Our first real conversation

Dear Beanie,

There is always so much to tell you when it has been a few days between letters, but I kind of like it better when I only write about one amazing thing you've been doing. But know that I could write about twenty!

You are SUCH a joy lately!

I know I have been really focused on your language lately, but it really blows my mind! Today, we had our first actually conversation. In the past, our conversations have generally revolved around me asking if you want something. For example, if you are in the pram and I ask if you'd like to do some walking, you'll either say "NO!" or "Walking!"

Today, though, my brain exploded. I came up to you and asked, "How are you?" Normally, you'd parrot this back to me with a smile. Instead, today, with such conviction, you said, "Good!" I asked again, and again you said, "Good!" And then? While I was standing looking at you wide-eyed, you asked me, "How are you?" And when I paused a moment? You decided I was good too!

At the moment, little one, you seem to be truly happy.

I was going to leave it there, but just a few minutes ago we had one of those golden moments where your Daddy and I just laughed and laughed and laughed. You climbed on me asking for a cuddle, which is always lovely and makes me melt a little. This time you snuggled in and said, "Awwwww. Awwwwww." exactly the way I do when you go and cuddle your daddy. There is nothing funnier than hearing your own voice come out of your child's mouth! 

Even the little moments like these are worth savouring

I love you ever so much! All the time, every single moment. 

Love Mummy.

When Daddy comes home

Dear Beanie,

Your daddy has been away in Japan for two and a half weeks, which must feel like about six months in toddler time.

He's home!

That moment when you woke and heard his voice in the living room, when you squealed and wanted to be put down, when you ran so so so fast into his open arms, shouting "DADDY!"... It was a movie moment! And yes, it made me all teary.

That whole day, instead of saying 'Mama' fourteen thousand times, you said 'Daddy'. You are such a happy boy to have your daddy home! Nobody can throw you upside down like him!

Just checking he's still there... 

I love you, little one. It's nice to be a whole family again.

Love Mummy.

Your Vocabulary

Dear Beanie,

When we were at the neurologist a while ago, we were asked about your vocabulary. How many words do you know?

I find this, without a doubt, the absolute most interesting phase of your development. Discovering which words make it into your vocab and which are left out... which are acquired first and why... which are you just parroting the sounds we make (like 'I love you') and which are thought out concepts (like 'Good morning', and 'Another red train!'). But as for how many?

Guessing vocabulary is tough. At the time, your daddy quickly guessed at 100. But then we actually thought about it... and no, absolutely not. In your big animal book, you can point to and name at least thirty or forty of the fifty animals in there (actually, I wrote this an hour ago. Since then, we've read it together and you know ALL of them, even ones like quokka, vulture, antelope and stick insect. Okay, I lie... you kept calling the wombat a bear, but still!). In the bathroom alone, you can say water, toothbrush, toothpaste, washing machine, toilet, shower, iron, Mummy's, Daddy's, Ruben's, clothes... You can tell me what colour all those things are. You can tell me if they are big or not. You can tell me if they are dirty or clean, wet or dry. And then there is food. And then there are body parts. There are your toys, and the occasional description of how you are using them ('Big kick' for your ball, or 'all flat' for your sand). There are all the colours you can identify. And do people count?

Just a little happy snap of us. You can't get away from me! 

You have recently started to use more than just nouns and adjectives and the occasional very simple sentence, such as 'off we go'. You have started to say words that represent concepts, like inside and outside, open and closed, and are using them as commands.

And then there is the who bilingualism business, just to complicate things further. When you have finished eating, you announce, 'All finished' about 70% of the time, and "Fertig!" the other 30%. A 'ball' is occasionally a 'ball' (okay... so this reads the same... but it is pronounced differently, and you obviously switch between the two), a 'car' occasoinally an 'auto'. 'Apple', your first word besides Mummy and Daddy, is occasionally 'Apfel'.

