oh and did i mention california???

i think i forgot to mention the aveda & i traveled to california about a month ago. perhaps because only now am i just about fully recovered from this excursion. it was the first time just the boys were alone for a number of consecutive days in row and just the girls too. we went for garrett (my brother) & rachel's wedding which was awesome to witness, attend and celebrate with them and for the most part travels went well. It's a stinking long flight from hawaii to california - moreso when you have a 16 month old to travel with. But being used to toting around a 16 month old AND a 2, almost 3 year old, traveling seemed a lot easier. Until the day after the wedding (the day before we were to fly back home) and aveda started throwing up. mmm, awesome to deal with when you're away from home. By God's grace, we had already planned to drive up and see my good friend Heather for the day... so this is where we were heading when disaster struck. Blueberry throw up on the car ride up... we made it to heathers... thought maybe it was just some fluke thing... rested a little - got us all cleaned up, hopped in the car to go downtown santa barbara... got maybe 100 yards down the road and she threw up again. oh Lord... this was a nasty one. Oh how grateful i am for my dear friend Heather. Who else would have cleaned up my own child's vomit and been ok with it?! Who else would have so graciously kept me in her home all day with my sick pukey baby alongside her own two kids who easily could have caught this same bug?!
So the day went on... nothing like I had expected to spend this rare occasion of being in SB again but looking back I wouldn't have wanted to be in anyone else's home at that time. The saga continued however as we were trying so hard to delay my flight thinking I would have to travel home with a sick sick child. Did I mention Thanksgiving was 4 days later? Making it virtually impossible to change the flight. Well that and the fact that daddy wanted me back exactly when he'd expected. Ugh. ok I was thankful he was taking care of kid A and all but I wasn't really feelin' the sympathy of dealing with pukey kid B... anyways, agreeing to come home the next morning we had to do more loads of laundry, wash vomit off of blankie for the third? time, and pack up to leave for LA that evening where we would spend the night to be there in time for the flight the next morning. So we (me, aveda, heather and her baby oliver) leave the house... made it further down the freeway this time and alas, baby threw up... again. Mom starts crying - can't DO this! i cried. Did i mention Heather's an ER nurse? We go to the ER to see about getting some super pricey anti-nausea pills for aveda for the plane ride home only to find out Doc. thinks it's not the best thing to give a baby on a plane. Frustration is a word that pales in comparison to what i was feeling at this moment in time. We take a hospital sheet to cut up and use as rags if needbe on the airplane. We leave the ER and go grab some food since heather and I am so starving it's about to do us in. After one more little pukey episode just before pulling away from the curb, off we drive to LA. We make it there - not exactly a place any mom would want to stay with her sick baby for the night but mostly because NO place but home or back at Heather's would suffice at this point. We made it through the night. Next morning we're all cleaned up, packed up, ready to leave... standing in the lobby waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport and oh no... she's making those noises again... oh Lord please no. She threw up again - all over me - neck to waist, my shirt is wet. So I had a change of clothes for the both of us in my carry on bag but here's the dilemma. What if she does this again later and it's even worse than this and then i have nothing to change into?! So I stay in my pukey shirt and off we go to the airport. HOW are we going to make it home?
I know lots of people were praying for us at this point and by the grace of God aveda did not throw up the entire plane ride. In fact, not only did she not throw up, it was probably the easiest possible plane ride that one could have with a 16 month old because she just passed out on my lap and slept nearly the ENTIRE 5+ hour ride home. incredible. Thank You Jesus.
The sickness continue with a few more throw ups back home but the point is, we made it back home. Then Aveda so graciously shared her tummy bug with her big brother Tagen. But it's all behind us now... which maybe you can understand why only now am I able to write about it.

the whole fam...

