What Jack Left Behind

These are all pictures of objects that Jack had set up, that I came across later; these are the things that make you smile warmly, as they seem to say, "Jack was here."

Gigantic red bird in the same cage with elephant? I'd give advantage to the bird.

Apparently a new-found hideout. He climbs back here, and then surrounds himself with toys.

For awhile Jack had a thing about trains, and I would find many a household object lined up end to end like this. Books, spoons, and see the one below:

He also would point to this box of wipes saying, "Choo-choo!" and we finally realized that yes, the instructional pictures do look like a train, in a way.

Hm. He never admitted to this one, but I know it was him. I mean, it wasn't me. It wasn't Eric. And Jack's the only other one who can get the fridge open by himself.

Look at those teeth marks!

Steamed soccer ball, anyone?

He found these cans in our pantry and developed a strange fascination with them. For awhile we would even put them in his toy chest when cleaning up his toys! He would stack them and then knock them over. Move over, Babies R Us toys! Here comes Aldi cans of pinto beans!

This was during the time that Jack discovered he was finally tall enough to reach up and onto the counter; all day I had to keep things pushed together in the middle of the counter in order to keep his little fingers out of it. Notice all the books and DVD collections in the back, items he was getting into in another room. This phase was such a pain.

Fun with Ellie

Are you sure you want to do this?



First bike ride together as a family of four, at the Arboretum.

What, Mom? She likes it.

Payback time!

This is Jack's newest sister-wrestling move. Ellie seems to enjoy it so far.

Just had to include this one...

Jack wanted Ellie to wear a hat, too!

At the Arboretum

(I know, I know, I wimped out. But Eric offered to carry both!)

Funny Jack Moments

Easter morning, 2007. We're leaving in minutes. And this is how I find Jack in the kitchen, complete with his Bears' cap on his head, totally messing up his just-combed hair. (And a ski cap in April? Hm.) But the feet in the pots were too funny, so out came the Nikon and there went being on time for the Easter service!

I don't even know what to say about this picture, except to point out that he's wearing my dress shoes, two different ones at that.

We went to pick up his first tricycle (2nd birthday gift from Nana) but he fell asleep in the car, so he was a little uncertain when he woke up in the middle of Walmart and we set him down on this new contraption. (He loves it now, and is just learning to use the pedals by himself!)

Let's hear it for a onsie and Buzz Lightyear snow boots!


This is funny...but I must warn you that sometimes he does this when one of these is filled with milk. Ugh.

Jack-in-the-box. What is it with kids and empty boxes?

Jack loooooves baseball caps; he can't get enough, as you can see.

This is how he walked out of his room after his nap. Evidently he got out of his crib, went through his dresser, and choose to put a pajama top on his bottom half. I could hardly take the picture, I was laughing so hard.

Yes, those are fireman rain boots that my future baseball all-star is wearing...just imagine watching him run in those things!

Especially for Rob

Rob (Simeon and Nathan's daddy) had just written a post from Bosnia about how the newest trend there seemed to be this "fauxhawk" hair style, sported nicely by the likes of Mr. David Beckham. Just after Jack's bath I was playing with his hair, and this happened, and it was too funny not to document for Mr. Rob. What do you think, Robbie?

Love for Books

Yogurt, Pasta, Bananas, Oh My!

First time Jack used a spoon to feed himself.

Too Big

Jack was often interested in the various baby things we had for Ellie; here are a few examples.

New Piano

This was the morning after we moved our piano in. Jack was quite excited to find it in our dining room when he woke up the next morning.

Too Good to Be True*

*Updated--see bottom

I had a great day today for three reasons. Reason number one: I bought a new purse. This might sound materialistic, so let me explain. There is period of time following the birth of my children, during which I typically don’t mind that my whole persona screams: I AM A NEW MOM. I don’t mind wearing maternity shirts, I don’t mind wearing pony tails and no make-up, and I don’t mind carrying a diaper bag that seconds as my purse. In fact, I have loved both of my diaper bags; I thought they were very cute and trendy and sort of purse-looking, and I loved how the pockets were labeled for all the various diaper-related accessories, as well as for my cell phone and keys.

However. There comes a point, and it was different with each child, when I am DONE. I am through wearing the maternity shirts, I hate wearing my hair up and staring at a non made-up face day upon day, and I just want to go to the grocery store, get in the checkout aisle, and easily pull my wallet out of my bag without also pulling out a few toys, an old bib, a tube of Desitin, and a few Diaper Ducky bags.

