Thursday, March 14, 2013

Dearest of Zekes-19 months

My fella fella,

It's been nearly four months since I wrote you a letter! You are 19 months and some change. And SOOO big.

Your communication skills are really blossoming. You are trying to say tons of words. You sign at least twenty signs, some of which I taught you and some that you cam up with on your own. And you make just about every animal noise out there. Some of my current favorites are WOWA for Lola, a whispery PopPop, GaGa for Grandma, B'll for ball, GuGu for girl (you love little girls :-) ). You sign thank you and please without prompting most of time! In fact you will say thank you over and over again to anyone who does anything for you or gives you anything. Since you sign it, it looks like you are blowing kisses and people just melt. :-) I LOVE your grateful spirit and hope you never lose it. It will bring you so much joy and bless the people around you your whole life through my child.

You do this when I say "cheeeesseee."
Rocks and sticks! Best toys ever as far as your concerned.
You still adore animals, especially fish, and your favorite place to visit is the seafood section of the Asian market where there are live fish, lobsters and crabs. You love all the hustle and bustle of the guys shoveling ice and holding up fish for inspection. They love you too and always wave and hold up a lobster or fish for you to see better.
 Trucks! All day you talk about trucks. And buses! And trains! And airplanes! And Cars! You sign "Wheels on the bus" or imitate an excavator's scoop with your arm and going: "GGRRRR..." or saying "MayMa" for mail man.
Your favorite books currently are: My big Truck Book, Barnyard Dance, Dear Zoo, Spot's Day's Out, and any Richard Scary book. You are always interested in whatever I'm reading too and it cracks me up to see you leafing through my Pride and Prejudice or Ender's Game as if you could read it. (I think you're looking for pictures.)
Playing in dog water. Gross. But fun.
You favorite activities include: stickers, play-doh, "washing" the dishes, dancing, pushing buttons (in the car, on the microwave, on the credit card pad in the checkout line, on an elevator...anywhere) and of course playing with trucks. You still love your blanket and it's already getting threadbare in spots. You sleep with your BAAA (Bob the builder figure) and your AAAAAT (cat figure from Bob the Builder set) every night. Mama and Dada have to say goodnight to Bob and the cat over and over again. You also love a hilarious cartoon series about a little Russian girl and a bear that we stumbled onto via YouTube. It's called Masha i Medved. You ask to see "GuGu Grrrrrr" (Girl and bear) every day. I wonder if you'll learn Russian.
meeting your Great Grandfather "LoLo."

You are finally weaned, much to your initial chagrin. It was a very sweet time nursing you Zeke-a-leke. It was sooo hard at first but sooo sweet at the end and I'll never forgot how adorable you looked following me around the apartment dragging the Boppy behind you to ask for milk. It was very sad for Mama to end it but I knew deep down that it was time. Just clinging to the last pieces of your infancy stubbornly. I'm learning to accept the sorrow and joy of parenthood. The fleetingness of childhood is one of the reasons it's so beautiful. And I never want to hold you back from developing and moving forward out of fear or nostalgia either now, when you're ten or when you're twenty. You're not my baby anymore, you my toddler! And I love how this new stage in our relationship is unfolding.
You say "EEEEEeeeee" to indicate that you want to go to the playground and slide. (I think it's because I say "Wheeeee!")
One of cutest things you learned to do recently is to pray along with us at dinner and bedtime. You thank God for Mama, Dada, GaGa, Lola, PopPop, the cat etc. (often just for Mama and Dada over and over.) It is the SWEETEST THING EVER. You also have picked up my habit of raising hands during worship and will sing "OOOOoooooooo" for "Hallelujah."

Your Dada and I cannot believe how sweet and funny and adorable you are and we love you more than we ever dreamed we could.

All the love in my heart plus even more from the rest of me,
Mama