Letters

The world is filled with narrations now. Your speaking skills have progressed to the point that you can describe just about anything you see. And you do. All the time. And you still absorb words like crazy. We went to Yellowstone National Park two weeks ago, and there were lots of new things there for you to see. We stayed in a condo that was run much like a hotel, and we were in room 303. While we were there we called Grandma Joan and Grandma Moon a few times, and you just had to tell them we had "the room called free-oh-free". You learned how to find our room by looking at the numbers, and not just knowing where it is in the hall. And while we were in the park, there were all sorts of things for you to narrate. You told stories about the steam and the "smoke" and all the animals, and you mixed it all in with your Thomas the Tank Engine vocabulary and put trains in your stories too.

As you're absorbing language, we're noticing how careful we have to be about what we say now. Your favorite phrase alternates between "Dang it!" and "Darn it all!" I think your mother's to blame for the one, and I'm at fault for the other. Those really aren't so bad, but we're especially glad we don't swear, even if we might want to sometimes. The next step is to increase your exposure to religious terminology. I absolutely LOVE helping you with your prayers and saying something about testimony in it. I have to wait until the end of the prayer though, because I can barely keep from cracking up when you say, "test-a-mommy." I'm probably too irreverent in that, but hey, you're only a kid for so long, and I'll miss these kinds of things when you don't say them anymore.

You are definitely still testing your Mommy, and your Daddy too. You are so defiant about so many things. What to eat, where to eat it, which fork you can use, what you want to drink, and which cup it ought to go in, etc. And you strongly resist getting in the tub at the end of the day, or doing pretty much anything that signals bedtime. But still, when you finally get in bed, you do pretty well at staying there. That's a welcome change from popping out of bed every 2 minutes just because you can.

Well, I have to say you are still quite a challenge, but I suppose that will be true for a very long time. But I love you, lots and lots. I love reading books with you, partly because I'm glad you like reading, and partly because I love that you snuggle up to me. I love your laugh, still. I've never heard anything like it, and it's hilarious. I love taking walks with you, and going to the park with you, and swimming with you, and taking you with me to run errands. You are really a lot of fun.

Love,

Daddy

Parenting is full of those moments when things feel like they've been the way they are forever, but at the same time it was barely yesterday when things were different. It seems like you've been walking forever, but really it's only been a few months. And now you're running faster than my fast-paced walk, which is a new thing. You're just like Jonah, with a cute and funny run of your own. Honestly, I could watch little kids run forever. You have a blue three-wheel bike you like to ride around on the deck, except you don't pedal, you just Fred Flintstone your way down and back, pretty quickly too. Now if you could handle doorknobs, you could go just about anywhere you wanted.

You have developed quite the little attitude lately. My favorite illustration of that is here. It's so cute to see you playing games with the rest of us, or making faces to get our attention. My other favorite thing you've started doing is after I finish tickling you, you come after me and tickle me too. And you laugh like crazy when I wiggle around and squeal.

We went to Yellowstone as a family this last month. It was kind of cold, and the roads were barely open, but it was still fun. One of our stops was Mammoth Hot Springs, which has a long uphill climb on stairs and boardwalk, and you climbed a lot of that yourself. I was really surprised at that. We haven't made you do a whole lot of walking before, and I liked seeing how far you went. You liked seeing all the animals in the park, and although you got uptight about the long car rides sometimes, you were generally good-natured about the whole thing. We swam in the pool at the condo several times, and you loved that. They often have one-foot or foot-and-a-half kid pools at the condos, and they're perfect for you. You walk back and forth and splash and generally enjoy being in the water. Sometimes when you have your life jacket on, you crouch down and just lay backwards and float on your back. Then I pull you around by the loop above your head and you giggle. It was nice to spend that time as a family away from home.

Just before we went to Yellowstone, Mama's friend Paige came to visit. You and Jonah both had a lot of fun with her. She would call you Soph, as a nickname, and now Jonah does that all the time. He's always pestering you to come play with him. As a parent, I love that. It means I don't have to spend every moment possible with him. You and he play very well together. Sometimes he's a little rough with you, bonking your head and pushing you around, but I figure as soon as you're big enough to bonk him back, he won't do that anymore. And I don't think that will be long in coming. You can be a pretty feisty girl.

One difference between you and Jonah so far is that you like to draw, where Jonah really wouldn't at your age. Lately you like to draw on yourself more than the paper. But you still figured out how to draw much earlier than I remember Jonah learning it. He couldn't quite grasp that it was the very tip of the pen or pencil that made lines. He would always hold it at too much of an angle to draw, and then when nothing was happening, he'd give up. I think this is just another manifestation of how much you learn from Jonah. He didn't have anyone to watch. But it's funny to see you draw on the paper for a few minutes, and then move to drawing on yourself. I got a picture once of your tattooed hands. It was a tough picture to get, because those little hands NEVER hold still.

As always, I'm continually amazed at how much you learn in so little time. And you are so charming, in your unique way. I love you, more and more every day.

Love,

Daddy