So today I hit the wall on New Mommy-ness. After all, I am not a new mommy anymore, and I’m sure the super-cool teen employees at Old Navy were wondering why my purse/bag sported a red tag with “Ellie Durbin” printed on it in cute, swirly writing. And what really put me over the edge was when my sights landed on a very stylin’ grey corduroy purse that seemed to be calling out to me. Then I discovered that there were about six different colors to choose from, and I stood there debating and debating which one to buy. After realizing that I don’t really have all that many clothes to match my purse to, I went with the original gray. (And for the record this purse is deceptively large; there is plenty of room to throw in a couple diapers, toys for Ellie, and the Diaper Ducky, so I can be super-mommy with style.)

I was quite excited about this purchase, and upon arriving home I promptly dumped out the old diaper bag on my bed and began filling my newest acquisition.

The second reason my day was great is because I was mistaken for a student. I’m not sure if the kid at the Target cashier thought I was in high school or college (ok, stop laughing), but he made a comment about how great it was that I didn’t have to go to school on Friday (all schools were cancelled due to the storms and tornados that hit us that day). I stared at him in disbelief and simply asked, “What?” He blushed and retracted, saying, “Oh, you’re not in school anymore?” I almost hugged him. Hey—even if I was mistaken for being college-age, I’d take it!

And that brings me to my third reason for a happy day. I was in line at the grocery store, feeling quite young-spirited, and the teen girl at the register says to me, “Did you get that purse at Old Navy?” (Yes, I took my new purse out with me!) “Yes, I did!” I replied, very pleased that she noticed. I went on to explain how there were so many colors that it was hard to choose. She told me that her friend just bought the same purse and that she wanted one so bad. As if that wasn’t great enough, I then asked her what color her friend bought and she said, “Gray. And I want a gray one, too.” Oh, bless your heart!

So I was feeling great at this point. I am no longer screaming, Sleep-Deprived New Mom, I quite possibly am resembling someone of college age, and now I have the purse that every teen girl is dreaming of. I felt as though I had just been a guest on TLC’s “Ten Years Younger.”

I get home, and excitedly relate this turn of events to Eric. He seems smugly amused as he listens, but I somehow mistake this for sweet admiration of my giddy, energetic retelling.

However, when I am finished, he calmly says, “Can I bring you down a notch?

“You have something in your teeth.”

*(Okay. Eric thinks that, from the way I wrote this, the punchline is unclear. I know any good writer would go back and try to make it more obvious without just coming out and explaining the punchline, but I am too tired and so here it is: to clarify, here I thought I was something special when all along these teens were probably laughing inside at the dumb lady with food in her teeth. So embarrassing, and bordering on gross.

On a sort-of related note, remember my post a long while back about how every time I go to the dentist I have cavities, and how they always tell me to floss more? And how Eric never flosses and has never had a cavity in his life and how maddening this is? A couple weeks ago at my annual check up it happened again: two cavities. Seriously, does this happen to anyone else? I think I just have food-trapping, cavity-prone teeth. I know two teen cashiers who would be willing to testify to this, as well...)

Two Know You is Two Love You

Dear Jack,

This week marked an important, life-comes-crashing-to-a-halt moment for us: for the first time EVER, you called me “Mama.” You have been able to say “mama” for a long time, but you have never used it as a way of getting my attention, or in reference to me. (You actually called me, “Dada” for a little while!) Earlier this week, after Daddy got you out of your crib one morning you came running into my room where I was still lying in bed and said in your sweet raspy voice, “Mama, ahh-dohh!” (Translation: Mom, get your lazy self out of bed already!) Can I just tell you how much it melted my heart to hear you use my name?

This is probably the most exciting thing happening in your development these days—the increase in your verbal skills. I have to say that we were slightly concerned for a little while because according to all of the “averages” on the developmental milestones chart, you were behind in verbal development. When the doctors asked us if you had close to seventy words at your two-year check up, I responded—after gasping—“Um, no!” At that point we could maybe count fifteen words that you were saying. Then they asked if you were speaking in any two- to three-word sentences yet, and again the answer was no. But while we were concerned, and we were advised to get your hearing and speech checked pretty soon, we have been pretty confident that things would balance out eventually.

