Dear Zealand at 21 months

Dear Zealand,

You continue to be quite the charmer and the apple of everyone's eye. Your "Am" and Papa adore you to pieces and outside of mama and dada they are the one's you see the most. You are very attached to them and a huge smile spreads across your face when you know they are on their way to visit. You have your special things that you do with just them: riding your new neigh neigh, pushing your wagon and train around the backyard, chasing the kitty cat, and having them sing to you on demand with their guitars. Although it hasn't been confirmed, I suspect that you enjoy a bit more ice cream in their company than in ours.

In the past few months you have carved out a nice space of independence from your mama. When Am and Papa arrive you are excited to have a day with them apart from me. You say "bye bye mama" and will give me a kiss when asked. You seem like quite the big boy during these moments and almost proud of yourself for being able to handle the transition with such grace. And, it makes me feel like I have done something right.

This month you also had a nice visit with Grandma Mary and Auntie Annika in Mammoth. We set up your train tracks on the coffee table, had your books handy, and all was well. Annika gave you a nice bubble bath our first night and you were more than happy to have her do so. On this trip da da took you skiing with him. The two of you rode the gondola and then went down the mountain together with you strapped to his chest in the ergo. I think the sheer scale of the mountains took your breath away because you were quiet for much of this adventure. Afterwards you were wiped out and said little during the car ride home. We suspect the high altitude took it out of you.

Besides trains, trucks, tractors, and busses, you enjoy your bubble baths a great deal. Usually da da will give you your bath and you will splash happily and laugh loudly at what I can only guess. The other evening I gave you a bath and you asked for a cup of seashells that I had in the bathroom for decoration. You dumped them in the water and then gathered them, dumped them back, over and over until I finally had to drain your bath since it was so close to bed time.

When da da gives you a bath I often will take the moment to read in bed for twenty minutes or so. At some point I hear feet race excitedly down the hall toward me and a voice saying "bubbles... water.." in a pitch of pure joy. You run into the room and then hop onto the bed with me continuing to exclaim, "bubbles.. water." Recently you added, "jammies." This happens without fail after each and every bath. The top of your head will have damp curls while your sides have been combed back by da da with retro feathers. You always smell so sweet and you are so excited to share with me your excitement over bath. These are the moments you don't want to forget.

Lately you have developed an obsession over oatmeal. You ask for oatmeal several times throughout the day and just as your head hits the mattress at the end of the day. You say, oatmeal, banana, da da. You associate oatmeal with the morning and with your da da who often makes it for all three of us. You ask us for your "new spoon" (a cute new toddler spoon we bought for you) and race over to the kitchen table where we have your booster seat. You now eat with us at the table and seem to like this new position up at the table. Better candle viewing for one. Your mama has finally gotten her act together by having meals pretty much ready when da da comes home and makes sure that we eat a proper family dinner with candles, set table, pitcher of water, etc.. I want to start us off right with lots of attention paid to the ritual of eating a family meal together. Back to candles - you love them! Each night after dinner you have the honor of blowing each of them out. You have become really good at this and will be ready for your 2 yr. birthday cake!

Another favorite at this age is jumping on the couch. You ask us to "ope door" - which means take the cushion off of the couch so you can jump on the couch. You then try to sing "no more monkeys jumping on the bed".. It comes out "no mo monies .." You like it when we sing the song for you while you jump and jump and jump.

Speaking of songs, you have started to sing a bit on your own. Partial bits of course, but often in tune. Each day after nap I make it a point to have Pandora streaming with a children's station. You have started to recognize songs that you like: Old Macdonald, Twinkle Twinkle, Wheels on the Bus, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. You also have learned some of the hand motions that go along with these songs (thanks to circle time with the classes we go to). And, I am always tickled when you chime in with the words while I am singing to you before bed. The other night I sang, Michael Row your boat and before I knew it I heard a soft "hallaloooya" coming from my arms.

Your vocabulary is growing by the day and your pronunciation is getting more and more precise. You still call crackers, "da dukes" for some mysterious reason and frankly I am going to miss this phase when language is still a slippery and grasping thing. I have stopped counting but I believe you know at least 100 words by now. All of the body parts, colors, some letters: a, z, b, d, e and probably more thanks to bath sticky letters, names of fruits, vegetables, most animals, house, and common objects in a house, pot, pan, chimney, tunnel, bridge, all things with four wheels, couch, slide, swing, sand, shovel, snow, trees, and many, many more.

Besides words, what has been possibly even more fun to watch is your ability to grasp concepts. You love learning opposites and pointing them out whenever you get a chance - up and down, hot, warm, cold, front and back, big and small. The other night you said "big kitty" when you saw a kitty that filled the page of your Richard Scary book. You then flipped the page and found a "small kitty."

