24 months

Dear baby boy,

In a few hours you will officially be 24 months old. As I sit here typing this, I remember this time 2 years ago, timing contractions on my iphone. I had been having contraction for 5 hours and waited another 4 to go to the hospital only to be sent home because they told me I "wasn't in real labor". When the doctor told me that I wanted to punch him in the face. Not "real" labor? But I settled for waking him up at 5 am to scream at him that I need drugs NOW! Your birth will always be one of my favorite memories, it is what made us a family. You will never live down that it took 27 hours though. But it was when I knew I had done what I was always supposed to do... become a mommy.

We have been through a lot in the last 2 years. The medical stuff has added a lot of un-expected stress, but we continue to remind ourselves how lucky we are. You continue to amaze your doctors! Your neurologist thinks you are the cutest thing ever, and that is a medical opinion. He actually said at our last visit, "there is NOTHING wrong with this child" and he said it while laughing at how you were flirting will all of the females in the room.

And speaking of flirting, you are clearly a ladies man. It's really funny how you still gravitate towards the ladies. You are also the most polite little boy I have ever met. You know how and when to say "please" and "thank you" and you also blow kisses at the appropriate times too.

You of course have your opinions on things and do throw the occasional tantrum, but lets face it, you really are a toddler now. I can't deny it any longer, as much as I would like to.

But your little personality is really coming out and it is awesome! Your dad and I were talking the other day about how you are a really good mix of the two of us. I think you got the best of both of us which is more than we could have ever asked. You are hysterical and KNOW when you are funny, which makes it even funnier. You are very much a boy and you laugh when anyone burps or farts, which again is hysterical and makes us laugh which makes you laugh even more. You totally get that from your father! You can also be very stubborn and determined, which you get from me, and I hope that it actually aids you in dealing with all of the things in life that you are going to have to deal with. You have this great desire to explore and go at thing full force, but you are careful (most of the time) with things like climbing and steps and aware of what might hurt. Accept when you're around a swimming pool, then you just jump in and start swimming. You might have gotten that from me too :-)

Your vocabulary continues to grow on a daily basis and we are so glad that you have finally decided to talk! I love it when you see something and say, "WOW!" It's so cute. You also like to say, "tickle tickle tickle" when we take your socks off. People continue to tell us how cute you are. Your hair is amazing, your eyes are beautiful, and you are so friendly and sweet that everyone just falls in love with you. I kind of expect for people to fall for babies like that, but they are still falling all over you. And I have a feeling, that they will continue to and at some point I will be worried about it instead of thinking it's cute. Right now it's very cute for you to kiss all the girls at playgroup, but when you come home bragging that you kissed all the girls in kindergarten.... that might be another story.

So my dear boy, as we approach the hour of your birth, I may be a little weepy but it's only because of how much I love you. Because of how much you amaze me. Because of how perfect you are. Because of how much you have taught me and how you made us a family. Every day I am glad to be your mom. Every day is a new adventure and it's so great to watch you discover new things, even if it does start a little earlier than I think it should. To watch you learn how to communicate and to watch you interact with the world around you is what I look forward to every day. You make life so much fun little guy and I am thankful every day that I have you and that you are exactly who you are.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!
Love,
Mama