You see, you are very ahead of development physically. You can run very well, you are exceptionally coordinated with your body, and you are already quite the little athlete. You love to kick soccer balls around, shoot baskets with a huge basketball, but your current favorite is baseball. Mommy or Daddy hold the ball in our hands; you have a near-perfect batting stance, followed by a powerful swing and follow-through, and complete with a toss of the bat before you go run “the bases,” sometimes even sliding at the end. You hit the ball almost every single time. And you hit it FAR. I am way impressed. People often comment about how you look so much older than two, because of the way you run and your coordination. You also climb well, something that was evident this summer when you were in the mountains for the first time. You would eagerly scamper up big rocks, and then slowly ease yourself back down with excellent balance.

What’s so interesting to me about your apparent love of sports is that Daddy and I have never forced it on you. You somehow picked up the whole hitting sequence from watching the Cubs on TV (either that or watching Daddy play baseball on his 2K Sports X-box game!). You cheer loudly whenever anyone hits the ball, even if it is foul or if it is a homerun for the other team. (You still have a little bit left to learn about the sport!)

Recently you started to “miss.” You would swing your bat but purposefully swing far away from the ball, and then I would say, “Oh!! Strike one!” You then grin and “miss” again, so which I reply, “Strike two!” and then you just whack the thing. You run, run, run down the hallway or the sidewalk, and then sort-of-slide-but-it’s-more-like-a-fake-fall and then you like to roll a few times in dramatic fashion. Your knees have so many scratches and rug burns!

You have said “ball” for a long time but now you say “bat” as well, and a frequent utterance at our house is, “Wheresaball?” as you wander around looking under furniture for your well-hit ball. You also say, “bass-eh ball” for basketball, which I think is SO cute.

Daddy and I often comment about how much we love this time right now because you seem to be learning so much all at once. Your vocabulary is suddenly blossoming; it seems you have new words every day, new articulations. You know all of your letters, including every letter sound, and when we are out and about you are always reading letters on signs, books, food boxes, people’s shirts, etc. Here are a few words that you say right now:
“mock” = milk
“mama/dah-dee”
“ah-guck” = Ellie (still don’t get this one)
“duck”
“papa” = Grandpa Whitaker and Grandpa Marc
“gamamamamama” = Grandma Whitaker
“Nana” = Grandma Muralt
“Nana” = banana
“rice” “peas” “cheese”
“appo” = apple
“sa-wash” = squash
“ah-mee” = mommy’s friend Amy
“eye-you” = I love you
“watch” = watch a movie
“wash” = wash your hands
“Ahh-doh” = all done
“pay” = play
“ah-bey” = obey
“mess” = Jack made a mess
“Eeew!” or “Yuck!”
“kr-kr” =cracker

I know this is a short list (i.e. not seventy) but these are the only ones I can think of right now. You have just started to do the whole sentence thing, because we won’t give you what you want until you ask for it by name! You are often heard saying, “Kr-kr pease” or “watch, pease.” Oh—I forgot my favorite word of yours: JACK! You can say your own name right now! It is just precious to hear you clearly pronounce the “J” sound, and end with a resounding, hard “ck!” Though sometimes it does sound a bit like “Jaques” (the French pronunciation).

You have started saying “Mama?” and then waiting for my attention. I usually respond by saying, “Yes, Jack?” and so now I hear you going around saying, “Mama? Yes. Jack.” Makes me laugh out loud every time. You also have started going around saying, “Mama? Whe-Ah-you?” when you can’t find me. How I love to respond, “I’m in here, honey!” Not because of the particular question/response but purely because it IS a question/response! I know (at least I hear) that someday I will wish you would STOP asking me questions, but for now, I love it.

You also talk on the phone and seem to carry on quite the conversation. It helps if you actually know the other person, like Papa or Daddy or Grandma. You always say, “Hi.” And then you wait and listen, which you didn’t always do. The other day you were going on and on about your ball to Daddy, and then you finally just said, “Eye-you” (I love you) then “buh-bye” and handed it back to me.

The development of your verbal skills has added so much to our relationship. Communication is greatly improved in our family, as we can pinpoint more quickly what you are wanting, what you are upset about, what you need. And it is certainly more fun to be able to talk with you about things and know that you understand, and then to understand (generally) what you are responding. It makes you seem more like a tiny, growing person rather than just a little baby.

