Letter to My Son
Dear Son,
Didn’t I start the last letter to you about illness? It appears December was a month of
yuckies.
I felt so sorry for you, sweet boy.. when you had the
stomach virus you were walking to the kitchen, following Daddy. You threw up, continued the momentum of
walking fast forward, slipped on the vomit, feet went up and your head went
back. Mommy and Daddy came rushing
to you. We had to wash the vomit
from the back of your head where you fell into it, for fear that you had broken
skin on the tile floor. Daddy did
the eye dilation test on you. We
called the doctor and received encouraging words that most likely you were okay
and given things to do, such as to make sure we could wake you up when you went
to sleep.
Tigger watching over you when you weren't feeling well..
Thankfully it appears everyone is on the mend (so many
people in the family were sick), though Oma is fighting vertigo now. She had a bad episode of vertigo while
we went on a walk with you.
Fortunately Daddy was there to help pull Oma out of the bush that she
fell into and to help her walk straight for the short distance back home.
Oma kept saying, “Even when we were sick and watched
Gregory, he was so very sweet. You
have an incredibly sweet boy.” I
think it’s because you know you are loved.
So to some joyful news, there’s plenty to share. In December, we attended your cousin’s,
Kevin’s, wedding to his fiancé, Erica.
It was a beautiful New Orleans ceremony in the courtyard of Jackson
Square. While we waited for the
lovely bride, you walked… and walked.. and walked.. It was a cool afternoon, but I don’t think you felt the
chill in the air as you kept moving.
Beautiful Family: Kevin, Erica, Cameron, Layla, Celeste
We also spent fun time with family going to see the
Lafreniere lights.
I just have to post this next picture, because Celeste is too huggable.
Mommy and Daddy brought you to the fire station close to our
home. You were a little shy at
first, but soon you wanted to climb into the fire truck. You had a cute smile of wonderment that
makes me see joy through your eyes.
You spent time with your sweet cousin, Alivia during
Christmas. And Corrie recently
learned she’s expecting a baby girl.
(You also found out that your Aunt Roda and Uncle Rob are expecting
too!) AND, this year, you will be
the ring bearer for Deanna and Burkley!
But wait – there’s more!
Madelyn and Les announced their engagement too! Wow - So much good news to celebrate this
year.
Back to Christmas… Santa had oodles of presents for you, good boy that you
are! I don’t know what you enjoyed
more, the gifts or opening the gifts.
Christmas morning was filled with gift wrapping paper covering ever inch
of the floor, lots of laughter and far, far, far too many toys (per your
Daddy). One thing is for certain,
Christmas is magical with you.
Thank you for sharing the light in your eyes.
Next picture Daddy took. Mommy put her head down to rest and you hugged Mommy. Daddy said, "This is love."
I should mention that this drum set from Oma and Opa made it's way BACK to Oma's and Opa's house. Lol.
Almost every day you go to this and waive "hi" to Baby Jesus. Sometimes you leave a toy for Him.
More toys for you to enjoy!
One gift that Daddy gave to Mommy was a gift card to Hobby
Lobby. You enjoyed the visit
there, plenty of cars, trains and planes to keep you happy. And dinosaurs, that’s your newest toy!
Mommy and Daddy had a low-keyed 6th year
anniversary. But Mommy thought the
day after our anniversary was very special. Daddy helped Mommy make your birthday invitation. It was time consuming and super sweet
to create this memory together.
Throughout the process, you came into the room and looked at what we
were doing. You were content that
we were there and went back to your toys.
There are other cute moments to mention…. How you become “Attack of the Gregory”
– Daddy wrestles with you. A
lot! And you think that Mommy
wants to do the same. You are a
rough little boy. Lol.
You love playing ‘Tag, You’re It!” Daddy touches you with his index finger and yells out those
words. You chase Daddy around,
then you gingerly touch Daddy with your index finger and take off running. You love this game. Sometimes, out of the blue, you touch
us with your index finger and run.
We know what you want. You
giggle the entire time.
Mommy loves your Eskimo kisses. The way you run into my arms after a day of work is
priceless and makes the world right again. The way you wrap one arm around Daddy’s head and the other
arm around Mommy’s head and you pull us together in a big hug is the most
beautiful expression of a family’s love.
You are using more sign language, such as for “more” to let us know what you want. You will form your lips when we say a
word, but not the sound. You are
practicing and I have the feeling that when you do start to talk, you will
surprise us all. Your skills with
the iPad are impressive. As much
as you love technology, you love being outside.
One afternoon you were with Granny and it was great weather
to be outside. Granny found a
patch of clovers. She reached down
and found two four-leaf clovers within seconds. You tried to help find some too. Granny said, “I love this time of year. When I was a little girl, I would
always look for four leaf clovers.”