It has also been neat to watch you participate in your new gym class. To my surprise you are able to participate in the organized games that your teacher leads. Most of the other kids your age remain on the sides with free play. You lean up against the wall with the other kids and listen to the teacher. You especially love the game "stop and go" which involves verbal directions and running and stopping across the gym floor. You also love the game where you grab a tennis ball and throw it across the gym in a stop and go pattern created by the teacher. One mom asked me somewhat incredulously, "how do you get him to listen?" Of course it is nothing I do, the interest on your part is there. You love the excitement of being part of the group.

All of this is a good sign that you will be more than ready for preschool. I am so excited for you to start - still over a year away, but I am pretty sure you will love it. I know I keep saying it, but you really are one happy little guy. You bring so much enthusiasm and wonder to each and every moment. I hope this spirit stays with you until you are at least 90 years old! And, you are at this point so gentle and sweet with other kids. Sometimes you will grab at something but more often than not you are gentle and easy going about sharing. You, Mr. Z, are a pleasure to know.

Love,

Momma

Fun in Mammoth

Gym Class

January Fun and Sun

Dear Zealand at 18, 19, and 20 months!

Dear Zealand,

Your momma only half way finished your 17 month letter and then missed 18, and 19 months. No excuse really. As all parents know, there is never enough time only the choice to prioritize. I used a lot of my writing time toward a creative writing class that I took in Oakland. Poetry and short stories. You and I would hop on the bus and then BART to meet your da da on the BART platform. I would hand you off and then disappear behind the train doors. This was an especially tiring adventure for me because of the fact that most of the class took place during the first trimester, yawn, of my pregnancy with your sister! She is due to be born right around your birthday. This year we will celebrate the big TWO a few weeks early to ensure that you get the celebration you most certainly deserve.

I have to say I have enjoyed these past few months with you more than any other. It feels like there are three more exclamation points after all of the things we love about you. The personality, enthusiasm, and excitement over just being alive are in full force. And, all of the new words and skills to color it all.

You love books, laughter, and the exceptional. By the last one I mean you notice if something is amiss - a torn page in a book, a train off its' tracks, a spill, etc. You love to say "Oh No." Silly things also are big stand outs for you. Characters in your books with funny expressions or who have fallen in the water, etc. Richard Scary books are a perfect match for you since so much of the content is about silly spills and falls. You love to go through these books any chance you have. At this point we are reading about 10-15 books a day. Surprisingly you enjoy books with lots of words. There is a Little Bear series that we somehow inherited that never tires even though there are more words than pictures. Same with a few Babar books that we have and most recently an Amelia Bedilia book that drives your momma crazy but that you insist on reading over and over.

I can't say much more without mentioning your ongoing love affair with trains, or "woo woos." It started around 14 months or so and hasn't waned a bit. The highlight of your Christmas was a train set that we bought along with a good sized collection of trains for you. An important part of the train love is tunnels and bridges that your woo woos go over and through.

Now that we have entered train world it seems that train tables are everywhere we go. The Discovery Museum has a fabulous one in their gift store that you love to play with and the Randall Museum has a train table as well. Woo woos, it seems, are everywhere. This past weekend we all went to Tilden Park and rode their steam train through the redwoods. You enjoyed the anticipation more than the actual ride. After a few minutes of the loud whistle and steam you asked to go to the "e, i, o" - translation: farm. It is still a little too much for you. But, we hugged you tight and you braved your way through it.

In the past two months you have also added playing in the sand to your ever growing repertoire of favorite activities at the park. You like to carefully fill buckets with your shovels and add piles of sand to the bottom of slides and other such places.

These days you start your day running. Maybe three months ago or so your father would retrieve you from your crib in the early morning and bring you in bed with me for at least twenty minutes of quiet time. Now you begin the day by calling for da da or momma and then asking for your ba (pacifier) and lamb. You run into our room and say "momma up" and then say "oatmeal." Lately you and your da da have been making oatmeal together while I get a few more minutes of rest. You then run excitedly into the living room for oatmeal. You, by the way, rarely walk. Instead you run everywhere. As has been the case for awhile now, you are incredibly active and move through a room full of toys like a hurricane. Really, the only time you sit for long periods is for books - thank god for books! It is as if someone whispered into your ear that you only have a week to live and you are trying to cram in as much as possible. It is exhilarating and exhausting, at times, to behold.

There is so much I am leaving out, I know. But, it is impossible to cram even three months of your life onto a page. I have been very much aware that our time with only you is running out. In fact, we have only four months left of our family of three. I am trying to appreciate every last moment. These days the two of us spends lots of time in parks, at "school" two times a week, and a gym class on Fridays with SF Park and Rec. This pre - preschool time really is precious. I love that I am able to spend it with you and feel and experience the nuances of your personality, your essence, developing slowly over hours, days, and weeks.

Well, Zealand, words cannot express how much we love you and how often you put a smile on our faces every single day. You are such a lively, funny, and loving spitfire of a boy. You continue to amaze us in every way.

Love,

Momma.