Letters

Jonah, you are engaged in the final lap in the race against toddlerhood: potty training! Pretty soon you will step fully into the realm of "kid", and leave "toddler" behind for Sophie. She's hot on your heels, of course, but I'm so proud of how far you've come. You are very good at knowing when you need to use the potty, and have even become decent at doing all of the clothing wrangling and hand washing yourself. You've taken on the responsibility yourself. I can't tell you what a relief that is to your Mama and I. You still need to figure out the pooping part, but you stay dry all night, and all day. It's absolutely amazing.

I've been watching how well you understand the relationship between your actions and the consequences that follow. You're asserting your reasoning skills more and more over the emotional irrationality characteristic of younger kids. I'm impressed with how well-behaved you are, and how well you reason things out. I would love to get you to verbalize a little more though. You've taken to using "I don't know" as an answer to any kind of thinking question. But I can't complain too much, because you really do understand what's going on now, and how the rules of our home apply to you.

The big news for this month, as Mama already said, is that you've started speaking. You always say "Mama", and you absolutely know what that means now. It's so cute to see you point and say this high-pitched "Mama!" And occasionally you'll throw in other words, like "Dada" for me, or "Yah-yah" for Grandma Joan, but those are pretty rare. Every now and then when I catch you in a good mood you'll try to repeat some word that I'm saying. But you lose interest pretty quickly. Sometimes I'll ask you if you can say "Daddy," and you'll point to Mama and say "Mama!" Yeah, I know where your loyalties are.

You got some road rash on your face the other day from our front porch steps. Right before a grandkid photo shoot, of course. I remember Jonah falling and doing damage to his lips and face quite a bit when he was your age. This is your first real incident, and you really pulled out all the stops. I'm curious to see if it's a trend that continues, or if you'll generally be less accident prone than your brother.

You still have quite the precocious personality. You spend a lot of your time taking your shoes off and sometimes putting them back on.  Your Aunt Greta gave you some cute purple Crocs, and you love to take them off. I think they're your favorite shoes, because you run straight for them when we mentioned getting your shoes on. I think your favorite part is that you can put them on yourself. Another quirk of yours is that you want to feed yourself with a fork, but you don't want to be bothered with stabbing your own food. I'll generally cut up some food for you and stab a piece for you before I set your plate down in front of you. You pick up the fork, eat the bite, and then hold out the fork to me, waiting for me to stab your next bite for you. I think you just need a little confidence in your own strength.

Now that you're wanting to walk everywhere, like your brother, we've been letting you walk around more when we go places. But you are so absorbed by the scenery you don't pay attention to where we're walking. Often you'll wander off down some side path, not noticing that the rest of your family has gone somewhere else. And then when I come after you, you run away. Silly girl. I'm glad you enjoy walking places by yourself, and I'm glad you're paying attention to what's going on around you. I love interacting with my kids when they're on their own. I don't mind carrying you a lot, but it does get tiring, and I like to watch where you go when you have your own choice.

You are still so darn cute! I've said this already, but I absolutely LOVE when you point and say "Mama!" I love to watch you walk and run around. I love to watch you try to brush your own hair, or talk on the phone, or imitate any of the other things we do. Keep going on the language. I love you.

Love,

Daddy