02 December 2009

22 months

Dear Deven,
You continue to be the such a highlight in our lives. We are very blessed to have you with us.

A few weeks ago, you suddenly became terrified of the bathtub. We were very concerned about this and tried lots of things to try to help you overcome your fears. We bought you new bath toys, new bubble bath. We had an upcoming trip to stay in a hotel with your cousins, and we were afraid you wouldn't want to swim.

Fortunately, with gentle exposure to the bath, you became slightly less afraid. Once we got to the hotel and got you in the water, you lost all of your fear. Just a few minutes ago, we gave you another bath and you smiled, laughed and played and really enjoyed your bath.

There hasn't been a huge number of changes over last month, but you are always adding on to your skill set and your vocabulary.

Your personality is so great and fun. I love you so much.

Thanks for being such a wonderful little man. My life is so rich because of you.

Love,
Mama

28 October 2009

20 and 21 months

Dear Deven,
This past two months have been crazy around here. You are changing all of the time. The 'terrible twos" are here with a vengeance. You are still the same sweet boy most of the time, but tell you no, OH MY GOD, HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT. A FIT WILL BE THROWN. This doesn't really help you , but there you go.

You can now say the alphabet up to f- pure memorization, of course. You count in your own unique way. "One, Two, Eight, Eight, Eight"

When you want us to sing the alphabet song again, you say "Ahhhhp Beeeeeeeeee" and then point to us as if to say "Now you guys do the rest" You LOVE to do this.

You are still a great kid. You are learning a lot every day. You have started to really love to color, most of the time you can correctly identify your colors. If we are ever at a loss for an activity for you, coloring almost always works out.

You love the book "Guess How Much I Love You" and have started throwing your arms apart to indicate that you love us. "MUCH"

You are getting very devious. At bed time, you will stop me at the door "Mama?" 'yes, Peanut' (pointing at wall) "BUN" 'that's a bunny, very good.' "Mama?" (looking around trying to find another reason for me to stay in the room) "MUCH" 'I love you, too. Good night, Peanut"

You've brought back separation anxiety in a big way. Especially when I drop you off at Daycare. I'm glad that I am still so important to you, but it really breaks my heart to leave you, especially when you are crying for me.

You are such a warm, loving child. Every day that I spend with you, even when you are being a stinker, is a treat and a gift. I'm the luckiest mama ever.

I love you thiiiiiiiis MUCH.

Love,
Mama

27 August 2009

19 Months

Dear Deven,
This month has been a wonderful month. You are so full of life and love. You are really expanding your vocabulary by leaps and bounds. We are now at the place that, if we work with you, you can learn 2-3 words in a day. You recently started saying "uncle" and "baba" (baba is Hindi for Grandpa)

If prompted, you will say thank you and you routinely say please when you want something.

You have also gotten a lot better at coloring. You scribble instead of just pounding them on the paper.

The hitting, hair pulling and biting is a lot better this month. Thankfully. So is the face scratching.

Unfortunately, you are still throwing your toys a lot.

You are a lot better at knowing what you want, and you do a great job of saying please when you want something. Unfortunately you routinely say NO when you mean YES. You say NO a lot in general.

You are still my sweet, cuddly, loving, gorgeous boy and I am still the luckiest mama in the world.

I love you, little man.

Love,
Mama

23 July 2009

18 Months

Dear Deven,
This month has been wonderful but challenging. At first, you had a hard time getting used to the new house. You have adjusted nicely and are really enjoying your new space. It's a lot more baby friendly around here and you have a lot of fun in your room and play room.

You started with a lot of biting and hitting, mostly mama and daddy- thankfully, you seem to be settling down with this recently.

Your verbal skills are really picking up. You seem to pick up a new word or two every day.

You absolutely love to swing in your swingset in the back yard. You also love to blow bubbles but you aren't too good at that yet.

You love to run around behind your bubble mower. You use this in the house and we think you might be pretending to vacuum.

Just recently, you seem to have stuck up friendship with Sam the cat, you do a really good job petting him nicely and he is finally tolerating this really well.

As always, you are a sweet, loving little man. If I say "Deven, give me a squeeze" you run over and give the best hug.

You really are the best kid most of the time and we are lucky to have you.

23 June 2009

17 months

Dear Deven,
You turned 17 months on Thursday. This has been a challenging month for you because for the first part of the month, your life was being interrupted. We bought a house and were packing up the duplex that has been home for the past year.

During this time, we transitioned you to a new daycare. You handled this like a champion. You didn't fuss or complain.

Now that we are moved into the house, we have some concerns about how you are adjusting. During the waking hours, you seem happy, running back and forth between the living room, the play room and your bedroom, but at night, you are showing some discomfort. I know in the end, you are going to be very happy here and we will keep doing everything we can to help you get acclimated.

You started doing some really cool things. First, you started really trying to learn to jump. You added several words to your vocabulary. You have started really babbling much more than ever and what you say is starting to sound like real words.

You have also started to really understand *and say* no. If we tell you no, sometimes you get really sad, but your personality is so awesome that you never stay sad for very long. You have also gotten more trustworthy. We can let you play in another room for good stretches of time because you seem to really want to be a good boy, and have stopped putting everything in your mouth.