At two-and-four-months you are still an incredibly picky eater. You have two standard meals: grilled cheese or whole-wheat pasta with butter and parmesan cheese. In addition to these, you will eat peas, steamed broccoli, squash, sweet potato, and occasionally black beans. You eat yogurt almost every day for breakfast, usually with a piece of plain bread, or bread with peanut butter. And you love milk. You would drink only milk, all day, if we let you. You also love cheese—what is with your dairy craving? You pull on the fridge door saying, “Cheese. Cheese. Mama. Cheese.” And you don’t just want any cheese, you want the shredded cheese—to carry the bag around the house with you while spilling little tiny shreds of cheese all over…we’ve never allowed this but somehow you are still persisting.

The thing is, if you would just TRY foods that we give you, I know you would like them! But you refuse to try anything other than what I have just listed. Although I should clarify—you are quick to try anything that remotely resembles something sweet; here you are not so tentative. If it looks like chocolate, or if you can smell the sweetness…bring it on! And you always are willing to eat French fries, as well as deep-dish pizza. You would eat graham crackers all day long if I let you. But Jack, one of these days you are going to get sick of grilled cheese and parmesan pasta, and then what will you have left? You are going to be one hungry little boy.

Besides being picky with food, you have a slightly “picky” personality as well. It might just be your age, but I think a lot of it is just you. You like things to be “just so,” and if they are not presented or orchestrated the way you like them to be, then you become very unhappy. For example, we occasionally get fruit bars from Trader Joe’s for you to eat at breakfast. If I take the fruit bar out of the wrapper and give it to you by itself, you have a complete meltdown. You prefer that I open the wrapper, but leave the fruit bar inside so that YOU can take it out, and then you like to wad up the wrapper and hand it to me. When you want a banana you will refuse to eat it if Daddy or I peel it first; YOU want to peel it. When you finish your meal you like to stack up your dishes with your spoon or fork in your bowl, and then you hand it to me at the sink. You get very mad if I try to clear the dishes from in front of you by myself.

When we play baseball, you have to have a certain side of the ball facing up before you will hit it. The thing is, it’s a solid, blue plastic ball with tiny etchings on it; on the bottom of the ball there is a small circle with some tiny writing in it—if that is not facing the sky then you will stop mid swing to come over and turn the ball. Sometimes you like to use your plastic food toys for balls. Your favorite now is an orange. This plastic piece of fruit has a line around its middle, and if this line is not perfectly parallel to the ground, you will come over and straighten it. The plastic apple must be upside down.

Sometimes your milk cup gets bubbles in it. You hate this (even though you caused it by shaking your milk). You will cry and beg for more milk—but you are smart enough to ask for milk from the OTHER milk jug (apparently this is non-bubbly milk). You also prefer water WITH ice in your sippy. Forget lukewarm tap water!

All of these things require a lot of patience from mommy. Some of them are strange habits that perplex me, and I wonder if I am doing you a disservice by letting you get by with being so particular about everything. On the other hand I know that routine is very important at your age, from the flow of the day down to the books we read at night before bed, AFTER we brush teeth and wash hands. And I know that it’s important to recognize your opinions and desires (so long as they are reasonable and not harmful). So for now I take a lot of deep breaths and pray for more patience.

Another reason I am loving this stage you are in right now is because you have finally become a mama’s boy—in every good sense of the word. For the better part of your life thus far you have very much preferred Daddy, something that has been quite hurtful to me at times. I know that you have never intended to hurt me, but your odd attachment to Daddy has left me bewildered and wondering what I did to make you not want me. I do have a theory—besides the “it’s just part of this stage” explanation that I heard/read over and over—I think that because Daddy was home and accessible to you all day long, and because in the past nine months I have spent a lot of time with newborn-Ellie, you have had a lot of Daddy to yourself.

But now, Daddy is gone during the day so you are stuck with me. But I think this has been a good thing for both of us, because it has given us a chance to have Mommy-Jack time, and I think that I have finally won you over. You often only want ME to come get you from your bed, and if Daddy gets you out of bed in the morning you come running in to find me in my bed, and if you aren’t handing me my glasses and saying, “Ahh-doh” then you are climbing into my bed, laying your blankie and your sweet, warm self on me and snuggling for a minute—but only for a minute—and then you are off. We play games together, mainly chasing games or hiding and jumping-out-from-behind-the-couch games; we read books—lots of books—together, I attempt to play baseball with you, we build very tall towers with your jumbo Legos, and sometimes we even turn up the music and dance together if we are feeling very silly. You make Mommy laugh so many times a day!