so some of you say we put lots of great pictures of the kids on this blog but none of mama and papa... soooo, these are what i could find of us... a family photo - courtesy of our good friends katie and daniel who are visiting right now... and some of daddy teaching tagen how to surf. tagen was so excited to be standing up and surfing in the shallow waters of Poipu. Until the surfboard got kicked out. Apparently surfboards aren't allowed there. oh well - it was fun while it lasted!

tagen train surfing

Tagen's swimming lesson - day 3. can you believe it?! he's NOT screaming in this one. incredible!



aveda day 3... still crying but dang... gettin' it down! don't mind tagen who walks RIGHT in FRONT of me as i'm filming but you get the idea...



and another of her...



so the kids have "graduated" from their swimming lessons. they've got it down and we are so grateful they have this life saving skill! thursay i was in the water with them... that was a traumatizing day - more for me than them i think. auntie glendy was teaching me all the skills she's taught them and i'm obviously nowhere near as pro as she so i made the kids swallow a lot of water that day. sad. then tagen threw up all over me after i brought him out of the pool. puke from my neck down to my thigh and in my bathing suit. everywhere. oh gag. we got it off though... made it through and then friday dad was in the pool with them and they did AMAZING. i'll get those videos uploaded some day...

swimming lessons... day 2

Ok so we've made it through day TWO of swim lessons.... Tagen did NOT want to go today. There was still a lot of screaming going on but they are definitely improving and by the time we were walking back out to our car to leave Tagen's words... and i quote "dat was fun mom!"
Tomorrow I will probably have to remind him he actually said these words. Anyways, brace yourself if you're willing to watch the kids get launched...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srRRwe4y7Mc

here Tagen is actually swimming to the wall without any physical support from auntie!



aveda getting tossed and coming up face up... craziness! i know there's a lot of screaming going on but really they're improving!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cz0j5xrEsg

(sorry for the youtube confusion... sometimes it worked to post it right onto this page and other times you have to copy/link it to another page... anyways, hope you can view it ok)

aveda & tagen's 1st day of swim lessons...

aside from lots and lots of screaming and crying the 1st day of swim lessons have gone really well. I am amazed at how the kids already have learned certain techniques... i'll get better clips and pics as the days go on but for now here's one of how aveda has learned how to flip from her tummy to her back so she can breath. good thing huh?

What dis sound is mama?

Tagen Train is very attune to the world he lives in. He hears new sounds, sees new things, tastes new things, smells new things and touches new things daily. The most frequently asked question from him lately is "what dis sound is mama?" whenever he hears almost any loud... or even subtle noise. whether it's inside our outside this question is asked. It's really cute the way he says it... I've gotta get it recorded some time. Sometimes I feel like he has just stepped into a foreign country and I am his interpreter for sounds, words, smells, and so on. "what's dis called?" is another common question along with comments like mmm, i yike (like) dis. and ewwww. i no yike dis.

the funniest one lately though is how he's figured out that if another kid (his sister most often) has a toy that he wants it's not the best method to grab it out of his or her hand because that usually results in time out. So he searches the premises for another desirable toy then goes back to kid A and says "you like trade?" ... it works well with Aveda right now because she couldn't really care less what toy she's playing with as long as she's got something. I can see in the near future she's gonna figure out this sly way of Tagen and have differing opinions about this trading game. then what???
until later we here in the strange land of the maligro household sign off.

a day in the life...

6something... hear aveda and walk out in some groggy state sit on the couch to cuddle & nurse...
back to bed

7ish: hear tagen hit the wall - for whatever reason he does this every morning as he wakes up - then climbs out of bed with his 2 blankies, sippie cup, and book or toy in hand saying 'mommy, my awake... my awake mommy" the whole way walking from his room into ours. climbs in bed with us until he hears aveda wake up which then makes him say "Beyda aWAKE mama!" So he jumps out of bed and runs out to welcome her into the new glorious day. How is has so much energy first thing in the morning is beyond me.

