Gabe: 2Y1M

 Two Years, One Month

Dear Gabe,

Hey bud! You've spent one month as a two year old and I swear, lately, we've only met kids who are a few months younger than you. As their moms struggle to remember exactly how many months they are when I ask, I am quick to spit out a TWO! He's two! You are really getting into the whole "big boy" thing too, which honestly, I never understood. I never knew what clicked inside a kid's head that made them aspire to be a big boy. I mean, what's wrong with being a baby? Nothing! All of your needs are quickly taken care of. But as a big boy, you're starting to be responsible for some things...namely feeding and entertaining.

But now I see what makes you want to be a big boy. It's the praise we lay on you when you do something fantastic and new. We tell you that you're being such a big boy and with the enthusiasm we show, you've got to realize that this is a good thing. Being a big boy might have its perks.

Another big part of showing you what a big boy does is letting you hang with your neighborhood friends. They're all older than you but ride bikes & play ball with you like you're one of them. In your eyes, they can do no wrong. So when you're kicking me in the chin when I need to trim your fingernails, all I need to do is tell you that all your big boy friends trim their nails and you become like puddy in my hands.As long as I go through all of their names over and over and finish trimming before I run out of names, we are good to go.

There are so many ways you're becoming a big boy. But not only that, you're becoming a smart & polite little guy too. You've mastered the please and thank you's and give them out both prompted and umprompted. You say Bless You Mommy whenever I sneeze or hiccup. You're stringing words together that make sense and after a second, we realize that you've told us a story. You've told us what you want, or what you saw or what you need RIGHT THAT SECOND.

As much as we love watching you embrace your new-found independence, trying to do things that aren't on your agenda is well um...trying. You pop out of bed wanting to be outside and when you don't get your way, you're happy to just repeat the word "outside" for an hour or two before I give up and take you out, letting whatever plans I had fall to the wayside. When it's time to head back in at night, after you've been out all day, sometimes you collapse in tears. You keep repeating "outside" the whole time we walk up the street and back in the house. It's heartbreaking and a yeah, bit annoying. But mostly, we're happy to make you happy.

Love you buddy bear!

Mama