5.2 or, Happy as a Pig

Dear Corbin,

This month started off being pretty busy, since it was your spring break.  Grandma and Grandpa planned field trips for you on a few days.  You played at the beach at Cabrillo, went on the train rides in Griffith Park, and you went to the Science Center.  You were a little disappointed with that one, because the water exhibit that you enjoy was under repair, but you did have fun showing Grandma and Grandpa the really disgusting bug exhibits.

Other than that, it was a fairly calm month.  We looked at some houses this month.  That's always an interesting time with you.  You dislike leaving the house, so sometimes we have to nag you to death just to get you into the car.  Then when you're at the prospective house, you're always excited to explore all over it.  Then you tell me that you definitely want to buy this one, for whatever reason; once, it was because the people moving out had left an exercise ball in one bedroom and you were convinced that we should buy the house to get the ball.

You and Grandma continue to spend your afternoons working on something with either letters, numbers, or state history.  Your handwriting has already improved, which I think is good.  If you can end up with good handwriting, instead of chicken-scratching like Dad, or scrawling like me, that would be good for you.  Especially don't have handwriting like your Uncle Alex.  The letters I have from him could be impressionist artwork.

You helped plant the tomato seeds this month, and we've got little tomato plants sprouting.  Grandma and Grandpa Thorne sent a bunch of flower seeds for Easter, and those have started to sprout as well.  I wish we knew we were going to have a new house and new yard to plant them in, but they might just have to live as container plants.  I would plant them in the flower bed in front of the house now, but I doubt they would survive there, since that is less a place for flowers than it is for you and Miriam getting wet and muddy.  I try to limit that to days when it's already bath night, but you both just gravitate there and you'll play happily for an hour at a time, so it's hard to justify not letting you do it.  Besides, you're cute when you're covered in mud.

Love,
Mom

Spring Break

School Pictures

2.1 or, Just April

Dear Miriam,

April was a fun month for you.  It started with Corbin's spring break, so Grandma planned some field trips.  You all spent one morning at the beach at Cabrillo, one morning at the Science Center, and you even got to go back to the train rides at Griffith Park.  You enjoy all of these things, and Grandma and Grandpa enjoy taking you places, but you don't make it easy.  You only run, now, you don't walk, so it's hard for them to keep up with you, and you don't really pay attention to whether they're keeping up with you.  If you don't get better at following directions when they tell you to stop, or come back, you're going to end up as one of those kids on a leash.  You'll be lucky if you don't end up micro-chipped, too.

You have gotten better at telling us when you need a clean diaper.  You used to run away whenever we wanted to change you, but now you've apparently decided that letting us change it is the better option.  That may be because we sing you songs while we're changing you.  You love singing.  You sing to yourself when you're playing.  You sing with us when you're playing.  You tell us what to sing when we're putting you to bed.  You sing to yourself when you're supposed to be going to sleep.

Grandma has been taking you to a music and movement class for a few weeks now.  You won't sing with the group when you're there, but you'll sing all the way home in your stroller.  There was one day when all of the children were supposed to run from one side of the room to their adults on the other side.  You waited until everyone else was done and then applauded for them.  Grandma said it was very funny.

Your hair is getting long enough that it bothers your eyes, so we've been trying to train you to wear a barrette or bobby pin.  Sometimes you leave one in very nicely, and sometimes I end up taking a bunch of them out of my pants pockets when I do the laundry.  I'm looking forward to the day when we can do braids or pony tails.  Your hair is still quite curly, though, so I might be waiting for a long time.

You still have some teeth growing in.  I'd like to blame that for your tiny little appetite, but I remember when Corbin never seemed to eat anything, either.  If your body did decide to have a growth spurt soon, you might actually fit into most of your shorts, which are still too big for you.  Your feet are finally big enough for some of the sandals that we saved from Corbin (back when we only wore sandals for 2 months of the year) so that's good.

We did go look at some houses for sale this month.  It's always funny to watch you explore.  Of course, you don't care about what the house is actually like, you just enjoy wandering around a new place.  We liked a couple of them, but we're hoping that the Minneapolis house will sell before we buy a new place.  It's a frustrating process for me; I like to do my research, make my decision and then move on.  I like to be settled, and I hope we can do that soon.  I don't know if you'll feel the same when you're older.  I hope that you're able to be patient when you need to be, and decisive when you need to be.  I hope that you're able to recognize your own tendencies, so that when you are in situations that run counter to your own preferences, you recognize it and can use some coping mechanisms.  I recommend chocolate and ice cream and a new book.

Love,
Mom