7-8: breakfast and curious george cartoon... mom and dad drink coffee

8 to ? change diapers, playdough session, painting, playing reading, jumping, running inside/outside, tagen and aveda loving and fighting

10: aveda takes a little cat nap, Tagen watches his favorite show: Caillou. Mom and Dad look online for a battery charger to a Power Wheels mom scored from our field trip to the thrift store yesterday. It's a little power wheels race car that costs $250 brand new and I found it for $7! just need a stinking charger so it actually moves again. even so the kids have had great fun with it already.

11: mom makes a picnic lunch for the kids to eat outside under the avocado tree. kids play outside in the sprinkler and kiddie pool

11:30 aveda grinds more food than tagen and mom combined!

12:30-1: for some odd reason the kids LOVE to play on mom and dad's bed. i think they could hang out there all day probably. they wrestled and played forever up there laughing, giggling, & kung fu flighting...

1ish-3: NAPS for both kids. It is my goal every day to make sure these two kids take a nap at the same time. it happened today!
Mom packed food into mini cooler thing, cleaned up, took cat nap - oh how i love to nap!

3:30 Whole family heads off to Pikalas (Beach) with another family and their kids...

4:30 Dad takes tagen way out in the ocean to go surfing. It's his 2nd real surf session with daddy and he's loving it! They catch lots of ways and ride soooo far in. amazing!
Lots of sandy buns, swimming in the warm water and eating food... unless you're aveda. then you're eating lots of sand too.

6:30 the sun is starting to go down and since this is a beach you kinda hike into we have to start walking back to the car.

6:45 McDonalds ice cream sundae on the way home

7pm bath time, wild hyperness after baths, reading books together

7:30pm nigh-nigh beyda (she's starting to say "ny ny" and blowing a kiss)

7:45pm nigh-nigh tagen

now here i sit writing this... nigh nigh!

been a while...

So it's been a while since writing on this blog page... the biggest thing that's happened was going back to santa barbara for a couple weeks. Just me and kids along with a good friend of mine here and her kids. Somehow our husbands opted out of the whole flying with a 1,2,3 and 4 year old (ages of all our kids at the time) - who could blame em? It is indeed pretty crazy flying with two little ones. But by the grace of God we made it not only there, but back here too and we had a awesome worthwhile time going back to a town full of so many memories for us. It was wonderful to see old friends and just to get of the rock (aka Kauai) for a little while. Coming home was good too - it actually felt like we were coming "home" instead of just this cool place to vacation that has always seemed beautiful but still foreign in a sense to me. I guess after a year of living here some roots having grown deep into this place. More than that is the people I've been graced to meet and walk some of life with together. So anyways, it is good to be home again.

because things like this are a BIG change in our household...

So a little less than a week ago our son, Tagen Train, finally figured out how to crawl out of his crib. I'm actually suprised he never attempted it prior to this but we were able to keep him in it for just over 2 and 1/2 years of his life. And isn't it funny that until things like this change you don't really appreciate how wonderful it is that your two year is going to be in the same place you put him down to take a nap or go to sleep at night. He doesn't really have any other option. Now, however, we have entered a new season.
So the day he figured it out it was of course about 10 minutes before he was supposed to take a nap. I decided I had to put him down in his toddler bed for his nap. When I went in to check on him, he had crawled back into his crib to take his nap. Then when he deemed nap time was done, he crawled out, walked out into the living room like a member of the navy seal (ie: i didn't hear him coming) and walked right up behind me and said, "hi mom!" Oh, you should've seen the look on his face (and mine)... I wish I captured that on the camera... He was so proud of himself and I almost had a heart-attack.
Since then some naptimes and bedtimes have been harder than others getting him to stay put and not leave his room as he sees fit...
But even so, we are proud of Tagen Train and as we know our little boy is growing up to be a bigger boy in so many ways... this change just sticks out as a bigger one than others.

