Two and a half wonderful years

My precious Callum,

On Friday you turned two and a half, and the shock of it was enough to finally make me sit down and write you a letter in an attempt to capture the wonderfulness of you at this age before it is gone.

You bring SO much joy into our lives, Callum. You are full of fun, love, affection, sweetness, energy and care - all built into a compact little body expressing itself with the most endearingly husky voice. When you ask us in years to come "What was I like when I was little?", these are a few of the things I want to remember...

How you can often be found playing by yourself in the sandbox of vegetable garden, using your little diggers and backhoes and dumptrucks to scoop dirt from one pile into another. Sometimes you sing "mighty machines". Sometimes you just make the truck noises. Sometimes you play in silence. But you sit, squatting close to the ground and concentrating intently, as load after load after load of soil gets repositioned in your little world of construction.

 We love how you tell us the things you love. Just this week you have told us that you love watermelons, diggers, your brother, jumping, church, apples, cheese, (lots of food stuffs, in fact), Daddy, helicopters.... and so many more things. On a recent trip to the fruit and vegetable market you trailed after me in the store shouting "I love zucchini! I love peppers! I love apples!" as we passed piles of zucchinis, peppers, apples etc. I think you won the heart of everyone in earshot.

We want to remember your laugh. You laugh often. SPontaneously, and At length. You and Teg crack each other up at almost every meal time. Sometimes you get a serious case of the "sillies" and simply run around in circles making funny faces, laughing at yourself. You are hilarious, my boy. 

 We will remember that you are a snuggly boy. You ask often if you can sit in our laps, and when you do you immediately tuck your left thumb into your mouth and settle in for a story. It is never enough to just sit next to us when reading a story... you want to be touching us, snuggled up close. You love stories. Construction books and Curious George are your current favorites, but just about anything will do. Eric Carle, Where's spot, anything by sandra boynton, Clifford the big red dog, anything from Teg's pre-k readers... in fact, you'll sit and listen to stories for as long as someone will read. The quickest way to get you up and in a good mood if we wake you up from a nap is to pick you up out of your bed and place you on our laps and start reading a book. You are always awake, engaged and full of joy by page 3.

We want to remember your slowly growing faith. You love to pray before meals. For months you have been asking to give thanks at dinner,and this always the same way: "Our fava, fank you for God. Amen." REcently, you've been adding "fank you for God, and for dinner." You are a sweet, sweet boy.

You LOVE fruit. You eat most of the things we put on your plate, but if you had a choice - you would eat fruit fruit and more fruit for every meal. I can hear you in my head as I write this: "I love watermelon! IT's yummy! It makes me happy! I love cherries. I love apples. I love peaches mom. Can I have a peach?"

 You do have some 2 1/2 year old orneriness though. You are quick to complain when you don't like the sound of something, and our requests to take you to the potty, or to nap, or to clean up are often met with a plantive "I don't wanna potty! I don't want to nap! I don't want to clean up!"... but almost always, you comply anyway after sounding your objection. Every day after lunch I tell you "It's time for nap" and take you by the hand to your room, and you complain all the way down the hallway.... and then you get into bed and go straight to sleep. Every time. We do not take your protests very seriously because you are, in fact, a very compliant and well behaved boy. You even say 'thank you' most of the time without being prompted :-)

You love to remind us that you are a boy. You tell us often: "I'm a big strong boy!" You tell us, for example, that the little potty at church is "perfect for big boys". When we sing baa baa black sheep I always ask you "are you a sheep?" and you reply with a husky laugh: "no! I'm a BOY!" You tell us often, but you show us even more. The break-neck speeds you attain on yourm balance bike, the love for construction vehicles and cars and airplanes and All Things That Go, your adoration for your daddy and your pure delight in getting to wrestle and play on the floor with him, your preference for being naked rather than wearing underpants, your first-thing-in-the-morning requests to go and play outside; all these are constant reminders that you are a treasured BOY that God has given us.

All this makes us all the more excited that you now have a brother with whom to share your boyhood. We love how sweet you are to Declan, how you snuggle up to him and ask us "Can I talk to the baby?", and when we say yes, you address him: "Hi Declan, I your best fwend." You surely are. You surely will be. Well, you and your awesome sister.

 We love you, Callum. You bring us joy every hour of every day and we are SO thankful to God for the privilege of being your parents.

Happy two and a half, my boy.



 Love, Mommy and Daddy