Grandparents

Dear Connor,

I wanted to become a mom for many reasons. I love kids. I love your dad and wanted to start a family with him. I wanted an excuse to buy adorable, teeny, tiny onesies and adorable, teeny, tiny hats and adorable, teeny, tiny socks (Ha, kidding! Sort of . . .). I also wanted to become a mom so that I could make my mom and dad grandparents. PoiPoi and GongGong have told me that I've done many things that have made them happy but I knew that nothing could make them happier than having a grandchild to love, hug and spoil! And after you were born, I could see that that was absolutely true. 

PoiPoi and GongGong live in Pittsburgh (and have yet to figure out how Skype works) so they don't get to see you that often but they couldn't love you more. They print out the photos I email to them and paste them all over their walls. GongGong takes your photos to his office and shows them to everyone and anyone who will look at them (the one of you wearing the Santa Claus suit on your first Christmas is an especially popular one!). I post videos of you online and they watch them every single day. And when PoiPoi and GongGong do get to see you in person, their faces "shine so bright that the sun cries with envy" (I paraphrased that last bit from one of my favorite shows, Glee, which I am going to have you watch when you get older because it is awesome). 

It's amazing to see my parents with my child, to see how happy you make each other. PoiPoi and GongGong love you so much and even though you only see them a few times a year, you love them, too. They came to visit this past weekend and you initially broke their hearts when you first saw them and shied away from them. It had been awhile since you'd seen them and you didn't recognize them right away. But after awhile, you warmed up and were playing and giggling with them as if you saw them all the time. You kept running up to GongGong and hugging his leg, showing him your toys and asking him to play with you. And yesterday, PoiPoi was holding you in her lap when you pulled her face toward yours and gave her a sweet little kiss on her lips. That was the first time you had ever kissed PoiPoi and we almost had to wipe her up because she had practically melted into a puddle on the floor. 

Love,

Mom

Bird Man

Dear Connor,

We went to the park today and you had a blast running through the grass, watching another mom blow bubbles and playing with other kids' scooters, doll strollers and figurines (Um, yeah, can you please stop taking other kids' toys? It's not nice.). You also loved chasing after the birds and became really excited every time you saw them fly away. And I mean, REALLY excited. Please see your reaction below:

Whenever a bird took off, you screamed at the top of your lungs, "Oh WOW! Oh WOW!" It was hilarious and adorable and made everyone in the park laugh because EVERYONE could hear you! I hope you can always find such joy and amazement in life. 

Love,

Mom

Oh Wow

Dear Connor,

You just learned how to say "wow" yesterday. When I held you up in front of the dining room window so that you could look outside, you said, "Wow." When you opened up the kitchen cabinet and saw all of the spice jars inside, you said, "Wow." And when I was feeding you dinner, you pulled on my collar, looked down my shirt and said, "Wow." Um, thank you?

Love,
Mom

Bad Things Come In Threes

Dear Connor,

In my last letter, I told you about one of the best moments ever. In this letter, I am going to talk about this morning, which was the exact opposite of the best moment ever. First, when you woke up this morning, I picked you up and discovered that your pee had soaked through your diaper and onto your onesie, pajamas, sleepsack and sheets. Awesome. 

I cleaned and changed you, fed you your bottle of milk, put you in your playpen and went upstairs to change your sheets. When I came back downstairs, I immediately smelled it--you had pooped. A lot. In fact, you had pooped so much that the poop had squished out of your diaper and was smeared all over your pants and the playmat that you had been sitting and rolling around on. Lovely. 

I cleaned and changed you again and put you in your highchair. I cut up blueberry waffles and a handful of grapes for you and began tackling the mess in your playpen, wiping and disinfecting the entire playmat and also all of your toys for good measure. While I was doing this, you vomited all over yourself and your highchair. 

Oh. My. God. When it rains, it pours.

Love,

Mom

Playground Antics

Dear Connor,

Over the weekend, Daddy and I took you to a playground and you had a blast on the swing. You kept giggling and shouting "weeeee!" as you swung back and forth. It was the first time we ever heard you say "weeeee" and it was absolutely adorable!