I've been reading that between the ages of two and three, some kids acquire as many as ten new words a day. I just went in to collect you from your nap, and before I could take you out of your cot, you had learnt 'humidifier' (which you say now as dididifier) and 'tail' on the monkey. This morning you managed to distinguish a ship from a boat, and now use them both appropriately. Your new favourite 'power words' -- the ones that make me do something -- are 'Look!' and 'This way'. And while your counting is really just parroting at this point, you definitely have the idea of 'another' down pat, which kind of amazes me. For example, you will point to the left side of my chest and say, 'boobie', then point to the right and say, 'another boobie!'.

So how many words can you say? Who knows. How many can you understand? More than we give you credit for, I think!

I love you and that little exploding mind of yours!
Love Mummy.

Good Morning and Goodnight.

Hi there, my little sick bean.

Sick again! The winters here sure knock us all around, eh? Despite having a terrible cold, you have had one of your cutest days today. Your brain's language centre is obviously going gang-busters, with major overnight developments, and you seem to be coming right into the phase of imaginary and pretend play, where you have actually made a real connection with one of your stuffed animals. Not taking anything away from your odd connection with the online-banking calculator that has to go with us everywhere, of course...

I could not have been more surprised when you woke up this morning, after such an horrific night, saying, 'Good morning! Open window?' instead of just, 'Mamma! Mamma!' Wow! Your brain must really be exploding right now! As an aside, I've come to realise that this is potentially why daycare is so rough for you at the moment: You are revelling in your new-found communication skills here with your daddy and I, but they are getting you nowhere with German speakers. You do occasionally throw some German around here, though, in the most unpredictable of circumstances, which makes me giggle and makes us very proud.

At breakfast, you got your puppy dog (His name is Ooboo, which was your response when Nanny once asked you his name. In hindsight, we think this was perhaps your attempt at saying your own name.), put a bib on him, sat him next to you, fed him a breakfast muffin and spooned him some puffs using the aeroplane noise. Oh the cuteness!

At least Ooboo eats those super healthy
and yummy muffins I make! 

 Ooboo proceeded the spend the day with you, doing crazy jumping on the couch, riding with you on your Bobbycar, and snuggling in for a bottle with you before nap time while watching Thomas the Tank Engine (again. And only the same few episodes. We aren't allowed to modernise). When you felt particularly shoddy, you actually asked for 'cuddles' for the first time too, instead of just saying, 'up', and then asked if I could give Ooboo a cuddle too. When it was time for you to go to bed, you said 'Goodnight', also for the first time, to all of Ooboo's facial features, like I do with you each evening. Goodnight eyes, goodnight ears, goodnight nose, goodnight mouth, goodnight cheeks, goodnight chin, goodnight eyebrows, goodnight hair, goodnight head, goodnight Ooboo. I wonder if you will still feel connected to Ooboo when you feel healthy again. 

It's after 7.30pm, my love, and I need to go to bed while I can. It is amazing a woman can survive on so little sleep.... and who knows what havoc lies ahead of us on this still night...

I love you, my darling. It breaks my heart when you wake up so sick, moaning 'No. No. No ouchies. No more, mummy, No more.' but I promise you that it won't last forever and you will be healthy again soon.

Love you all the time.
Love Mummy.

Getting you clean, the green way.

Dear Beanie,

Your daddy has been away for almost two weeks now. Just before he left, you started to cotton on to the idea that bath means almost bed, and you have the ability to say no. So we went from having a bath with Daddy every night for some fun, lovely Daddy-only time, to perhaps once every two or three nights.

Since he has been gone, I've managed it once. And I had to get into the bath first, make lots of bubbles and blow a puff or two your way, get you in with your shirt still on and bribe you with never ending amounts of toothpaste.

I have managed to get you into the bathroom each night for a quick teeth brushing and face washing session, but... Mm.

Here is how I eventually managed to get you into the shower: food colouring. Don't be fooled now, the water still didn't go anywhere higher than your waist, and I wonder if we will ever manage to wash your hair again...

This was super amounts of fun though!

I love you, you crazy boy.
Love Mummy.