While I am very glad to know that you love and enjoy me, too, I am more glad that it hasn’t replaced your love and attachment to Daddy. You love your Daddy so much—you get very excited when you hear the garage door opening, signaling that Daddy is home from work, and greet him with an excited, “Hi!!” and a hug. Daddy takes you for walks to the park, bike rides, and does a lot of the rougher play with you—wrestling, running around outside, etc. He also sings with you at night and says a special prayer with you. He is the king of book reading (No one can do better character voices than your Daddy! Ok. Well, maybe Robin Williams could. But you don’t even know who that is so does it really matter?).

So now that I have told you all of the wonderful things about you…I have to say for the record that this is also one of the most challenging stages we have faced with you thus far. You are very strong-willed, and we have started to wage many-a-battle over who is really in charge. You are so obviously testing us that it’s almost funny. We tell you not to do something, like throw your ball in the street or push the garage door button, and then you pause, look at us, and then DO IT ANYWAY. Sometimes you completely ignore us, causing me to question myself, “Did he hear me? Am I being unfair punishing him if he didn’t hear me?” And other times I wonder if you understand what is being required of you, or if you are too little to be expected to follow directions or obey the first time you are asked. Several friends I respect have told me, however, that I am underestimating you and your abilities. Hm.

Because of this blatant disregard for our authority, we have begun to explore discipline techniques and philosophies. We don’t quite have it down, and I’m not sure we ever will, but both Daddy and I feel that we have learned a lot, and we have tried hard not to implement something before we are sure we believe in the reasoning behind it and could, if you asked us someday, explain why it is important for us to discipline you this way in light of our job as your earthly parents. I will write more thoughts on this soon; it is important to me to document the development of my (our) beliefs regarding discipline, because we know how important it is to begin with a strong foundation on which we can build in the future as your and our needs change. There is much spiritual parallel, as well, in the concept of disciplining in love, and Daddy and I have been really encouraged and strengthened as we have started to recognize these. Call me idealistic, but I hope someday that we can sit down and share with you how God has given us the responsibility for your life and character development, and how much we have learned about God and us in the process.

I thank God for you, Jack! You bless my days, even the hard ones. Your little arms around my neck, your, “Eye-you’s”, your “Mama?’s”—what a treasure to this Mom’s heart. I look forward to what the next year brings us!

Love, Mommy

To Ellie, Love Mommy

Dear Ellie,

You are such a delight to have as a baby daughter! Your personality from day one has been so easy-going and cheerful, while at the same time demanding and slightly dramatic; at nine months you have continued to display these characteristics while growing more into your own little person each day. You have a reputation with Daddy, Grandma and Papa, the church nursery workers, and anyone who attempts to hold you as a "mama's girl" (and will let anyone in an eighty-mile radius know if I am not holding you), although you do offer multitudes of smiles for strangers in line at the grocery store, people sitting behind us in church, and as of recently you have decided that Grandma and Papa aren't so bad after all. You have such beautiful features; I love your sweet lips that curve at just the right places, that are so pouty and full in some of your expressions and then suddenly burst into this adorable curvy line, complete with a dimple on each end. You have had two bottom teeth since Easter morning, but finally at nine months you have just cut your first top tooth. You are often fussy right now as the large part of the tooth is making its way out of your pink gums, but I know this will pass! Tylenol is our friend these days...

Your eyes have stayed blue, just like your brother’s, except yours are a very dark blue, in contrast to Jack’s light coloring. I love looking into your eyes when we are face to face, inches apart, and seeing all the shimmers and shades that make up your baby blues.

Your hair is coming in quite fast these days, and seems to be getting darker. We have tried a few bows but there isn’t quite enough hair yet to hold them. Unfortunately for you, Mommy has taken to putting those large baby head band bows on you—I know someday you will roll your eyes at the pictures, and that we will wage many a battle over hairstyles and colors of bows and needing to brush out tangles—I figure I should enjoy primping you up while I can, while it’s up to me, so that when you suddenly develop an opinion I will be able to honor your wishes without begging, “Please wear this bow for Mommy?”