Little Miss AVM

Dear Little Miss Aveda Violet,

You are now officially a one year old. Incredible. It seems your first year of life has flown like the speed of light and yet there are moments throughout this one year you've lived where time seemed to stand still. I remember clear as day your entrance into this world and your very first days of life... we were privileged to stay at Goleta Valley Hospital for a few days where the AC was so refreshing we didn't want to leave! (You were born on a VERY hot summer day)

I remember the very first time your big brother met you and gave you a kiss welcoming you into our family. I remember sleeping on the couch with you for weeks as we were busy emptying our house of all furniture so we could move from Santa Barbara to Hawaii and how I would swaddle your tiny body up in your peach blankie making you look like the cutest little pea pod I'd ever seen. I remember the feeling of your thick silky black hair and your perfect mini eyebrows... your pinkie toenail that was as teeny as a mustard seed...

You are a smart little monkey girl... you learn so quickly. I was so excited when you learned how to sit up by yourself around 6 months of age. You were so excited too seeing the whole world from a new angle. This lasted only about a week because then you learned to crawl. Once you had that figured out nothing held you back from exploring every nook & cranny of our house. I definitely found more things in your mouth than I ever would have in Tagen's at your age. Mostly because your older brother would graciously "share" whatever he saw as good for "beyda" (as he calls you). By God's grace you never had too bad of a choking episode. thank You Lord! Anyways, by 10 months or so you started taking steps and in a flash you were walking! You watch and study all that your brother does and learn from him daily. He is a very good big brother to you and loves you so much. As you are getting older you two are playing together and cracking each other up more than ever before. You wrestle and roll and around and I'm thoroughly impressed with how you hold your own. You are a tough cookie AVM. We know when you are really truly hurt because only then do you really cry. Things that I think would hurt you... you just stand up and shake it off.



It seems you've been a water baby from day 1... or day 5 or whatever day that was when we gave you your first bath at home. You liked it then and you LOVE going to the beach and playing in the ocean here now. Even when we just have the little pool filled up in our back yard you hop on in giving no thought to whether you have clothes on or not. Maybe you'll be a lover of surfing just like your daddy...
It's a mystery to me how a little person's personality emerges but we have seen yours unfolding rapidly especially these past few months. You make us laugh hard just like your brother does and yet at the same time we call you our "serious one"... you would win at any staring contest. You are strong little one. In both the physical and the mental. We can see that you will be a leader, not a follower. We are praying for you continually, little one, that you will love Jesus above all else the world has to offer. For in Him you will be content and experience life abundant. And in Him, lead many to Grace & Truth.

We love you little miss and thank Jesus you are ours.

AVEDA TURNED ONE!

our little Aveda Violet Maligro turned ONE Wednesday July 25, 2007... how this whole year flew by so quickly is a mystery. Here's some video of a little party we had celebrating our little luv bug.

day 3 of mission bye-bye binkie

So three days ago we went for a walk down the road to feed the goats. Typical day... beautiful blue sky... nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, while we were feeding the goats I believe Tagen, at some point, must have chucked his beloved binkie and munch munch (goats eat anything) bye-bye binkie. He didn't seem phased by this... or maybe he didn't see it happen. On the walk home he asked for his binkie and I searched and searched and alas, no binkie to be found. We even walked back to the goats and it was gone. At first, not too big a deal but come nap time... very big deal. We decided this would be the day Tagen would have to give up his binkie for good. A big transition for a little guy. A piece of growing up - even sad for mama realizing her first baby is no longer a baby. Anyways, long story shorter... Tagen gave his binkie to the goats because baby goat needed a new binkie (or so we've told him) and in return the goats gave Tagen a new Buz Lightyear toy. So just remember, when you give up this:



you get this:


(why the picture turned out sideways is beyond me... you get the idea though)

Not a bad trade huh?
Tagen would probably beg to differ but he's getting through it.

