30 Months: 2.5 in Weasel Years

Dear Miriam,

I'm so sorry I missed the opportunity to report on this month. You've been absolutely delightful and a breath of fresh air in a tough time. You are also exhausting.

Downtime is nonexistant now, every minute is about interaction and conversation. You can play by yourself, but then there's something you want to know or understand and the dialogue begins. And the downtime comes crashing to a hault.

My favorite development this month? Your new song:
Hi Hi how do you do
Welcome to My Gym
Hyeah hyeah Have some Cake
Now it's time to begin

I'm pretty sure the My Gym welcome song doesn't mention cake, but there you go, filling in the words as necessary, singing along.

You've also decide to call me Mama. It's still Mommy when things get desperate, but by and large you've decided Mama's the word. Funny girl.

This month we also discovered the cool slide. The Esmeralda Slide is just around the corner from home, yet we haven't made it there since before you were paying attention. One morning we said, let's go see a cool slide, and you fell in love. Whenever we drive by, you exclaim, Is that the cool slide?! You go down with us, and next to us, but it's still a bit big to tackle on your own.

You're also hugging now. Big tight hugs that we can't get enough of. I think you learned to hug a long time ago, but for a while hugs were beyond oppressive. Mana would admonish you, lightly, after a while you would announce I'm stingy with my hugs as you refused us. But now you dish them out, and sometimes they're even long ones, and we relish every millisecond.

You also enjoyed your big adventure to Boston this month, on which your Dad so lovingly reported. A week after your return, your cousins came here to visit and we enjoyed a day at the Exploratorium. I'm not sure which you loved more, seeing the floating ball from your Goodnight, San Francisco book or seeing your beloved cousin Daniel.

Miriam, thank you for the light you bring to us every day.

Love you,
Your Mama