Another noteworthy thing about your hair--it is starting to curl! It might just be the ridiculous humidity we have been experiencing this summer, but it is so precious nonetheless. The hair right at the base of your neck and around your ears is most often tight with curl; I wonder what will happen as it gets longer? (I just have to say that I am so thankful that I don’t have to worry about cutting your hair anytime soon! I cannot believe how often we have to cut your brother’s hair…)

You began crawling around seven months old, just before we left for your first summer vacation to Colorado. You caught on pretty quick, and while we were in the Rocky Mountains camping you stood up in your Pack ‘n Play crib all by yourself for the first time! Now you pull up on everything, often pulling things down onto yourself, like chairs and baskets of toys. But you sure love being mobile!

This past week you have begun to exercise your little voice. I’ve heard you utter a few “Ma ma ma ma’s” but you mainly like “Bop bop bop” or “Da da da.” And you like to shriek. Loudly. Especially in your high chair when we are not paying attention to you and you want more food NOW.

Speaking of food. You have become quite picky about eating. And I don’t mean “picky” in the same way Jack is a picky eater, where he only eats certain things. I just mean that you have a definite preference over HOW you eat—you are not very happy if we try to feed you, you want to feed yourself! As I go towards your mouth with a pinch of food in my fingers, you grab my hand with both of your chubby little ones, take the food out of my fingers, and put it in your mouth. You also pretty much refuse anything resembling baby food, or anything that I have to feed you with a spoon. No way, ma’am. You want to eat what Daddy and I eat, no matter how spicy it is! The other night, while your brother happily ate his plain whole-wheat pasta with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese for the two-hundred-and eighty-seventh time in a row, you wolfed down a spicy bowl of taco meat, tomatoes, and cheese. You eat more real-people food now than Jack has ever eaten in his life! Simply amazing. But it makes life easier on me because I can just give you what I’m eating, and I don’t have to buy so much baby food anymore!

You are on the bottle now; we stopped breastfeeding at eight months. I was aiming for ten months, but when you bit me in the middle of the night while we were camping, cutting open the skin and thus forcing me to not feed you for a few days, which made for some very painful times for Mommy…well, let’s just say that was the last straw. It was hard for me when we quit, but I think it was best for everyone, and you have made the transition to the bottle quite well. In fact, you love your bottle and when you see Daddy or me mixing the formula you start flapping your arms wildly and kicking your legs and shrieking so loudly. You'd think we never feed you.

When we were on vacation this summer you and Jack had to sleep in the same room almost every night. While this was a disaster the first few nights and none of us got very much sleep, you both eventually adapted. We were so grateful when we returned home and were able to put you in your bedroom to sleep in your crib for the night, rather than in our room, as you had done for eight months. Plus, you FINALLY (at eight months you little stinker!!), started sleeping through the night! This has marked a great turning point in our life since you were born…Mommy and Daddy have finally been getting more sleep and your daytime routine has finally stabilized with your two naps and twelve solid hours of night-time sleep.

It’s interesting though, because for such a long time we would complain to one another about how you wouldn’t sleep through the night, and how often you woke up to eat, and “When will this child finally sleep through the night without waking up fussing, screaming, demanding to be held and fed???” I would never have guessed that after all these months of wanting to be held and cuddled and be close to us at night, you would develop an absolute LOVE for your crib, your pink blankie, and sleep. When I walk in to put you down for bed you start fussing if I hold and cuddle you too long, and start lunging for your crib. When I lay you down, you kick your legs, like you are so very excited to be in bed, and then you feel all over your blanket until you find the satin edging that borders the plush, ultra-soft blankie heaven. Then, holding that satin part in your fingers, you stick your thumb in your mouth, roll on your side, and you are good to go. NO fussing, NO fighting, NO crying. Can a mom be any more grateful? (Just for the record, you also sleep through anything. Jack has suddenly started crying at night—not just crying but tantruming and screaming—and you hardly ever even flinch. When he wakes up in the morning and cries out for us, you whine and roll over, as if to say, “Leave me alone! I need another ten minutes.” You keep this up and we’re going to have a few issues come middle school…)

