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

24 December 2008

11 months old

Man, I am late making this post. Having an 11 month old running (yes, that's right RUNNING) around the house will do that to you.

Dear Deven,
About a day after I did your 10 month letter, you took your first real steps. There were three of them, from the couch to your mama. Then you started taking a consistent 2 steps from this item to that. Then you just started walking.

Now you run here and there and everywhere. You get really excited. You work your little fingers for balance. You are an excellent walker, by all reports.

You have really been showing your personality more and more. Unfortunately, you have inherited my lack of frustration tolerance. I hope you learn to handle frustration better than I can.

You are cruising into your first Christmas pretty much unaware that it is Christmas. With the exception that you love the little Christmas tree behind the couch.

This month, you had your Mundan. You were very impressive, handling all of those people as if you saw them every day.

I am so proud of you. I hope that I can be the mama you deserve.

I love you so much,
Love,
Mama.

20 November 2008

10 months old

Dear Deven,
Being your mom is a bigger adventure every month. You are getting more and more brave. You have taken a few unassisted steps here and there. You have started giving things a name. You are into everything.

You have also started getting very demanding, really finding your voice. You try different sounds to see what works best to get what you want or need. We try to respond to the cute little chatter, not to the crying or screaming.

You have started to get really excited when we come to pick you up. You crawl, toddle or cruise to us as fast as you can. You are full of smiles. You give hugs (you say awww when you give them), sloppy kisses and still have a winning smile with those 2 bottom teeth showing.

You are such a great kid. Really, the best thing that has ever happened to your dad and me. We love you both so much.

Love,
Mama