Months Nineteen and Twenty

May 01, 2017

Noah,

You’re amazingly expressive with only the syllable “ba”. It’s been quite an impressive set of words and concepts you’re able to create with just combinations of “ba” in different lengths. Not that you don’t have a bunch of other words as well, it just seems that’s the default these two months. “Ba” and “ba-ba”, which of course is different than “ba…ba” or even “ba-ba-ba”. It’s such a treasure to be your parents and to have the joy of getting to know your little personality each and every day. We’re learning to interpret your sounds even as you learn new ones.

You’re so excited to be able to communicate, from animal noises to single words, the world of spoken language is opening its doors to you. “What does a tiger say?” is one of our favorite questions, as you answer with a scowl and a heartfelt “GRRRR!” From there, you’re giving a very convincing “wuvoo!” at bed time, and sliding back down the stairs to give Mommy a hug and a kiss. Finally, April 10 brought a “happy birthday!” for Daddy, which is the most precious gift you could give on that day.

The world has nothing but new experiences and fun to be had, from your little perspective. The weather has brought us from playing in the snow to your first swim lessons. Blowing bubbles and swimming to Daddy were high on the list of accomplishments. You tried out your first Easter egg hunt (and second), but wasn’t so interested in actually finding, just toddling around looking at things. Lastly, you’re working on your escape plans by bending your fork into an L-shape. Just like Shawshank, I’m sure.

You’re loving to be a little helper these months, from putting your plate in the sink, to putting away the silverware from the dishwasher. Even if it’s still dirty. Copying all the cleaning that Mommy did had you pretending to spray the table with Windex and wipe it down.

We love to watch you play, which you will happily do by yourself for tens of minutes at a time. (It’s wonderful, by the way). Car noises as you drive your plastic race cars up and down the walls, over the other toys, and so on. You were very excited to get to color along with your brother, after requesting “Color! Color!” multiple times. Of course, five minutes in you proceeded to try and eat the crayons. We’ll have to work on the food/not food distinction.

Keeping up in good tradition with our family, you’re demanding to be read books at bedtime and pretty much any other time we sit down on the couch. Fortunately, we have an extensive library of classic titles and up-and-coming authors from which to choose.

The changing table is prime time for “The Wheels on the Bus” this month, with all the variations on verses we can come up with, from the normal to “Daddy on the bus goes tickle, tickle tickle”, which is always good for a laugh. We’re working on making you a polite member of society, which has led to the introduction of “please” in your vocabulary, making "Up, please” an irresistible request from your smiling little face.

Each night at dinner and at bedtime, we pray together as a family. You fold your little hands, and say “amen” as we finish. Just at the end of the month you decided to pray right along with Daddy, babbling along up to your “amen”. It’s a joy to help you learn to interact with the world, as we remember that you’re learning so much more from copying us and your brother than what we’re telling you. Seeing you bring those things to life in your own unique little way is a blessing to us all every day.

With so much love,

Daddy and Mommy