You love taking baths at night. You run to the bathtub to get in and scream when we say that
it’s time to get out. You like
splashing the water and sometimes you put your hand and arm incredibly slowly
into the water, as if you are testing the feel, texture and pressure. Splashing is a bathtime requirement and
tub toys are a hit or miss.
Sometimes you want toys in the tub and other times you throw them out
without a second glance.
Your bath routine has changed slightly. You take a bath, we change you on your
bed. You want to play, all energy
and awake from the bath. Daddy
says, “Strong boy” and you do the arms in the air as if you are pumped up. Then you have Daddy time; you follow
Daddy to watch kids movies on his iPad.
About thirty minutes later, Mommy comes in and brings you to your
bed. You typically take another
20-30 minutes to go to sleep. You
still wake up during the middle of the night, but will go back to sleep.
One thing to note.... when you sleep, you want to make sure Mommy doesn't move away from you. You will tuck your head into Mommy's neck and put your arm across her. It's a wonderful feeling, no matter the crick in the neck pain after a while. Lol.
On a strange note… It was questioned just recently by Granny
if you have a sock fetish. You put
socks on your head and in your mouth.
On the Peter Rabbit cartoon, the little baby girl bunny
says, “Make a funny face” – then she makes a funny face. You crack up laughing every time. Now Mommy and Daddy say, “Funny Face”
and we make a funny face at you.
Your funny face is to stick out your tongue at us.
Daddy bought a harmonica for you. Too cute, you took this HUGE deep breath and blew for a small sound.
This past weekend we went to Lafreniere Park. You loved the playground but Mommy was
nervous with there being so many children. After the playground, we walked around the lake and saw some
bunnies. Mommy was worried that
you would run quickly towards them and scare them away. Instead, you walked a step, waited for
Mommy to come forward, then you took another slow step. Then you squatted down, totally content
to look at the bunny from a short distance. Mommy was amazed with your gentleness, as if you understood
that the bunnies would frighten easily.
Daddy took out two of HIS toys to play outside. You liked the remote control jeep and Daddy played with the drone (yes, the same thing that recently landed in the White House - NOT Daddy's doing!)
Another weekend, Mommy and Daddy took you to a different
park, Mike Miley. This playground
has two kids’ areas. One for older
kids and of course you want to go on the big gym. One part of the gym has a slanted rock climbing
section. Mommy went to the top of
the rock climbing and Daddy stayed at the bottom to help guide your hands and
feet. You did well with the hands,
but couldn’t tell where to place your feet. That didn’t slow you down. You loved it!
You climbed the wall, then went down the slide, then went back to the
wall, repeating this several times.
You love new experiences!
This past weekend when we went for a walk with Oma, you
hugged a tree. You do this on walks
with us. We call you “Our Little Tree Hugger.” There was a low section of the tree
that branched out. Mommy asked
Daddy to put you in that area of the tree. You were a little nervous for a second, then you didn’t want
to leave the tree. We will have to
bring you to the big Oaks one day soon.
Oh and you had your third haircut. The first two haircuts were patiently done by your Aunt
Madelyn(Yaya). It was difficult,
though, because you fussed and yelled a lot. Oma suggested that if you were in a different environment
from our home, that you might behave better. So, we brought you to Shag’s Hair Style. Gwen cut your hair. You didn’t mind being there, curious
boy that you are. But you didn’t
like the water bottle spraying on your hair. That said, you didn’t scream. You did whine and at the end, when Gwen brought out the
trimmer your cried because the sound scared you. Gwen said, “Let him get a few more cuts and he’ll not be
afraid any more.” She gave you a
sucker and you were perfectly fine after that!
The "before" picture
Next couple of pictures you are doing your "monkey walk"
Some more fun outside pictures from today....
Mommy is going to end this letter with something that your
Daddy will fuss at Mommy for posting and you might fuss at Mommy later… when
you can talk. But while you still
aren’t talking, Mommy is going to sneak this funny picture in.
Daddy is trying to potty train you to pee in the
toilet. He put a step with a handrail
on the step next to the toilet.
Daddy brought you to the toilet and Mommy took a picture. Only, Mommy really did NOT see how the
picture came out… until Daddy exclaimed, “It looks like we are torturing our
child! The handrail looks like a
pole stuck up Gregory’s butt. As
if… we have stuck our child there until he learns how to pee in the toilet!”
You are a few weeks away from turning 2. Almost two years old… the time has
flown. Every day has been
precious. I wouldn’t trade any
day. I look away from the computer
as I type this and see you in Daddy’s arms. Daddy just said, “I love these moments.” Not one second of the day, sweet son,
each heartbeat is precious and appreciated and loved. I hope you have children one day, so you know this kind of
priceless love. It’s
beautiful. You are beautiful.
Love Always,
Mommy
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