20 Months Old!

December 29, 2011

Dear Riggins,

I can hardly believe that we are this close to your second birthday!  With only a few months to go, I figured I would keep the letters coming until the big TWO comes around.  I suppose once you've reached an age that is no longer referred to in months, I can slow down on the letters a bit.  Even so, you change so much each month that I just can't resist logging some memories.

This month had a very distinct theme: CHOO CHOO!  I bought a Thomas the Train DVD for $1.50 at a consignment sale, and for a long time you could care less about it.  Then one day this month, I popped it in, and an obsession was born.  At first you just watched it while I made dinner.  Then you started asking for it after breakfast.  And then we started hearing "Choo Choo!!!" from your crib first thing every morning instead of "Mama!"  On Christmas morning, you wanted nothing to do with your presents; all you wanted to do was watch choo choo.  After trying too hard to push the presents, we finally gave in and decided to just give you what you wanted on Christmas morning!  I can officially sing every line of every Thomas the Train song, and if you ever get upset you will instantly calm down within the first line of "They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight..." or "Well it's great to be an engine as we're chugging along..."  Lucky for you, Memphis is home to a pretty impressive train system that regularly runs through town, so we get to see real choo-choos pretty often too!

I cannot even begin to list the new words you are saying now, because you can pretty much repeat any word we tell you and you are starting to combine words into short phrases.  Your most impressive selections are "excavator" and "helicopter."  Such a boy!  My favorite new additions to your vocabulary are "love you" and "thank you."  You  now like to combine "love you" with blowing a kiss, especially when Daddy is leaving for work or when we are saying goodbye to Weber before leaving the house.  Such a sweetheart!

You pretty much know all of your body parts and animal sounds, and you can do the motions to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and "Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands."  Your climbing ability has increased dramatically, and you have become a fast little runner.  You love motor vehicles of any kind (trains, trucks, tractors, airplanes, helicopters, you name it!), ducks, dogs, music and dancing, helping in the kitchen on your step stool, being outside, and going to BSF.

You wear size 24 month clothes, a size 5 diaper, and a 5 1/2 shoe.  You sleep from 7ish to 7ish each night and take one nap each afternoon after for about two hours.  You are not much of an eater; it isn't really that you are picky, just that you don't care to eat a whole lot.  Favorites are bananas, grapes, cheese, and turkey hot dogs.

The big highlight of this month was the Christmas season.  You loved lights ("yites") and pointed them out everywhere.  You did very well with our Christmas tree and learned to touch but not remove the ornaments.  If the lights were not on, you were quick to ask for "yites!"  Mama Anne brought you a Little People Nativity set at Thanksgiving, and you enjoyed playing with it all month.  You also enjoyed reading special Christmas books, especially The Mitten and Angel Angel.  We traveled to Arkansas for Christmas where you attended the Christmas Eve candlelight service and were awed by the puppet show (yelling "ELMO!!!" to the entire congregation) and Daddy's solo.  We also went to Oklahoma, where you made memories for us all by constantly demonstrating Mama Anne's singing Snoopy doll, running through Myriad Gardens, and flushing a bottle of shampoo down the toilet.

When I think back on this month, I remember lots of joy and laughter.  You are turning into a funny little boy, with a sweet spirit and a stubborn streak.  Spending each day with you is the best job in the world, and I am so lucky to be your mom.

I love you,
Mama