Aveda Violet is walking!

so you can see it with your own eyes - she's walking! for whatever reason she loved walking around with this Superman ball today. Maybe it gave her added superhero power to walk. She's a little unstable still and crawls a LOT faster than she walks but knowing how this girl works so far it seems that once she figures something out she masters it pretty quickly just like her daddy. So she's about 10 and 1/2 months old now, loves to wrestle with her brother. For some reason they LOVE to do this on mommy and daddy's bed. Throw them up there and they both get wild and can't stop laughing. Lately Tagen's been playing "pretend" a lot more which is so awesome and see his imagination grow and grow. He wants to be a firefighter and a superhero... maybe a superhero firefighter when he grows up. And he told me today that mommy will drive his fire truck. hmmm.

It's obvious this kid has parents who drink coffee every... single... morning.... as he's playing pretend and pouring drinks in the bath for aveda and says, "Here Bayda. coffee!"

more maligros videos...

these are some older videos i came across... mostly of tagen and his buddy josiah and a funny one of Tagen's first experience eating corn on the cob - this is definitely one of his favorite things to eat.

videooooos

ok so it's kind of pixelated but it's the best i could figure out for right now!

This picture says it all

Tagen found these pink and green goggles at the beach last weekend and has worn them ever since. He would probably even sleep with them on if we let him. It is the funniest ever watching him run around with them on... usually lop-sided but he's actually getting pretty good at putting them on by himself ("My Try!" is the latest phrase we hear 100 times a day) and getting them to go on at least one eye correctly. There's a crab and a seahorse on them too but he calls the seahorse a sea cucumber because we always find sea cucumbers at the beach here and he's never seen a seahorse before. I love the way this little mind works.

a good morning even at 6:30am

So Tagen woke up this morning at 6:30am. That's been the average wake up time in our household lately. Despite what I keep telling them, kid A or kid B decides this is a good time to get up in the morning. One or the other is my alarm clock every morning. Usually I wake up pretty groggy, stumbling toward the crib. This morning Kyle went and got Tagen and brought him back to lie in bed with us. A few minutes later Aveda woke up and so he went and got her too and brought her back in bed. So it's me, Aveda, Tagen and Kyle all squished into our queen size bed (and one wiener dog somewhere under the covers). I began to nurse Aveda and the sweetest, cutest thing ever Tagen did of his own accord. He was look down at Aveda and just started gently petting her head and whispering, "hi beyda.... hiiyyyy beyda." Every so often Aveda would stop look up at him and smile real big. So even though it was about 3 hours earlier than I really wanted to be waking up it was well worth seeing this gem of a moment. Tagen is such a good big brother and loves his little sis so much. The love is mutual seeing how much Aveda adores him as well.

Aveda Violet's 7 1/2 month birthday!

