Dear Ez,
Here are a few things about your 20 month-old self.
Whenever we're out at night you look for the moon so you can point and say "MOON!" with great fondness. You sing and hum all day long. You understand pretty much everything we say! and shock me with your steady stream of new words. For instance, who taught you to say "thank you"? I thought we'd talk about please and thank yous later but you beat me to it. You say "WOW!" a lot. You used to say "outide" but now you've been saying "outSide". You always notice when a particularly noisy car passes by and Nina is teaching you to say "fan belt".
You play the harmonica. You pretend to fall down and then wait for us to rush over to pick you up. You love Tulip the doggie (you call her "Tupes") and Scipio the cat (you call her "meow" or "sips".) You love to try all food. Today you had steamed asparagus spears, smoked eggplant, goulash. You love to share and help. You take a bite of whatever you're eating and then offer us some, even when you're eating ice cream! You love story time and music time and rolling around on Nina's giant yoga ball. You love being chased around the house and saying "BOO!" You clap your hands and say "YAY!" a lot.
You love turning pages in all books whether it's one of your favorite board books, Virginia Woolf's short stories, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, or a guide on how-to prune fruit trees. You stare at the words and almost convince me you're reading! But apparently you really didn't like one of the Jesse Bear books because you ripped it into the tiniest shreds. You love to dance and play the tambourine while dada plays the guitar. You never want the hootennannys to stop! I just asked dada how to spell hootennanny and he doesn't know either but suggested dashes "somewhere in there". You love putting on boots but really would rather go barefooted.
You love trampolines, Maurice Sendak's Little Bear, ladders, water, scaring us by tipping your chair backwards, stirring soup (your favorite is minestrone), and are very particular about where things go. Sometimes you hold up your hand and say "stop!" so i don't interfere and then do whatever you were doing (for example throwing cheerios around the room or collaging with glue and scraps of paper) and when whatever you were doing meets your satisfaction you say "there!"
You are the sun, moon, and stars to your dada and i. As dada says, "we love you past horizons, and galaxies, dimensions, the universe, and all of time." He could go on and on. So could I! I'll just add that you have our hearts. You are very cute. And sweet. And magnificent.
Love,
Mommy
