Dear Noah,
A few days ago, you turned 21 months old. Hard to believe, but you’re now “almost 2.”
There have been some big milestones this month. You’re completely weaned now, although neither of us is very happy about it. Yesterday morning you broke my heart, sobbing and crying for “babboo” while I cuddled you and said I was sorry, but we can’t.
This month, you’ve had a breakthrough in being aware of your ability to get what you want — in other words, to manipulate your mommies. When you have an idea for something you want, or want to do, you pause, smile winningly at us, and say, “Cookie?” or “Choo-choo?”
If we say, “we don’t have cookies for breakfast,” or “we’ll watch choo-choos in a little while,” you turn on the charm and try again. It’s as if you were thinking, “Mommy, you must not have understood me. I just had the best idea EVER! You should give me a cookie!” Sometimes you’re patient enough to go through this cycle 8 or 10 times before you get upset with the realization that no one is going to give you a cookie for breakfast.
Your favorite word continues to be “No.” You answer “no” in response to about 75% of all questions, mostly ignoring the rest. We try not to laugh when the conversation goes like this:
“Noah, would you like a cookie?”
“No.”
Pause.
“Cookie? Cookie?”
“Oh. Noah, would you like a cookie?”
“No!”
Pause.
Run over to the corner of the kitchen where the cookies are kept.
“Cookie???”
You even helped Mommy to be a finalist in a haiku contest with your funny “no!no!no!no!no!” commentary. We came in 5th out of nearly 100 poems!
I’m going to paste it in here, just so you don’t have to go looking for it:
Approaching Two
Do you want some cheese?
No! Some apple juice instead?
No! No! No! No! No!
Cheese? Cheese? Cheese? Door? Cheese?
Can you say please? Peez. Tanku.
Mommy! Mommy! Kiss!
Your language skills continue to explode. You’re now repeating the last word or two of nearly anything you hear on tv, and some particular favorites make repeat appearances. Those include Sir Toppam Hatt saying, “Silence!,” “Oh, bother!,” and “Nonsense!” You also join Annie and Clarabelle in getting very worried about the “duc-der” who Thomas accidentally leaves behind at the station. I’m sorry it took us so long to figure out you weren’t talking about a tractor, but rather, the train conductor.
Almost everything you say now is in phrases, although that might be because so much of it is “no bed,” or “no bi-per,” (diaper) or “no bath.” It’s still all about the nouns when you want “anana” (banana) or “sa-babies” (strawberries) or all day, every day, “choo-choo!”
I’m kidding, sort of. You also say more complex sentences, like, “Choo-choo in bath,” “Mama choo-choo help!,” and “Choo-choo up wall.”
Oh yes, choo-choo up wall indeed.
Adorably, you’ve decided that your two biggest train engines, Gordon and Henry, are Mama choo-choos. Their coal cars are baby choo-choos. You talk endlessly about the Mama and baby choo-choos being together or apart, helping, going, and going a-boom.
You finally have more teeth coming in — the doctor saw molars breaking through when we took you in after you had a high fever this month.
We hope you don’t use these teeth the way some of the other kids in your day care classroom use theirs. You came home one day last week with a bite on your back that broke the skin, and on the same day, scratches on your face that drew blood.
Of course, some of that is inevitable in day care settings. But we think it happens too much at your school, and we’re looking for a new school that we think will protect you more and help you to learn and grow. We hope we’ll find a place where you no longer sob in the morning when it’s time to put on your shoes and jacket.
We love you so much, Noah, that it’s almost impossible to put it in words. The best moments of my day are the ones where you are giving me a hug and a kiss.
love,
Your mommies
