Harrison- 2 Year Letter

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Dear Harry-
You are such a sweet little boy right now! I have been told that this will change, as you are a big bad two year old now (shhh....we will not tell you and maybe this sweetness will continue). You seem to want to do the right thing, especially in public, which is a treat for us. You save your most "toddler-like" moments for the comfort of our house, or at least the car. I am sure the tantrums will come, but right now we are enjoying your general happiness with life, and the joyful little boy that you are. 

Your favorite place to be right now is your crib...no joke! You love the two things that live in your crib more than anything else: mimi (your pacifier, which yes you should technically give up soon) and Lambie. They are not aloud out of the crib unless it is bedtime (with the occasional exception of Lambie coming on adventures in the house with you). You also love to sleep! At naptime, you find a mimi, roll over, grab Lambie by the ear, rub his ear against your nose and smile. Yes, you smile as you are rolling over to sleep. You definitely take after your dad in the early-to-bed early-to-rise department. You go to sleep at 7:00, sometimes 7:30, any later and you melt down. You are awake and usually talking to Lambie in the crib by 6:30am!!!

I had such an exciting day with you this past week. We went to Home Depot to pick up some supplies for the deck Dad was building. I picked up some paint sticks and started counting them with you. I said, "one, two, three" and you continued to count all the way to ten! You were talking really quiet, so I got you to do it again. Sure enough, you counted to 10! We held a little party right there in Home Depot. I am sure people were staring. Later that week we were singing the ABC's, as we do everyday, and you sang the end "now I know my ABC's, next time wont you sing with me". This got me wondering how much of the ABC's you could sing on your own. You have yet to sing the entire song together but every time that I sing it with you I stop in the middle and you sing the next part. Of course Dad and I are convinced that you are the smartest kid on the planet, but we still find ourselves looking at each other almost saying, "did you just see/hear that?"

As with any two-year old, playing is how you spend most of your time. You are very into books. To be honest, you always have been. Your current favorites at bedtime are The Little Mouse, The Big Hungry Bear and the Red Ripe Strawberry, and Llama Llama Mad at Mama. The first time we read Llama Llama, your dad was laughing as I read, because it is very much your life. The Llama mama takes her son shopping at the Shop-o-Rama (Target was one of your first words), and he gets annoyed with all the deals she finds and the extended shopping trip. Though you are fond of spending time with mama, you are not always super excited to go shopping when the option to go to the park is available. I get it. You are constantly in motion, though you usually just go from one thing to the next with very few stops at the “forbidden”. There is one exception, of course…the DVD’s. You really enjoy watching movies. So much that we have to limit when you get to have the T.V. on, and stop you from breaking into the cabinet to try and turn it on yourself.  Perhaps a future career as a filmmaker, or movie critic?

You have been starting to assert your independence, which can sometimes make you a little bit sassy.  You are starting to understand feelings, and when I can’t give you everything that you want, you will often cry and say, “Harry sad”. I think we are a few months/years away from you understanding that there are some things we can do/have and some things we can’t. However, I see it clicking more everyday. We are not “official” users to of a consistent time out, but you are so into routines that I think it might be something we have to make more consistent. I even see a cute painted time out chair in your future!
As I look back on the past two years, I cannot believe how much you have changed. I couldn’t be more proud about the person you are becoming.  I wake up everyday excited to see where you are going to take us next, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy 2nd birthday, Harrison,

Love, Mom (and Dad, too)