Dear Shep,

I’m a few days early, but with River asleep and you at school I think now is the perfect time to update you on the past month.

You. Are. Amazing!

Apart from the being the GREATEST big brother on the planet, you are talking up a storm, adding animal noises to your portfolio each day, and now (as a Christmas present to Mommy) you LOVE to be read to. I seriously can not get enough of the little man you are becoming.

Let’s start with your brother. You ADORE him. Every time you see him you shout “baby!” and go to pet his little head. Any time I ask you to give him a kiss, you place your cheek of chin on the top of his head. That was your little routine until yesterday when you walked up unannounced and kissed his head with a little smack. You love to show me his eyes and shout “ICE” and his nose “OSE” and lips, and you’ve even wanted to hold him a time or two where you bring his little head up to yours and snuggle him loving every moment of it. I took you to Target on a mommy and me date (let’s face it, Target is more about me….) and you heard a baby cry and reached out in the direction of the cry shouting “baby” and wanting me to take you to him. I had to explain that the baby wasn’t your baby but yours was at home. It made my heart happy to know you had made him a part of yours already.

Christmas was amazing! Your Daddy painted the walls white (sweetest gesture ever) and you got a real roller coaster in the house that Dece showed you to ride. You were so brave rolling down the hallway all by yourself waving bye bye to everyone and making sure they said bye and waved back to you before taking off. We are all laughing at your little beauty queen wave you had going on. We had our usual sausage balls (that Shep ate too many of as usual) and watched you rip open the paper for your gifts from Mommy and Daddy. Santa brought you so many train sets that we ran out of space in the playroom and books and art supplies galore. You were so entranced with your trains that you didn’t want to open anything else. You just played all morning with your trains shouting SHOO SHOO and making your rounds around the coffee table. Now, weeks later, you have figured out that Santa says “ho ho ho” so you shout that every time you pass something I have forgotten to pack away for next year. Better late than never, right?

Your new words are definitely worth touching on this month. Cats say “OW” which for a while I thought you were letting me know you had hurt yourself 😉 – Turtles growl…..okay, we’ll let you go with that. Birds and anything with a beak says “kak kak” (I can see where that could happen), and pigs grunt in a growly way while horses shreak out “eeeeeeee”. To celebrate, I got you a farm set of animals while shopping for River’s pacifiers and you have had a hay day (see what I did there?) telling me what all of the animal say while playing with them. Juice is officially “DUCE” and cheese and crackers are also new words making there rounds. Oh! And how could I forget cookie? You love a cookie and definitely call them by name. Two words omitted from day one? MOMMY AND DADDY! Hello kiddo! We are being patient but at this point we are a bit offended by the lack of using two words you most definitely can say. Leave it to you to keep us waiting.

BOOKS! You love books. I’ve never been more proud than I was when you sat in my lap through “I don’t want a posh dog” (don’t ask baby, just don’t ask) and let me read it from start to finish THEN asked for “more” enthusiasticalluy. Talk about a smile from ear to ear on my face. We read it probably 5 times and by then you were doing the motions along with me and kissing all of the dogs in the book one by one with your signature smack. Since then you have moved on to other books and are bringing them to us or pretending to read them to yourself in your chair. It just makes my Mommy heart so excited to see you loving books. I can’t get enough.

Time to wake up your brother so that we can get things together to go pick you up from school. I think today we are going to play with your buddy Jude and have an adventure to tell Daddy about when he gets home tonight. Thank you for another month of firsts and usuals. I adore you. Every inch.

Mommy Xx

Stats:

size 4 diapers

bedtime 7:45-7:45

nap 12:45-2:30

weight (around 24 pounds)

favorite foods – ranch sticks (yuck), strawberries, granola bars, and oatmeal

favorite movies – gruffalo’s child and room on the broom

teeth: 13.5 (getting those pointy guys in)