A Letter to My Boys

Gavin,
This month started out with a horrible rash that started on your cheeks and ended up covering almost your whole body.  At first, we thought it was an allergic reaction to the sunscreen we use on your face, but after it spread like it did, we (and your pediatrician) think it was probably Fifth's Disease, a harmless viral thing (minus the rash).  Thankfully, it only lasted a couple of weeks and you didn't seem to be too bothered by it.

In other news, I'm so excited to say that you're fully potty-trained now, including overnight.  You've been daytime trained for months now, but nighttime was still a little iffy.  But, you were keeping your pull-up dry every night recently so we tried undies and I can't remember the last time you had an accident.  The best part is how proud you are of yourself every morning.  "I went potty all by myself," you say most days from the top of the stairs, complete with toothy grin.  So cute.

Not so cute are the massive time out fits you've started throwing.  Gone is our contemplative boy who would sit in time out, think about what he'd done wrong, and then tell us he was ready to get up.  Instead, you get livid, screaming and kicking and losing your shit before you calm down and apologize.   We've discovered though that you only do this when both Daddy and I are home.  If it's just one or the other of us, you never throw a fit like that, or really even have to have a time out.  We think you're trying to play us against each other and we're hoping you discover soon that it's not going to work.

The other thing you've become the king of is stalling.  At bedtime, at mealtime, when it's time to leave, pick up, go potty, etc.  You name it, you try your hardest to stall.  At times, it's amusing, but we try our hardest to keep from laughing because it makes the stall THAT much longer.

We have just a few days left before Daddy goes back to work.  He's starting a new job so he's going back a little earlier than usual and I've decided to keep you home from daycare until the end of August. I've had so much fun with you that I wanted it to last just a little bit longer, and the bonus is it'll save us a little money, too.  I'm so glad I got to spend this time with you this year.  I wish I could do it every summer and I'm sorry I can't.  But, it makes this summer that much more special.

I love you more,
Mommy


Bennett,
My little man, or not so little, I guess.  You're so, so big, and passing milestones by so quickly that I just want to yell, "Slow down!" all the time.  At your four month check-up, the doctor said, "Well...he's very advanced in motor skills," and then proceeded to say she wouldn't be surprised if you were crawling by six months.  See what I mean?  Slow down, child!

One of those motor skills is standing.  You love to stand.  So much so that I have tiny little toe-shaped bruises on my thighs from you standing on me all the time.  We just got out the exersaucer and it's your new favorite thing, probably because you can stand up and move around freely.

You also still love to be swaddled and just like I'm a little bit nervous about how you'll sleep once we can't fit you in the swaddle blankets anymore.  If you do wake up, it's only once a night, and that's not even every night.  Not too bad in my book!

You got your first hair cut this month because you were getting so shaggy I couldn't stand it anymore.  Now the Donald Trump-like combover on the top of your head is a cute little Cupie doll curl and makes me so excited for the day I can let your hair grow longer and see some ringlets.

We also had you baptized this month.  It was a beautiful service in the courtyard at church.  Shawn Franssens, who went to Russia with me when I was pregnant with you was the pastor to baptize you, and we chose our friend, Steph as your Godmother.  You wore the same adorably embarrassing outfit I put your brother in for his baptism, and looked equally adorable in it.

You've started the constant drooling that's typical for this age, which is worsened by your love of sucking on your fingers and putting ALL THE THINGS in your mouth.  It's made adorable though by your pointy little tongue that you stick out all the time.

We've finally officially started on your room.  There's now a beautiful shade of green on the walls and a new window has been installed.  Once we get new stucco on the outside to help seal where the window was leaking, we'll repair the sheetrock and you'll be moving in.  I'm excited to have our room back, but also sad that you're old enough to be moving into your own space.

So, the general consensus from this month...slow down, okay?

I love you more,
Momma