You have also started to show your affection more. You kiss your sheep, you kiss my shoulder, you kiss daddy's shoulder, you put your hands on my cheek and give me a kiss on the mouth.

We are so proud of you, little man. You are the best.

Love,
Mama

30 May 2009

16 months

Dear Deven,
This month, the tantrums are taking over. You are very stubborn, very opinionated.

You are also still so wonderfully sweet. You run up to me with your arms out, huge smile on your face. You finally say Mama with some consistency. In fact, you have quite a lot to say in general. You are talking about your mouth "Mao" Belly Button "baebutto" books "bu"

You LOVE LOVE LOVE to play outside. You love reading books. Right now, your absolutely favorite book is "Splat the Cat"

Devs, we are buying a house so that you will have your own yard to play in, your own swingset. I wish I could give you the world, but for now, we have this piece of it.

You are such a great kid. I love you more every day.

Love,
Mama

24 April 2009

15 months

Dear Deven,
You are now 15 months old. You are full of personality and a good dose of piss and vinegar. You are still very snuggly and give the best hugs and kisses.

Just the other day, you started saying a very exhuberant HI. <3


You are very tantrummy lately and I am very eager for you to stop this, but otherwise, you are a joy to be around.

Your mama and dada are so proud of you. You are a great kid.

Love,
Mama

21 March 2009

14 months

Dear Deven,
These past 14 months have been such a treat. You are the greatest little person I know.

This month, your baby sign started really taking off. You do signs for
Baby, milk, friend, eat, more

You talk a little more. You say mama (this usually means milk) dada (this means mom or dad, usually) You just started saying 'what's that'

We are a little concerned that you have a mild allergy to peanuts. Everytime we give you peanut butter, you get little dry patches on your face and torso. This clears right up with lotion, so we aren't sure, but we will be asking your doctor for a referral to the pediatric allergist, just to be safe.

You are so on the move. You are trying to climb on everything. We recently bought you a little slide for the living room. It took you no time at all to learn to climb up the slide and then come back down. That slide was definitely money well spent.

Separation anxiety has really taken over this month. When I leave the room, you will often stand at the baby gate and cry, even when you can still see me. When we drop you off at daycare, you get really sad. I know this is short lived, since you love your daycare. Just a few weeks ago, you were shrugging us off to run to your teacher. Such a sweet and cuddly baby.

More and more, your independent little personality comes shining through. You are a warm, affectionate little ball of fire. We couldn't be prouder or more blessed.

We love you, Muppet.

Love,
Mama

21 February 2009

13 months

Dear Deven,
In the past month, you have really started showing your own personality. You are hilarious, you make up your own jokes. For whatever reason, you think your mom and dad are pretty funny. Especially when we dance. Now that I think of it, everyone else thinks it's funny when we dance, too.

In the past month, we have had an unfortunate thing happen. You started throwing tantrums. You screamed like someone cut your hand off. But all appendages remained attached and in reality, you just wanted a cracker or something.

Your dad and I have proven to be gigantic pushovers for you in the past, but we are not giving into this tantrum nonsense. You throw a fit and we say "Oh, is that going to help you get your milk?" Short answer is "nope". These fits lasted about a week. A couple of days later your 5th tooth broke through and then your 6th tooth broke through about 3 days later.

You have also learned how to stand up without having something to pull yourself up on, how to walk backwards and how to dance. You are really working on your fine motor skills. You are putting things inside of larger things, taking things out of larger things, smacking them together, etc.

You have added a couple of words to your vocabulary. In addition to mama, dada and baba, you also say bk (which we THINK means book) and mlk which we KNOW means milk.

In just the last couple of days, you have learned how to do the ASL sign for milk. We are working on several signs, but the milk one was a good first step.

We are so proud of the person you are becoming. Everyone you meet is charmed by you. Especially us.

Love,
Mama

21 January 2009

OMG One year

Dear Deven,
On Sunday, you turned one year old. The week leading up to your birthday was a tough one. You ran fevers, I was sick, it felt like I was swallowing glass every time I tried to swallow anything at all, you started to get that special teething brand of crabby.

On Wednesday, I finally gave up and went to the Dr. Diagnosis was strep throat. Then Friday, I had you at the doctors office after your fever spiked to a fear inducing 103. They tell me, "Oh, his ears look good, his throat doesn't look inflammed, probably just one of those bugs."

Your fever breaks on Saturday- so Sunday we took you to Ella's Deli to celebrate your birthday. We all have a great day together. We get home. You feel too warm. Fever is back. On Monday, Daddy took you back to the doctor. Ear infection.

Now Daddy has strep throat, too. Our house has the plague.

Other than this one crappy week, the past month has been absolutely wonderful. You are such a great kid. You laugh, you run around smiling at people, snuggle, make up your own jokes and games.

You really like to play the drum, play with balls and hug stuffed animals. Your favorite time of day is story time.

We could not be more blessed. We love you so much.

Thanks for being such a great kid.
Love,
Mama