20 things I love about you, Aveda Violet Maligro (this was supposed to be in honor of your 6 month birthday which was jan.25… and at the time you weighed in at 17 pounds 14 ounces; measuring 27! But now it’s march so let’s call it your 7 and 1/2 month birthdays because really – how many people do you know get honored for that?! So, 1-12 are when you were 6 months and the rest I wrote today)
1. The way you crawl around like a caterpillar except for some reason you go everywhere backwards. You’ve also figured out how to spin in circles so I place toys in a circle all around you and you’ll spin from toy to toy.
2. The way you’ve mastered this fake cough/cry thing if you want attention or to be picked up.
3. Your baby chub – I love to touch it, sqeeze it, hug it and kiss it and I love your earlobes too – weird? – ok yes but they are like velvet!
4. How happy you are after you wake up. Huge grins and happy squirms from head to toe – it’s like your whole body smiles when you do this. Now THAT is how we should greet everyone.
5. How much you love bath time.
6. The head nuzzles. Nothing beats these. Both Tagen and Aveda – when they’re tired or sad or just need some cuddle will nuzzle their head under my chin and into my neck/shoulder and although few and far between these are treasures of gold.
7. The way you smell. I wish I could save this in a bottle forever. Even your poop right now is still sweet to me (perhaps one reason I’m holding off giving you solids for a little while longer) – daddy thinks it smells like popcorn but still it’s a lot better than what Tagen’s smelled like tonight! Beyond just the poop – you smell so wonderful to me. And I love that your blankie smells like you because you cuddle with it every time you sleep.
8. When I am lying next to you as you take a nap I can tell when you are awake or asleep from listening to the rhythm of your breathing.
9. Your lengthy stares. You have chocolate brown eyes with which you love to make eye contact. You search deeply into the things or people you are looking at. I think you may have it all figured out by age two the way you focus and study things.
10. You have the sweetest spirit. You are so full of energy but such a sweetie at the same time. I can’t wait to see how this plays out in your personality as you grow.
11. You are incredibly strong. I could’ve guessed this from the womb how crazy you would kick at times. It still amazes me now – I think there are times I could probably let go and it wouldn’t matter because you cling to me like glue.
12. You make noises just like Tagen did at your age. Did he teach you this? How? Maybe it’s genetic or something. Regardless, it’s super cute!
Ok so between 12 & 13 I took a break for a month or so and now you’ve totally changed. It’s incredible how rapidly you babies grow and develop. Just when I’m getting the hang of you, you change!
13. You’re sitting up now. No support – just all by yourself! You’ve fallen back and bonked your head a few times but you get over it super fast because you’re a tough cookie (sidenote: whenever I say “tough cookie” your brother T looks at me and says “cookie? Cookie?” and doesn’t stop until I convince him we don’t have any cookies in the house)
14. Not only are you sitting up, you’ve totally got the scoot crawl thing mastered and you can get yourself pretty much anywhere you want to go. It’s really funny when you see something you’ve obviously gotta have because you crawl with such focused determination and NoThInG will get in your way.
15. Today you even crawled over and pulled yourself up to standing. Incredible. See how much you’ve changed just this month?! We’ve got a whole new baby in the house.
16. I love how much more you and Tagen are interacting too. You laugh. He laughs. You copy each other and just love to act silly. So sweet to watch. He’s nicknamed you “beyda” by the way and whenever you are crying he says… no he SHOUTS: “OTAY!!!!! Beyda OTAY!” with his eyebrows raised to the ceiling. He does thisbecause I asked him once to go over to you and say “It’s ok baby!” all sweet and gentle like. Oh well. His own rendition is pretty funny – somehow it even sometimes calms you down! That’s how much you love your brother.
17. You are such a little water baby. You’re probably the one who is going to be all into surfing like your daddy! You LOVE to sit in the shallow waters of the ocean. We also just got a kiddie pool that you now play in every day. You long outlast your brother in it and would probably stay in there playing all day if I let you. You splash, sit up, lie down on your belly, try to stand holding onto the edge (meanwhile mama’s heart skips a beat as you almost fall) but it’s so cute how happy you are in there.
18. You’ve learned from the professional (your brother) how to scream at a pitch that should not be legal. How did we birth babies with such loud lungs?! It’s crazy. I think you must be teething right now too because you’ll shriek many times a day for no apparent reason. Or maybe you just enjoy hearing yourself. Note to you: you could still hear yourself if you toned it down like 10 notches.
19. You’re chubbier than ever and I’m loving every piece of you!
20. That you, also, are mine.

Tagen Train is TWO!

