Letters

My last letter ended on Grape-Nuts, and this one will start with it. We recently switched out of Daylight Savings Time, which means you and Sophie wake up at an earlier hour on the clock. But still, I get up at 5:00 and go out the door at 6:00, so I should still be able to do that while you're still sleeping. One of the first nights this last week you came out of your room at 5:30. It's a little funny when you do that, because you hang around out in the hall while I'm in the bathroom. You don't want to come in because it's too bright. So I hear you wandering around outside the door, and then I come out and you talk to me. I asked you this time why you were awake so early, and you said, "I didn't want to miss Grape-Nuts with you." Silly kid. I'm impressed that you value eating breakfast with me.

Apparently you like having me around. You're always asking if I'll be home in the morning, and whenever I go somewhere you tell me, "Don't take too long." And the once when I went down to a rehearsal in the evening you told me to tell the guy that waves his arms around that I can't take too long tonight. Sometimes you call me at work to tell me that too. I love when you call me at work. You called recently when I wasn't able to answer the phone. When I went to retrieve the message you left, it said, "Daddy? Daddy? Don't take too long at work, OK? You need to come home."

Again, you have some instances where you say the funniest things. Mama took you and Sophie to Costco, and Sophie wanted to stand up in the cart. Mama told her to sit down, because she didn't want her to fall and break her "punkin head." You looked at Mama funny, and said, "Sophie doesn't have a pumpkin head!" And a little while ago you had the salad tongs out and were trying to use them to pick up one of your plastic forks. It wasn't going so well, but you continued to narrate, talking about the builders that were moving the fork with their "crane" and what a hard time they were having getting it moved. Finally you got the spoon to stay in the tongs, and moved it over to your bowl. While you were moving it, you narrated, "And impossumly, they did it." I really had to laugh at that one.

We went to the Ward Trunk or Treat a week ago, and I think you're starting to understand what trick-or-treating is. But only just. Mama walked you and Sophie around the loop of cars while I stayed at our car to hand out goodies. She said you made it about to the end of the one line of cars, and then you and Sophie were done. We left the church and went back to Grandma Joan's, where you got to eat a bunch of your candy. Later that night you complained about your tummy not feeling good, and you ended up throwing up in your room. I felt so bad for you. You haven't thrown up for a while, and it's hard to watch you be so miserable.

But on a happier note, you pooped in the potty a few times this month! We're all very excited about that. You still have times when you pee your pants, and you poop in your pants much more often than not, but it's progress. I still think that when you're 16 and giving us grief for all sorts of things, I'm going to be so tempted to tell you, "Hey, we potty trained you. Nothing you do now can hold a candle to that." It's been such a hard experience on both sides. We're learning how to encourage you without being overbearing (with not nearly as much success as we'd like), and I keep hoping you're learning what it feels like to need to use the potty. There are times you'll decide you need to pee, but we still have to shepherd you into the bathroom a lot, when you're not willing to go but badly need it. Someday this will all click, and I can stop writing about it in these letters. OK?

I love you, kiddo. Lots.

Love,

Daddy

Oh you're such a silly little girl. The same day I finished your last letter, I came downstairs to find that you had turned the TV on and were watching ice skating. Did you know your Mama used to be in an ice skating performance group? We'll probably teach you to ice skate when you're a little older. Anyway, you were glued to the TV, and when I turned it off and said we needed to go upstairs, you stood up all hunched over. It looked just like when your Papa Weldon stands up and has a hard time straightening up. You started walking all hunched over, and then you spun around in a circle. I had to laugh out loud. You were imitating the ice skaters! It was so funny to see you "glide" around the room like them.

You're also showing a strong leaning towards gymnastics lately. You jump off any small step you can find. When we're going outside and walking down the porch steps, you stop and jump off the last one. Then you walk a couple feet and jump off the sidewalk into the grass. You like to jump, and you jump a lot higher than Jonah did at your age. The other funny thing I've noticed is that you'll scoot our green chairs together in the living room and do gymnastics on the arm rests, like parallel bars. It's very cute.

Speaking of cute, your Mama asked you the other day, "How did you get so stinkin' cute?" Your answer? You pointed at your diapered bum.

You are still learning lots of new words. Your pronunciation needs some work, of course, but I'm amazed at how much you know. We looked through your ABC quiet book at church, and you knew "temple" ("bup bo") and "Jesus" ("dzz szz"). When we ask you to say "vegetable" it sounds the same as when you say "buffalo." You say "bup ba bo." You have that B sound down pat. It's time to branch out though, you know. I get more and more excited to hear you talk now that you say, "Hi!" when you see me, and "Yeah!" when I ask you questions.

We were driving in the car one evening and Jonah was trying to explain something to you that you didn't like (or maybe you were just generally grumpy), and you were doing your "Hnnnn." sound that pretty much means "No". But Jonah kept trying again and again to explain it and get you to agree. He was quite verbose about it, and I thought it so funny that by your one non-word sound, you were totally defeating his well-thought-out, well-spoken explanation.

Your other latest quirk is wearing your snow boots everywhere you can. You're wearing Jonah's old snow boots, that are black, with some blue trim and grey camouflage. Mama calls them your combat boots. The best part about them is you can put them on by yourself. Last night you unzipped your pajamas and fell asleep, and this morning (after we zipped you up and tucked you in again last night) you came into our room with just your onesie and combat boots on. So sexy. You were pretty cold though, so it makes me wonder just when you got your jammies off.

I love you, little girl. I love to snuggle with you, I love to tickle you and hear your laugh, and I love walking around with you holding my hand. We've been playing music in the house more lately, and you like to dance to it. I like to dance with you. Sometimes I pick you up and we spin around, and sometimes you stand on my feet while I walk around. You definitely have me wrapped around your little finger. And I don't feel bad about that one bit.

Love,

Daddy