23 Months Old

Monday, June 30, 2008

I feel like I’m having to struggle to recall anything remarkable about you, or us as a family lately - but I think it’s because it has all been remarkable, and all of it worth remembering. The purpose of all these letters to you have been to document your early life, from me being pregnant, to giving birth, to raising you. I wanted to document your transition from newborn to baby to toddler to child. Sitting here now, I feel like I have failed utterly because it was just yesterday that I was fretting about you taking forever to roll from your stomach to your back, or from your back to your stomach (you should know, your mother is not all that picky), and now I’m having the same internal dialogue, and slight worries, about your speech.

Somewhere along the way I went to sleep next to a baby and woke up next to a child, and it’s confusing. I don’t know how to feel about that. I miss my baby, and yet it’s all consuming and exciting to see the person you are becoming. But one thing I know for sure is; You make me a better person, merely by being in my life. Right now your dad is reading The very hungry caterpillar out loud to you, and if you’d known your dad as long as I have, you’d know as well as I do that that is proof you make him a better person, too.

One thing that is becoming more and more apparent is that you like rules. We are a pretty lax household, but I do set limits, and to my surprise you tend to follow our rules pretty well. For example, you can now open the front door if it is not locked - you have actually been able to do this for a couple of months now - but you don’t. You don’t just wander away on your own. Except if I help you get your shoes on, then all bets are off, cause shoes means we are going out, right?

You are also good with utensils. You have been able to feed yourself with a spoon since you were 1, and you seem to be very serious about the usage of forks and spoons with your meals. If I sat you down to eat soup with a fork or gave you a steak and a spoon, you’d probably look at it for a while and go ‘OK, so lets figure out how to do this..‘ And since we are on the topic of food, I might as well tell you that you haven’t inherited your dad’s love of my cooking, and that anything out of a jar is better than any of my blood-sweat-and-tears three course dinners any day. Can you please explain this to me, little lady?

Also, your hair is getting longer. You still sport somewhat of a mullet, but ponytails and pigtails are now a possibility, and I take full advantage of that. You don’t seem to mind my combing your hair and pulling it this way and that, as long as you get to watch some tv at the same time.

And lastly, your sleeping habits are pretty awesome by now. You are down to one nap in the afternoon, but it’s short. You still need it, though, and I’d be slightly panicky if you decide to drop that too. Night time is what is really amazing, and it took around six months to get to this point, but we now have a routine where we all spend some time on the bed (or if your dad is working late, you and I do it alone) and shoot the breeze for a while. Read a few books (except not - you are too impatient to sit through a story - around page 3 you pull the book out of our hands and start leafing through it yourself) and then we shower you with kisses, tell you we love you just about a million times and then we leave you to fall asleep on your own. For months I’d have to go fetch you from the guinea pig’s room and put you back in bed many times each night, but now you stay put. You even put the lights out yourself when you are ready to sleep, which, wow…

Carlita, there are hardly words for what I want to say to you. How do I describe what I feel when you put my face between your hands and pull me close to your face so I can give you a kiss? How do I explain what it’s like to feel your little arms being shoved in under my body in the middle of the night when you want a little closeness? Love is just a little four letter word, but you, you are so much more to us than that. You are our love personified and there are no words in this world that could do you justice.

22 Months Old

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

The “terrible two’s” are just are just around the corner, and I’ll be damned if we haven’t noticed. The highs are even higher, the lows.. well, lets just say you have a knack for driving us mad - with love and a whole lot of frustration. One could argue there is a direct correlation between how madly we love you, and how mad you drive us.

You still aren’t talking as much as babbling nonsense, with a couple of real words thrown in for good measure. Sometimes I swear I hear a word, like “book” or “mor*“, but so far nothing sticks for too long. I’m eager for you to start talking, any day now, but I also realize that you will need more time to get it all in, and not just because you’re learning three languages, but because I’ve been less than good about narrating our days for you, the way I know you’re supposed to. I’ve been trying to step up my game a lot lately, and we’re making progress, so that’s good.

*Mor is danish for Mum

You are just as obsessed with animals as ever, but you are also finally showing an interest in stuffed animals. I’ve been hoping you’d pick something to be your lovey, but even though you now cuddle the occasional teddy bear they don’t compete with Negrita, who is your preferred victim of the three cats - if only because she is the only one not to bolt in the opposite direction when she hears you coming.