20 things I love about you Tagen Train Maligro. 2 years old! 31 pounds of rock solid toddlerness…
1. The way you dance. Turn on some music and you just can’t help yourself. You love to copy daddy’s moves in your own awesome rendition.
2. How you have learned that if you come into our room in the morning and says “eat mama” it will get me out of bed. All you really want is for me to get up with you and you really don’t care about eating at all. Okay actually this drives me crazy but I will always remember it because it seems to happen every morning and every morning I fall for it because you’re too dang cute.
3. When I am cooking anything you wander around saying “shoe?” asking for your stool because you must stand and watch… ok stand and mess with whatever I’m trying to cook and take everything off the countertops.
4. You can now climb all the way up into your highchair and climb back down when you’re finished. I can’t imagine if I had to do this every time I sat down to eat. You’re such a monkey.
5. You have learned how to open the screen door to let yourself outside whenever you please. Some day we’ll teach you how to get back inside too.
6. You are one of the only ones who can actually make Aveda laugh. You show such concern when she cries and even though she’s been with us for six months and you know full well what her name is you still call her “baby”. Maybe you’ll call her this forever.
7. You are totally obsessed with any kind of ball – football, basketball, soccer ball, baseball - and you now say trow (throw) and katttch (catch) and talks story about baseball and football. I think you would throw and catch a ball with us the entire day if we would last that long.
8. shubel and beeech (shovels and the beach) two of your favorite things living in hawaii
9. the way you can’t not jump on me or daddy and attack hug us when we are lying on the ground
10. How much you love bath time… you’ve gotten to a point where you hate getting out because you’re having too much fun. You’ve fully mastered blowing bubbles and “floating” on your back and tummy.
11. All the words you now say. You copy so much of what we are saying and you are so proud to communicate. Funniest ever the ways you say “yeeesss mammmaa” or “yessss daaada” with eyes wide open and many overemphasized head nods. Another word I love to hear you say: “sorry” which you say like “soollly” (sounds like Japanese or something). Really makes the disciplining difficult when I’m on the verge of laughing.
12. The way you draw. Such detail. Such focus. Mostly you draw circles – big circles, little circles or some other rendition of a circle…but these aren’t your ordinary circle. Each one is some incredible piece of your imagination. A firetruck or fire”guy” (as you call a fireman). A lion. A gecko. A fish. You usually draws them very slowly and then will turn and tell me what you just drew. I am amazed at how detail oriented you are. Not only in drawing but also when we are reading a book – you notices things in the pictures that nobody would ever notice.
13. Finally, after 23 months of being attached to your binkie and blankie you call them their names… well not always… actually only on rare occasions. Usually they still are called that noise which I don’t know how to write as a word – but you make the same noise every time you want these. MmmMMMmmmMMMmmmMMMmmmm. Or something like that. It cracks me up when you do the noise and then say ppeeeezze (please) at the end of it. Like you’re mixing baby language and toddlerese or something.
14. You are such a “boy”… so into all kinds of balls – especially footballs. Your uncle got you a football for your birthday and you carry it around with you like it’s your new blankie or something. You can’t get enough motorcycles, trucks and the like and love to see the fire truck every time we pass the fire station.
15. How you are consistently grumpy (note: opposite of sister) when you wake up from a nap and that I am the only one you want. Daddy can get you as long as he mentions something super exciting – like that there’s a rooster outside or something. But it better be good or you’ll hear nothing of it and we’ll hear a lot of whines. Ok so we kind of look forward to the day this will end but as for now is such a part of you that we’ve gotta love you and all your weird quirks too!
16. You are so opinionated now. So sure of what you want and don’t want. If mommy or daddy asks if you want something your first response will usually be “no!” and then you turn around, turn back and ask for the very thing we just offered you. I guess it had to be your idea. Sometimes it’s hard not to laugh at how ridiculous this is.
17. You are so crazy cute with your big ol’ belly sticking out as you walk around, blonde hair getting blonder every day as we live in Hawaii now and your little tans lines. I noticed that you still have baby chub for which I am happy because that means there’s still some babiness in you and you’re really white inside the folds now. That’s how I can gauge how tan you are getting too. I love your Fred Flinstone feet and toes. Where these came from in the genes I don’t know but since birth you’ve had little square blocks down there and they still are.
18. The sweetest ever is the way you give kisses and hugs. Especially watching you hug a little person your size. You lean way forward and pat their little back as you lean your head on their shoulder. So sweet.
19. Sometimes you think you are so funny. You just crack yourself up! We’ll be driving somewhere and you tickle yourself and just laugh and laugh. I need to record your laugh. It makes me smile every time.
20. That you are mine.