Friday, January 8, 2010

Dear Noah 44 months

Dear Mr. Man,
We spent over half of this month in Vermont house sitting for family and you had so much fun. It was a 2.5 week party. Bed between 9-11, Grammy's house almost every day, visit to the multiple animals at the place we were house sitting, chocolate for breakfast, a whole house full of new (to you) toys to play with, gifts galore to open... on and on and on.

In all the craziness you grew... a lot. Or I just haven't been paying attention. Suddenly every single article of clothing you own is too short. I might actually have to go shopping for you, the hand-me-down stash has finally thinned. Here's the thing: hand-me-downs don't work so well when you surpass in size those handing clothes down to you. So I think we're up to size 5. Crazy.



You loved all the family time while we were in Vermont. Aunty Chels was fabulous because she would read mountains of books- 3 times in a row- before calling it quits. Grammy had you help her cook. Grampy would kick and "joust" (you made it up, I don't know how you heard about jousting). You even managed to squeeze in some time with the great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, Uncle Evan and Uncle Shawn, and a slew of cousins. The bonus: even Nina, Poobah and Tante A made it up ON CHRISTMAS DAY! It was the first time ever that you (and I, for that matter) saw both sets of grandparents on Christmas Day. You were super into opening gifts- offering to open Del's for her when she was done with the whole present opening thing.

One interesting side story: on the way to Great-Grammy's on New Year's Day we told you where we were going. You were upset that we weren't going to Grammy's. We explained that Grammy wouldn't be at her house- she would also be at Great Grammy's. You paused to think about that and then said: "But is Uncle Philip not going to be there." Evidently you're not a fan. When he arrived I told him he might want to ease up on the teasing. He really hasn't teased you in a while but for some reason you're a little skeptical of him. He woo'ed you a little with pictures of his dog and cats on his cell phone. In general you are not open to being tickled by anyone but Daddy and maybe Mommy. If someone doesn't listen to your "No"'s you get pretty upset and are resistant to hanging out with that person again for some time.



You got some heavy-duty sledding in. You were not so sure about the sledding thing but it was more manageable with Daddy tucked in tight behind you. When you arrived at the bottom we got the scared status- ie "see, I wasn't scared" OR "Yeah, I was a little scared of that."

You are in full blown "why?" mode and sometimes I just don't know how to respond- mostly when I'm trying to concentrate on something else. Sorry for the exasperated tone when I can't answer: "why do bugs can't live in the winter?" in response to my answer to your: "why do bugs don't live in the winter?"



You and Del have become the best play mates. You are both concerned about the other constantly. If Del is not in your line of sight you're asking where she is. If she's napping you want to see her. This may have been in reaction to being in a new place, I'm not sure. I'm relishing this period where you don't go through love-hate phases. It's all love right now. You explain things to Del and help her do things and always want to include her. It's very very cool. It's also amazing because in the car you can get in fights. I'm not sure how serious they are. You say something like: "I'm doing that" and Del will say: "gobbledy gook" with the same inflections and you say: "NO! I'm doing it!" and she responds. Back and forth, back and forth.



We're back home (sorry about that, you didn't want to come back) and in a whirlwind of getting things done that were put on the back burner while we were away. You've jumped right back in to the school routine and we need to get on updating that wardrobe of yours.
Love you loads,
Mommy

1 comment:

COCO said...

i think its awesome how you write to your kids...

so sweet!!!