Letters

So I've talked about the letters that I write to toddler G on here a few times. Since then I've gotten about 8 or 9 emails from people asking about these letters. Do I just do bullet points with all she's achieved or do I write directly to her. Is it all gushy or sort of business like. So I've decided to share the most recent one with you on here. This will not be a regular thing. What I do is type them to her in my gmail acct. and then save them into a folder on there. Once I have a few written I hand write them into a journal.

Here's the most recent letter, she is just over 16 months old. It's a little long because I hadn't written one in awhile.

Georgia,

I am a terrible person. I haven't written you a letter since July!!! I have a really good excuse though...I finished my graduate program in that time so instead of writing these letters to you I spent my time with you. Taking you to classes at COSI, the zoo, the mall to play on the planets (see pics.), and on play dates.

You are such a big girl now. I can't even call you baby buggy anymore because now you are a toddler who doesn't toddle. You walk, you run, you climb on everything in sight. You are amazingly brave. We've found you so many times standing on the dining room table, the computer desk, or the coffee table. You climb into the hammock out back and just wait for us to swing you as high as you can go. You also love it when we hold you upside down in the hammock and say in a high pitched voice 'upside-down'...you are crazy like that. So for that reason I call you Monkey or a shortened version, monks or even monk-a-lina. You seem to love it, you respond to it and it fits.

You are long and lean. I was worried about your weight for awhile but have been reassured by everyone that you are just fine. I guess i suspected that the weight issues in the Thompson family would haunt you as well but I think we've found a way to beat the system...it seems to be working. You were eating everything in sight but now you don't like many things. For awhile we could at least get you to eat chicken nuggets, blueberries, macaroni and cheese, or crackers but now it's all a hassle. You eat very little but seem to be doing fine but it makes me a bit crazy. You currently weigh a little over 23 lbs.

Your hair has started to come in, blond and thick with curls in the back. I suspect that you will have curly hair but that unlike mine it'll be beautiful. I will not pass on my hate of curly hair to you, I promise! In fact I think your hair will probably change that for me. Your hair is so cute it blows in the wind and you seem to sense every little movement of it. You are able to point to your hair which is also one of my favorite things about you. Your hair also has a little hint of red in it so I am dying to see what color it will turn out to be. My hair was blond when I was little so you'll probably end up with brown hair like me but it'll be fun to be a blond while it lasts. I cannot wait until it is long enough to put into pigtails!

Everyone compliments you on your eyes. Every time we meet someone new they say oh my god what big beautiful eyes. They are this sort of green/blue/gray color and like me they change to deeper or lighter shades when you cry, or are wearing something close to their color.

You are unbelievably brave and love danger (just like one of your shirts says). You love to climb onto the ledge of the picture window which makes me wonder what the neighbors think or the people driving by. You also climb the stairs now, lickety split. You are usually up them before we get around to try to keep you from climbing up by yourself. You've been thinking about trying down by yourself but you are, thankfully, not that brave yet!

You have the best facial expressions. You stare intently at something you are interested in. You squint at things (which makes me think you might need glasses), you do this laugh that is hilarious. You laugh like a ventriloquist's dummy ha-yah-yah-yah. It always makes people stop and laugh with you. You have very expressive eyebrows...this I know you got from me. You also do this funny thing with your eyes and tongue which I can't really explain but you squint your eyes, stick out your tongue, hunch your shoulders, and squeeze your hands into fists. It's as if you've just eaten something that was very sour. It's hilarious.

You still will only fall asleep when rocked. You insist on stroking my hair still which I am trying to break you of because now that you are stronger is actually really hurts...it's like you are pulling it and it is unbelievably painful. You are very sparse with your kisses and hugs but when you give them you give them with all of yourself. Wrapping your limbs around our necks or waists or arms, you hold on. You seem to understand that this melts our hearts so you look into our eyes each time waiting for that reaction of smiles or tears. I am in love with you little girl. You are mama's favorite thing ever.

You sometimes get unbelievably mad. Your temper seems out of control which must have come from the other side of the family because darling nothing gets me as worked up as you seem to get. I think you are probably very frustrated that you can't communicate with us but you like to screech and scream and even throw your body onto the ground. When you have these fits, your entire body is just dead weight and it's nearly impossible to comfort or console you in anyway except....JACK'S BIG MUSIC SHOW which is still your favorite show of all time. We have the first season's cd and play it over and over in the car. We have tons of episodes DVR'd just for these moments. Jack's also plays while I shower or cook dinner, it's come in handy! When you're mad you also throw things, big things, small things, hard things, food, it's crazy but it's kind of funny too.