Later on, I was watching you and Daddy run around. You guys were about 15 feet away from me and Daddy turned you around and pointed me out to you. When you saw me, you beamed and started running toward me. I squatted down and you ran right into my arms and gave me a big, tight hug. It was one of the Best. Moments. Ever.

Love,
Mom

19 Months

Dear Connor,

You turned 19 months old today! I still think of you as my little baby (and let's be honest, I always will) but you are already such a big boy who can do so many big boy things:

-You have added a lot of new words to your vocabulary over the past few weeks: cookie (you say "coco"), duck, quack, baa (for sheep), eye, belly button (you point to your belly button and say "beh beh"), car and sit (you often say it to Mochi, I guess because you hear Daddy and me saying it to him all of the time!). When you want me to pick you up, you hold your arms out toward me and say "up" and when you pee or poop in your diaper, you tap your crotch and say "duh-tee" (dirty). I am especially proud of the fact that I just taught you how to say please; you say it like "peas" in this adorable soft-spoken voice.

-When you're so tired that you actually want to nap, you let me know by walking over to the spot on the couch where you always take your naps and laying your head down on it. 

-You love to dance and have some seriously awesome dance moves. My favorites are when you wiggle your butt and this hilarious one where you walk and squat to the beat of the music. 

-You love coconut water and yogurt smoothies. If I'm drinking one, I try to share it with you but you always end up hogging it all to yourself. Thanks a lot. 

-Daddy and I bought you a lot of gender-neutral toys but the whole boys-love-cars thing must be innate because you love to play with cars now. Sometimes, you even pretend pieces of your food are cars and push them across your high chair tray and say "choo choo." 

-You continue to be the friendliest baby ever! When Daddy was at the dentist last week, you and I were waiting for him in the waiting room and you walked up and said hi to every single person who came into the waiting room. Your friendliness is cute but we do have to have the stranger talk with you soon.

-When I'm mixing something in my KitchenAid mixer, you like to look into the bowl and imitate the mixer's circular motion by moving your upper body in a circular motion. So funny!

-In addition to teaching you colors, numbers, the letters of the alphabet and useful things like that, I have taught you to push your cheeks in so that your lips pucker like a fish whenever I say, "Fish face!"

I love you more and more every day, sweetie.

Love,

Mom

Nap Prisoner

Dear Connor,

I was able to sleep train you so that you can now fall asleep by yourself at night but I still cannot get you to take naps on your own. You have so much to do, so much to see, so many toys to play with! You just cannot be bothered with naps so when it's time for one, you fight it. I lay you down in your crib, you pop right up, I lay you down, you pop back up, lather, rinse, repeat. If I just leave you in your room, you scream and cry for the entire hour or so that you should be napping. The only way I can get you to take a nap is to lay down on the couch with you and wrap my arms around you. You eventually fall asleep and then I can get up off the couch. 

Except that sometimes, I can't get up off the couch. As soon as I move my arms, you stir and grab them in your half-conscious state. So I lay back down, put my arms back around you and wait until you drift off again. But when I attempt to get up a second time, you immediately sense it (what are you, a ninja??) and reach for me. If your flailing hands don't make contact with my arms, you wake up and start crying. There are times when I spend a good half of an hour trying to slip off of the couch without waking you up. Sometimes I am successful. Sometimes I have to lay down and hold you for your entire 1- to 2-hour nap. When it's the latter, I usually get annoyed. I have laundry to fold! Emails to write! Lunch to eat! But you know what? There are worse things in life than having to hold you for a few hours, feel your sweet breath on my skin and watch your eyelids flutter while you dream.

Love,

Mom

Egg-stra Special

Dear Connor,

Daddy and I took you to your first Easter egg hunt today! I forgot to bring a basket for you but we didn't need it--you found one egg, quickly lost interest in it, threw it back on the ground and then spent the rest of the hunt racing around the playground like a crazy drunk person (you run in a zigzag pattern and it is hilarious). Fun times!

Love,

Mom