River News: Month Twenty-Three

This month, River, I've invited your dad to take over the reigns and write your River news. After a couple years of hearing all of your adventures in my voice, I thought it would be nice to get his perspective for once. When he showed me this letter, we talked about what he had written; specifically, that he happened to leave out all of your stickier moments (like the fact that you haven't eaten more than a grape at one sitting for a couple weeks). He wanted only to reflect on the positive, and I proposed this blog will be much more affective birth control when you're a hormonal teenager if we include the parenting horror stories. Oh well, you certainly get enough of those from me.

I love you and I'll be back next month to recount all of your adventures leading up to your second birthday! xoxo, Mommy


Dear River,

I love you, and I hope this finds you well and happy when you are reading it.






















This month February, 2009, your 23rd month you enjoyed leading (albeit in a somewhat bossy way). You were very clear with what you wanted. Some of my favorite phrases of the month were:
• "Getit" - meaning: "hey you, get me that thing that I'm pointing at right now" uses: cheesecake factory (see photo), in reference to bear (who is still an important member of the family), with any adult and even cousin Finn.
• "River doodit" - meaning: "hey you, hands off! I want to do this by myself" - uses: peeling an orange, brushing teeth, driving the train around the track, climbing into the crib.
• "Bear doodit" - meaning: "Mom/Dad, you hold bear and make him do what I want" - uses: turning off/on lights, turning water off on the tub, brushing teeth, kicking under the tent (see photo).
• "No talk" - meaning: "Hey adults, stop talking to each other and pay attention to me" - uses: at dinner every night, at thursday pizza parties, any time two adults are talking around you.





































With these phrases and others you gave commands to adults, children, cats, and stuffed animals. Not everyone did what you wanted. I tried to teach you some ways to soften your demands and find more effective ways to get what you want, like adding a "please" or trading things with kids who had a toy you wanted. I don't think it took, though. Still I think it is a fun direction you are going in, and I know you will get better at getting what you want.






















This month your great uncle Bruce died suddenly and unexpectedly. The whole family was shocked and saddened. It was tragic to experience the loss of such a wonderful, fun, loving, caring man. The good thing was that we got to see the family in Auburn, Nebraska. You met your cousins Nash, Chloe, and Cody for the first time. You played a lot with them. Nash and Chloe tugged you around and involved you in their games. You also got to see your Nanu/Grandma and Dadu again, which was a lot of fun because you have developed your language and intelligence significantly since Xmas.

















On Valentines day you learned that "X" means kiss and "O" means hug, thanks to great cards from your grands. It was sweet to get many extra hugs and kisses as a result. You also surprised me when you decided one morning that you wanted to wear your train overalls that Oma got you last year. You had been unwilling to wear them, but you saw them in your drawer and you know that they were "chug choo" pants. We couldn't take them off of you and you had to sleep with them on that night. Along with the overalls, you finally decided that hats are ok, because there was a matching train hat. Now we just have to find more hats for you to wear.










































One of your other favorites this month was Monsters. We read every monster book in the house 20 times. We watched Monsters, Inc. 3 or 4 times, pretended to be monsters, played with toy monsters, made monster pancakes, saw monsters at the museum ("moo-zee-mmmmm"), and your mom churned out silly, awesome monsters for HooberBloob. All in all, another great month.






















Thank you, Summer, for inviting me to write this month. River, I love you, and I hope you are having fun.

Love,

Thom