You love books. You have tons and tons everywhere. In your room, in the living room, in our room and the bathroom. You love them. You will either pick one out and bring it to us to read to you or you'll take it with you onto the couch or into your red polka dot chair. But, you can't sit still long enough to get through them when we read to you. I find this very frustrating but am sure that soon enough you'll be asking to be read the same one over and over again.

You don't have a ton of words in your vocabulary yet. You say mama, go, and no. But you only really say Mama clearly. When you say no, you say it over and over again and like you are Russian! It comes out nyet, nyet, nyet. I love that. Since you don't have a ton of words you've developed this cute way of telling us what you want. You either point or hold you hand out, palm up, and curl your fingers inward in sort of a gimme gesture. We've gotten good, you usually get everything you need or want.

You are quite independent in your waking hours. You will escape the gated rooms if the gates have been left down. You will climb the stairs and you've even snuck out the front door without either of us nearby. You are crazy for animals....dogs especially. We went to the pound to look at dogs and you weren't afraid at all of the ones that barked at us from their cages. You will walk right up to any dog, any size and point at it or touch it. You are learning the word gentle but haven't yet learned to put it into action. You will put both hands on nearly every animal (especially Raven) and wait for it to acknowledge you. This scares me to death.

Your other favorite thing to do is swing at the park or in the backyard. You will swing the entire time, a couple of hours is the most you have gone when we've allowed you to stay that long. If there's no line you usually get to stay and swing. When it's time to go you cry, sob actually. You fight to get down out of our arms. The swings are your thing, monkey. I have been trying to teach you to pump your legs but you're much more interested in being pushed and looking around while I'm doing so.

You also seem to enjoy going to the grocery store or any store for that matter with us. You love these stores because of the long empty aisles. You could and sometimes do run up and down them until we grab you up and put you back in the buggy. You hate that.

Another thing you love to do is close the refrigerator door. Anytime I open it you close it. Every morning you go straight to the fridge and wait for me to pour your milk. Once I do, you happily grab your cup, slam the fridge door shut, and leave the room. Content for about 5 minutes. Another thing you've learned to do is get out your own toothbrush and toothpaste. You can open the drawer, pull out what is yours, hand it to me, and close the drawer. It's amazing. I did not teach you that so how you learned I'm guessing by sheer observation.

We've moved you down from two naps to one that usually starts around 1 in the afternoon. Sometimes I get lucky and you sleep for about 90 mins. but mostly it's your usual one hour. You still take your naps on the couch which I don't mind as much as I used to. It sort of forces me to do quiet things like sit down and read or watch something that has been on the DVR forever.

What else, let's see...you have learned to walk backwards and sideways. When you aren't happy or satisfied or busy you grunt or growl at us to get our attention. You always say 'oh' which doesn't mean anything to me but it's cute. You've started calling us different names now. We both used to be mama but now I'm mama and Amelia is mom mom. You are crazy for water. If you see it you immediately want to be in it, touching it, feet first, hands first, head first it doesn't matter. This is why I am signing you up for swimming lessons next month. You've also recently starting sniffing and blowing your nose. You sniff everything you see. You seem to understand that flowers smell sweet so you always go for flowers...real or fake. My favorite thing that you do though is still the kissing everyone and everything you see. You will kiss them on the belly, arm, hand, whatever is available to you, it's super sweet.

All in all I am madly in love with you, Georgia. Of course we have our days and nights but I wouldn't change it for the world. You make me smile and laugh more than I ever have. Some nights or afternoons when you are asleep I just want to hold you as tight as I can and keep you little. I am emotional about everything you do. My eyes well up just thinking of you sometimes too. You snuggle tightly with me at night and you insist on having a body part touching mine. A hand holding tightly onto my arm (even when you are sound asleep), a foot wrapped up in my hair, a hand down my shirt if we are in an unfamiliar place or with unfamiliar people. a head on my shoulder when you are super tired, you butt always finds my lap when you want to be held while reading or watching TV. Georgia you are wonderful. I love you.

Mama