Kid Update

Here is another partial post from around November 2013.  Chloe would be nearing four and Abram nearing two. 

Dear Chloe,

You are soon to be four years old.  Just mulling over that sentence is enough to give me writer's block.  I haven't posted about you in so long.  Seriously, I can't find the words.  As a good friend once said, "I imagine it is difficult to capture the essence of Chloe in words," and it is.  Impossible, almost. 

I don't know when or how it happened, but somehow you went from a toddler to a kid.  You are constantly rolling your eyes.  Sometimes just to be funny, and sometimes just to be a shit.  A few months ago while we were lying in your bed just talking I said "well, duh."  You asked me what "duh" meant, and I spent a few minutes trying to teach you.  What I told you was to point to the green grass and ask, Is that blue? and when they respond with, No, it's green, you hit your head with the palm of your hand and say Ummm duh!  Eventually, you gathered a deep enough understanding of the phrase to use in context.  I created a monster. 

You dress yourself in some variation of the same outfit every day: tights, poofy skirt, and shirt (if any of it matches, it's out of pure coincidence).  You went through a phase about a year ago where you would only wear cat shirts.  You are a little more flexible now - typically opting for Hello Kitty shirts, Ninja Turtle shirts, or anything that is two sizes too small or stained.  You have a giant collection of hand-me-down poofy skirts, so finding one is never a problem. 

You go to preschool twice a week.  You love your teachers, Miss Ronda and Miss Susan, so much.  Your best friend in the whole world is in your class, Ezra.  He is basically one of the only kids you play with and you are so obsessed with him it's frightening.  Your teachers are so amazed at how smart you are and especially at how strong you are.  They say they have never had a kid in "3's" who can make it all the way across the monkey bars with no assitance.  You are a beast!

Abram loves trucks, cars, tractors, and trains; he demands to wear shirts that display trucks, cars, tractors, or trains; and, he can say only the essential words: snacKK, coo-kee, juish, NO, and shoe.  He is a shoe fanatic.  I mean, seriously, it's pretty annoying.  Kid has been throwing his shoes in my face since he was 14 months.  Recently he acquired a pair of lace-up Spiderman shoes that are four sizes too big and untie/fall off constantly.  We ended up hiding them after weeks of cursing. 

**And, oh my gosh, that is all I wrote about my sweet boy.  Poor guy!  I recall a few things about this age of his, though.  I don't recall exactly when we threw out the pacifier, but I feel like it was sometime around here.  He kept chucking them all over the place and losing them.  We finally decided that when he lost the last paci that would be the end of it.  When he finally lost the last paci I recall he cried for it at night and during naps for at least a week.  I was terrified, because Abram's best trait his whole babyhood was that he slept like an angel.  He often put himself to bed for naps and he always slept through the night.  Mostly, he just loved to go up and snuggle with Blanky and his paci.  It's funny, in retrospect, how some of the smallest things are these terrifying parenting events in the moment.  I think Abram still slept in the crib at this time, but not for very much longer.  Eventually we moved the kids into the same bedroom and they were so thrilled.  Abram loved having a big bed, but especially loved sleeping next to his big sister and best friend.