I must say, of all the things that are changing about you, I find your night time doziness the most hilarious. The other night I heard a thud in the darkness, and then nothing. My instincts kicked in and I got up to investigate. You had fallen face first onto the floor, your fall softened by spare blankets strewn around the bed, and you didn’t even wake up when I picked your lifeless body up and placed it back in bed. As a baby you’d wake from any little squeak the bed made, and now this..

Balls and balloons rule your world - the word “No” is your arch-nemesis. You no longer eat bananas. You love water. You love ice cream more..

But not as much as I love you.

21 Months Old

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Dear Carlita,

Holy Molar, what a month!

I’m a little late writing your letter this month because I’m recovering from taking care of your sick father, you and your molars and first ear infection, plus I’m just now getting over the flu your dad passed on to me. We sure like to share in this house, as I’ve no doubt you’ll learn soon enough.

This teething business is no laughing matter, I’m afraid. I’ve never been so worried about you as I were last Sunday when not even the kitties could lure you to perk up, not even ice cream could get you to eat. Your limp body weighed so heavily on my chest for a couple of days straight, your hair plastered to your forehead, I was worried that the molars had totally broken your spirit for good. We finally took you to a doctor Monday morning to confirm that you indeed had an ear infection, as I had been fearing, and later that evening you got your first round of antibiotics.

Monday night you slept very unlike a baby, in the sense that you slept through the night for the first time in about a week, and you woke up chipper and hungry - Carlita, I’ve never been so happy to have you run around and pulling stuff from drawers and placing it exactly where it isn’t supposed to be as I was this past Tuesday. It wasn’t until I knew just how lethargic you could get (I never would have been able to imagine you like that before) that I could truly appreciate how lively you normally are.

This whole teething/ear infection has taken its toll on your little body - we could practically see your thighs waste away with every bite you refused to eat. I can’t quite comprehend how you now fit perfectly into a pair of track pants we bought for you when you were 5 months old (16 whole months ago - I know! Doesn’t it blow your mind, too?), how your body mass has been pulled out to a shape that looks like an actual child, instead of looking very much like a soft, delectable pear.

Unfortunately you are still not keen on eating, but I’ve found that the more I push the issue, the less you want to eat. Unfortunately while you were sick we had to keep your energy up with a plethora of unhealthy eatings, and now that you are better you are a little pissed that your breakfast no longer consists of yogurt covered pineapple chunks. Sorry kiddo - we have been through too much to spoil those molars already!

The weather has finally turned and we’ve been enjoying time outside, much to your delight. You could practically spend 24/7 outdoors, not even the television trumps spending time outside - something that makes me wonder if you really do share your genes with both your dad and me, or if maybe you’re a medical miracle not entirely unlike the dude they call Jesus.

Well, lets face it - you’ll always be our miracle.

20 Months Old

Monday, March 31, 2008

Carlita,

You had your 1½ year well baby checkup with the doctor a little less than a week ago, a little late, yes, but fortunately you’re too young to be embarrassed by the fact that your mum sucks at time management and forgot to call in and schedule a time, so instead had to make your poor dad swing by the nursery after a dental appointment.

The good news is that you seem perfectly healthy, and, to your dad and me, perfectly perfect! Your speech is delayed, but the doctor said that it shouldn’t be a problem and that, in fact, it would be expected since you’re learning more than one language.

It’s a little odd having you run around screeching and howling unintelligibly, and not know how much of what I say to you is understood. But, as it is with so many other things, it’s not what I say, it’s how I say it. You happen to have a loud mum, who likes to bark commands and point fingers everywhere, to illustrate, not to judge I might add. You’ve picked up on this, and your dad and I have watched in great amusement as you walk around pointing your finger at the cats and babbling sternly at them.

Strangely, the nurses at the nursery didn’t find this anecdote amusing, but then I told them you also walk around babbling on your toy phone, and that seemed to ease the tension in the room a little.

Also, you lost a kilo between now and half a year ago, and that makes me incredibly sad because it’s all baby you’re shedding - yet I’m looking on in amazement at the girl being sculpted right before my eyes. Now if only you’d let me put your hair in a ponytail for more than two minutes at a time…

While you’re still an easygoing little person, you are starting to struggle with yourself. You want to be “good” and please us, but you also have the self restraint of a toddler (oddly!), so right now we’re in the middle of figuring out what you may and may not do, and what consequences are of your actions, when you defiantly do what you’re told not to.

Such as sitting on the coffee table.

We’ve got a couple of interesting months ahead of us as you grow bigger and more independent, plus you’re still teething and that makes for very unpredictable behavior - this summer should be an absolute hoot! I can’t wait.

I love you more and more.