stayed in Atlanta that night. The next day, we made the rest of the drive into Florida. We checked into our room at the Mighty Ducks building in the All Star Movies Resort, relaxed for a bit, then had dinner in Downtown Disney.

On Saturday, we went to Hollywood Studios. Remembering that first day, in the sunshine, walking with you and Daddy, so happy to be showing you something I love, brings tears to my eyes. You seemed to see every detail, stretching the limits of your vocabulary to tell us all the stuff you were seeing. Your favorite thing was definitely the “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” playground. At least, it was your favorite thing until you met Mickey!

Mickey knelt down to greet you, because you’re very small, but you knelt down, too. So, Mickey sat. And you sat. You were very excited to see Mickey, who you pointed out everywhere we went, since he’s part of the Disney World logo and is on everything. You call him Teetee, so we would hear you say “Teetee!” and try to find the Mickey you saw.

Your Mickey visit simply couldn’t have gone better. You were happy to meet him and cheerfully waved goodbye when it was another child’s turn. You also met Lotso, Mater, and Lightning McQueen, who you squatted in front of and kissed.

Your first real ride was the Great Movie Ride and you loved it! We had barely started moving when you started saying “choo choo” over and over, because you noticed the ride cars were connected. That evening, we took a boat to Epcot to see the fireworks/laser show IllumiNations. Before the show, we looked around the World Showcase and took you on Maelstrom, the ride in the Norway area. It has monsters in it that I was a little worried might frighten you, but you just roared at them. You fell in love with a viking helmet in the shop in Norway and we just had to get it.

The next day was spent at Animal Kingdom. It was another sunny day and you spent a lot of it riding around in a backpack Daddy wore, like a little prince. We got there just as the park opened (in time for rope-drop and seeing Mickey and the gang ride by in their safari bus) and went straight to see Baloo and King Louie, both of whom you gave high fives. We went on the safari tour, which you loved, and saw tons of animals. You fell asleep at the very end, when our tram was standing still, waiting for our turn to get off. So, Daddy and I hung out with a sleeping Jack in front of the gorilla enclosure. The gorillas weren’t in view at all, until you woke up. As soon as you opened your eyes, a big gorilla came out from behind the trees.

We walked around and looked at all the exotic animals. You love birds, so the aviaries were a big hit with you, as were the crocodiles and any place with fish. You make a chomp motion with your hands for crocodiles and a flying motion and tweeting sound for birds.

When we read books together, we like to make the noises for the animals we see. I always make the elephant’s trumpet blast noise, which you can do now, too. Daddy does a great monkey impression and you started doing it while we were at Animal Kingdom! We’d see a monkey and you’d go, “Ah! Ah!”

We rode a train to the petting zoo and you LOVED the train.

We finished off Sunday by going back to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic.

On Monday, we awoke to thunderstorms. We took our time getting ready and didn’t make it out of the hotel until much later than we had the days before. We went to the Magic Kingdom and because there was lightning in the area, they weren’t running any of the outdoor rides–including the train, which was the ride I was most looking forward to taking you on. We trudged ahead, wearing ponchos we bought at our hotel, and bought your first pair of Mickey ears.

It rained the whole day, but we still had lots of fun. We went straight into Fantasyland and rode almost all the rides. You kept referring to each ride as either “choo choo” or boat. The lightning wasn’t constant, so we did get to take you on the train, which was great. You loved it and got so relaxed you fell asleep.

While you were asleep, we had your silhouette made. We knew you wouldn’t be still enough while you were awake, so we have a silhoutte of a sleeping Jack, very similar to the ones that were done of Aunt Amy and I when we were there as children.

The rain finally slacked off, but by then a lot of people had left and the park was practically empty. We saw Mickey again, at the Hall of Presidents, and there was no one else there, so we got to take our time with him.

When we went to Tomorrowland, you loved the People Mover so much we went back to ride it again after the fireworks. We saw the Electrical Parade and the fireworks, both of which Daddy and I really love and so did you.

The next day, the weather was perfect! We went to Epcot, which turned out to be the best day we spent in Disney World. We saw dinosaurs, beautiful flowers, and you got to play in the water! You had so much fun in the Imagination! Pavilion, where there were lots of interactive play areas involving music and sound. And you loved Figment!

In our hotel each morning, we watched cartoons while we got ready. One of the cartoons we saw almost every morning was a clip from “The Three Caballeros” that includes the song of the same name, with Donald, Jose, and Panchito singing. They’ve redone the ride in the Mexico area of the World Showcase and it now includes the Three Caballeros. The ride is much nicer now than it was before and you knew the characters because you’d seen them each morning we were there. At the end of the ride, there was a nighttime street scene with fireworks. You pointed to them and said, “Boom! boom!” We got to ride the ride three times without getting off and you loved it. It was Daddy’s favorite part of our trip. We all liked it so much that since we’ve gotten home, we’ve bought the DVD of “The Three Caballeros.”

The next day, our last day in Disney World, we went back to the Magic Kingdom. We went to Adventureland first, which we didn’t get to on our first day there. We went on the Jungle Cruise a couple of times and ever since going on it, you think elephants shoot water from their trunks.

The rain came back in the afternoon, surprising us just as we got on the train in Frontierland. It was a wicked storm that forced us all off the train and under the bridge the train uses to cross over Frontierland. We were hiding out under that bridge with about 50-60 people. It was exciting and very memorable.

The rain didn’t stick around though, so we got to see the parade and get a nice family photo taken (in brand-new Disney World shirts!) in front of the castle.

It was a fantastic trip and you were a delight the whole time. I can’t wait to take you back!

Love,
Mommy