Dance Partner

Dear Connor,

Daddy and I took you to Barnes & Noble today and you had a great time exploring the long shelves of books and interacting with the other kids in the store. You were especially drawn to a little 9-month-old boy and I really think you were trying to teach him how to walk--you kept tugging on his legs and nudging his butt! And when the boy's dad pulled him up into his feet and made him dance, you walked up to the boy, hugged him from behind and bounced up and down to dance along with him! Daddy, me and all of the adults nearby were cracking up and the little boy was probably wondering why you were dry humping him.

Love,
Mom

Girl Trouble

Dear Connor,

During open gym time at Gymboree today, a two-year-old girl went up to you and hugged you. She also smiled at you and caressed your forehead. You responded to this older woman's advances by reaching out and trying to hold her hand but then she pushed you away. I'm sorry, buddy. I'm afraid women are always going to be that confusing.

Later on, you walked by that same girl and went up to her. This time, she pushed you harder and you fell flat on your back. You were thankfully okay, albeit a little stunned, but I was so mad at the girl for hurting you that I seriously wanted to push her back. Of course, I didn't because she was, well, two years old. But when you got hurt, I felt as if I got hurt, too. I'm so sorry, little guy. I know I can't protect you from all of life's bullies but I will always try.

Love,
Mom

Bottle Service

Dear Connor,

You just learned how to blow kisses to people. You put your hand over your mouth and then pull it away and say, "Muh." So cute! And you can now hold your own bottle and drink from it, but you usually still make me hold it for you. I guess I don't blame you; if I had someone who would hold up my drinks for me, I'd probably take advantage of him or her, too.

Love,
Mom

Perfect Present

Dear Connor,

You received a lot of great gifts for Christmas (and wow, you are still loving that wrapping paper tube) but you have been giving me amazing gifts every day since you were born. My current favorite is the way your face lights up when you see me come into the room and how you immediately toddle over to me and hug my leg. The very best gift, though, is watching you grow up into such an incredible little person. You are so smart (you just learned how to say "apple" and when you see a picture of an apple in one of your books, you say "apoh" and try to bite it, hehe) and so funny (for some reason, you recently started pulling your foot up to your mouth and kissing your toes) and so friendly (we went to a restaurant on Monday and you said "hi" to every single person who walked by our table--seriously, every single person). You are the best gift ever. 

Love,

Mom

Merry Christmas!

Dear Connor,

You were a good boy this year (well, for the most part) so Santa brought you a lot of fun gifts. You especially like your new xylophone, which is so cool that Daddy has been playing with it almost as much as you have!

That's okay, though, because your very favorite new toy is not the xylophone, the bead maze or the toddler bike but the long cardboard tube from the wrapping paper that we used to wrap those items. Once you saw it, you dropped all of your other gifts and played with it the rest of the night. Oh, well. Merry Christmas sweetie! Lesson learned, we've already set aside the cardboard boxes that your gifts came in this year to give to you next year.

Love,

Mom

Snoring

Dear Connor,

You snore like a bear, just like Daddy. At night, I can hear you quite clearly on the baby monitor I keep on the nightstand on my right. And Daddy is always snoring away loudly on my left, so it's like I have surround-sound snoring. You can imagine how fun that is for me.

Love,
Mom

Got Milk?

Dear Connor,

You love milk! You usually exclaim, "nai nai!" when you see your bottle and tonight, you couldn't even wait for me to bring it to you. I was heating your milk up in the bottle warmer as usual and you grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the warmer while saying "nai nai" over and over again. Sheesh, so demanding! Well, at least you are demanding milk and not candy.

Love,

Mom