Word Master

Dear Connor,

At your check-up on Friday, the medical assistant asked me if you know more than six words. I laughed at her because in just the past month, you learned how to say the following new words:

scared, snow, trees, tall, high, fun gow (Chinese for sleep), coming, sticker, coin, splash, cloud, train, tunnel, purple, jia jia (Chinese for dirty), spoon, nunu (noodle), dog, cat, tiger, che che (Chinese for car), syril (cereal), ago (let go), try, spin, dizzy, slide, swing, noise, pack pack (backpack), Gong Gong (Chinese for grandpa), petul (pretzel), baguh (bagel), bayee (berry), stawbee (strawberry), track, toys, efant (elephant), boken (broken), pen, chow chow (Chinese for smelly), chaht gnah (Chinese for "brush teeth"), sai gwah (Chinese for watermelon), park, squirrel, work and slurp (you exclaim this whenever you eat noodles and slurp them into your mouth)

You also learned the names of many of the Thomas & Friends train engines and can identify each of them when you see their picture (Thomas, CeeCee (Percy), Gordon, James, Toby, Emily). 

More than six words? Woman, please. 

Love,

Mom

Love Bite

Dear Connor,

Our dog Mochi is half German Shepherd and half Labrador, so he is a BIG dog. He is pretty gentle and laidback for the most part but he can be aggressive from time to time so even though I'm not afraid of him, I have always been a tiny bit afraid that he might bite me one day if he gets too worked up (you never know with dogs, no matter how friendly they are). But it turns out that I should have worried less about Mochi and more about you--you bit me today!

I was standing at the kitchen island cutting grapes in half for you and you were hugging my leg. You began nuzzling your face against my thigh and then--ouch! I felt a sudden sharp pain in my leg because you had sunk your little vampire fangs into my thigh! I screamed out in both pain and surprise, which scared you so much that you burst into tears (I had to hold you for several minutes before you calmed down and found it extremely ironic that I had to console you after you bit me!).

I wasn't mad at you because I know you didn't bite me out of anger. You just did it for fun but it wasn't fun for me! When I lifted my shorts to see the damage, I saw blood and your teeny, tiny teeth marks on my leg. Geez, Connor! Good thing you got all of your shots!

Love,
Mom

Keep On Truckin'

Dear Connor,

Today was an exciting day for you--Daddy turned your car seat around so that you now face the front of the car. No longer are you limited to staring at the sky through the rear window! Now you can see what we see, from the iconic Manhattan skyline as we cross the Williamsburg bridge to the crazy man in the Honda swerving into our lane without signaling (yeah, don't do that when you drive). You also have a full view of the many vehicles we pass on the streets and highways and were so excited to see them all today that during our entire 45-minute drive to Manhattan, you kept exclaiming, "Truck! Bus! Bus! Taxi! Truck! Car! Bus! Truck! Truck! Mommy, TRUCK!" 

I'm sorry, sweetie, what was that? Did you see a truck? I couldn't tell! 

Love,

Mom

Good Catch

Dear Connor,

You know you're a mom when your toddler throws up and you use your hands to catch the vomit. 

Love,

Mom

First Love

Dear Connor,

When Daddy and I were in college, Daddy told me that he loved me just a few weeks after we'd started dating (Yes, that is kind of fast and no, you shouldn't "play it cool" with a girl. Girls don't like that, trust me.) We were hanging out on our dorm building's large stone balcony (Yes, we lived in a fancy dorm--in an old mansion actually--and no, your college digs aren't necessarily going to be as luxe.) and talking about random things. Daddy was talking about me meeting his parents and said, "They're going to love you just like I do." And then Daddy blushed when he realized what he'd revealed. 

I remember feeling surprised and happy. And I felt those same things today when you walked over to me while I was sitting on the couch, laid your head in my lap, looked up and smiled at me and said that you love me, too.

Well, you technically said, "Ayoo." But I know what you meant :) 

Love,

Mom

So Sorry

Dear Connor,

Earlier today, you were insisting that I pick you up but I was trying to get your lunch ready so I told you I couldn't hold you. This made you angry so you started crying, screaming and throwing yourself on the floor. (You are a bit of a drama queen.) I yelled at you to stop throwing a tantrum and you kept crying but said in your sad little voice, "Sorreeeee." I asked you, "Why are you sorry?" and you replied--while still sobbing--"I don't knoooooow." Typical male response!

Love,

Mom

Another Visit to the ER

Dear Connor,

Back in March, I wrote you that letter about our trip to the emergency room. I wrote that I never wanted to go back to the emergency room with you ever again. But the emergency room was exactly where we were this past Saturday. While we were visiting Uncle Ray, Aunt Sylvia and their new baby daughter (with whom you were completely smitten, by the way!), you thought it would be fun to jump on their couch and then hurl your whole body backward. You thought you were just going to flop back onto the fluffy couch cushions but you ended up hitting your head on the edge of the air conditioning vent. You immediately started crying so I pulled you into my lap to comfort you and you gradually stopped crying. You even started playing around again. But then Daddy noticed the bump on the back of your head and when he parted your hair to inspect it, we both saw something that made our hearts stop: blood.

You bump your head all the time. All the time. But you'd never bumped it so badly that you started bleeding. Daddy and Uncle Ray carefully cleaned your wound and said it didn't seem serious but I was freaking out because:

a) there was blood
b) I tend to freak out around blood
c) I'm your mom and will freak out every time you get hurt, blood or no blood

So Daddy and I rushed you to the emergency room where a doctor examined you right away and said exactly what Daddy and Uncle Ray had said: Your wound wasn't serious. Even though there was blood, there wasn't a laceration and you didn't need stitches. The doctor just cleaned off the rest of the blood, applied some antibiotic cream and sent us on our way. It was all over faster than I could ask, "Are you sure he doesn't need an X-ray?"

So . . . whew! You were actually pretty oblivious to your injury the whole night, so I guess it really wasn't that bad. You had cried for about a minute after you first hit your head but after that, you were laughing, running and goofing off like your usual self the rest of the evening. However, I was--and still am--pretty shaken, which was not helped by the fact that you hurt your head again yesterday. Daddy was sitting at the dining table and you were running toward him when you tripped, fell and hit your head on the corner of a dining table chair leg. There was thankfully no blood this time but you do have a big red scar on your forehead now. 

And I'm going online to order you a helmet right this second.

Love,
Mom