Keeping this “I need my beauty sleep” attitude in mind, I have to also admit that you are quite the drama queen! I cannot believe how different you are from your brother in this way. Your Daddy and I have tried hard to treat you the same way we did Jack when he would fall down or get boo-boos, by not jumping up and rushing in to baby you, but to sit calmly and wait to see how serious it is, while reassuring you that you are okay. Most of the time Jack would come over for a kiss and run off, or just keep on with whatever he was doing. For you, however, every single bump is an affront and you bring out the pathetic victim-cries, complete with heaving chest and pre-cry moments of not breathing. I am apologizing now for laughing at you when you cry, my sweet cry-baby, but it is so funny. I admit that you have had your shares of bumps and bruises, but such is the territory of pre-walking. You are perfectly justified to cry your little heart out when you are hurt, and I will hold and comfort and kiss you all you want. But good grief, child! You turn on the waterworks so fast with the tiniest graze or bump from your brother; you swing your head around with big eyes, as if to say, “Did you SEE what he just did, Mommy?” and then “WAAAAAA!!!” I usually just laugh and pat your head or tell you sternly from across the room that you are fine. Sometimes I try to look away quickly, just to see what you will do. Generally speaking, you let out a small protest but that’s the end of it. I can already tell that you have that “little sister getting picked on” take on life, and with a little bit of trepidation I look forward to seeing you grow out of this and learn to stand up for yourself without running to Mommy crying all the time.

Despite your propensity to cry at every bonk on the head, you really do love and enjoy your brother. Right now I think he mostly enjoys almost knocking you over, almost sitting on you, almost collapsing on top of you. He really pushes the limit sometimes, which could be why you are startled and cry so often. He loves to run, run, run down the hallway and then collapse next to you or right into your lap. He thinks it is so funny, as if, “Oops! Did you see that? I just missed her!” (I think this is due to his current developmental stage of pushing the limits in just about everything, but I'll save that for Jack's letter...)

You all love to wrestle each other on our bed. Jack will take both your legs in his hands and flip you over, and you just smile and laugh. Then he will lie still while you climb all over him, and he just giggles and wiggles. You love to pull his hair, and he almost always sits still and lets you go at it. Sadly, you have also rolled off our bed three times already.

One of our favorite times is early morning, when we can hear the two of you over the baby monitor. When you are not whining at him, you are both laughing and baby talking back and forth. The other morning we heard a delighted cry from you and then a giggle from him, and we came in to discover he had climbed out of his crib and into yours, and you were both laying there with your blankies, smiling contentedly up at us. What a beautiful sight!

For a long time Jack would call you “Ah-yee,” but unfortunately, as much as I hate to admit it, he now has a new name for you, one that we do not understand and wish with all our hearts he would change: “Ah-guck.” We say to him, “Jack, say, ‘L. E.’” and he slowly makes the letter sounds, “Ellll” and then “Eeeeee.” We repeat it over and over, getting faster each time like the double-headed monster on Sesame Street that puts compound words together. We get him so close, and he says, “Elll… Eeeee. Ellll...eee. Elllleeee. AH-GUCK!!!” Oh well. I promise you, sweet daughter of mine, I will do everything in my power to insure that your childhood nickname is not Ah-guck!!!

I have to add here, that you also love your Daddy very much. When he walks in the door at the end of the day he is greeted with big smiles and squeals from you. You love it when he pretends to walk by and not see you, whistling to let you know he is playing "your" game, and then as he stops you let out a little noise of anticipation, he spins around, you shriek, then he comes flying at you making some horrific squealing noise to match your own and you let out this absolutely scrumptious giggle. We have yet to catch this on video but I hope to do so very soon so you can see it someday. I pray that you and Daddy will always have a special relationship, like I have with Papa.

Well, for all of your smiles and chuckles, your speedy crawling and pulling up on my pant legs, your love of bedtime and Blankie, your vocalizing and babble, your big smiles and dimples, your curls and bows…one of my favorite times of day with you is first thing in the morning. I go in to get you, and as you notice me coming toward your crib you start flapping your arms and you smile so big that you couldn’t possibly smile more. Your little chubby body is so warm, and when I pick you up you are content to snuggle under my chin, Blankie in hand, with your other arm draped across my shoulder and your tiny hand on my back, holding my shirt. You smell delicious, especially when you had a bedtime bath the night before, and I could just stand there for hours drinking you in. I think this is when I miss nursing the most; Daddy used to get you from your crib and bring you to me in bed, and we would lay there, you nursing and me dozing, and then for a few quiet moments we would just snuggle, until you had had enough and were ready to start crawling and climbing over Daddy and me. You are such a precious little one, Ellie Belle! I am so thankful for your life, for the gift that you are to us, and I am so honored to be your mommy.