Of Pig Tails and Tissue Trails

Julia, you are about 21.5 months old, but sometimes you act as if you've been here forever- wise beyond your years, too perceptive and smart to not even be two yet. This summer, your vocabulary has skyrocketed, your singing and dancing have gotten super amazing...

...and you've even learned how to jump.

Sometimes, you just leap forward physically, leaving your mother and I astonished at how much of a big girl you really are.

 

First and foremost, it's official: your hair has finally grown long enough to sport more 'do's. Today you wore your first ever pig tails, and they suit you to a tee. Just. Plain. Awesome. You are always beautiful.

Today you are beautiful with pig tails!

 

 

For just about a week solid preceding the pig tail incident, you were waking up moaning, griping, and sometimes crying in the middle of the night and nothing could console you except for being held. We could not figure out what the heck was going on, since you are normally such a good sleeper. Then, one day, after what turned out to be the last such night, your mother and I both independently noted that you seemed bigger...heavier...and then all of a sudden you could reach things you couldn't reach before. That settled it from an acadmic standpoint: you had a growth spurt!

 

 

 

Sometimes you seem to be growing up before our very eyes. Sometimes you seem like you've been here before.

 

Sometimes you seem like you might be from somewhere else altogether!

 

 

You love to color on yourself.

 

And you have to sleep with a tissue in your hand. You've been doing this for quite a while; sometimes a tissue to hold will comfort you if you're upset at night time...even so much as a year ago.

 

 You call tissues 'nanos'; even though you can say tissues. Each night, you request a nano, and then in the morning it's gone. Sometimes we see little pieces of tissues balled up, here and there. Sometimes you call down to us "Mommy, nano fall!" Sometimes you are pretty upset about their frailty, as one night when Mimi and Pops were babysitting and you kept yelling down "Mimi, nano broke!"

 

Most nights though, the nanos just seem to disappear...Until one day I moved the crib from the wall and found nearly a box-worth of tissues all torn up and balled up under your bed. You are so funny! Some people have security blankets, some people have security nanos that they tear up night after night.

 

No matter how strange that may seem as you're reading it, it is completely normal- and a good reason to buy stock in Kleenex- and completely a part of who you are: old soul, growing up too quickly, quirky and hilarious!

 

I think we'll keep you.

 

Sneaky Sleeper

Aidan,

 

You've been sneaking into our bed for a few months now. Nightmares, bad dreams, sleepwalking, checking on us, cold, thirsty, lonely? Who knows why (well,sometimes we do know that it's bad dreams, because you tell us), but pretty much every night/morning around 5 am you wind up in bed with us, and your mother doesn't have the energy to take you back again, and I'm a deep sleeper, so I don't know you're there until the morning unless you drape your arm over my head. Sometimes you manage to sneak in unnoticed by your Mom and we both wake up surprised to see you. Last night, though, was an even more amazing sneak sleeper maneuver.

 

I tucked you in, and you were fast asleep by 7:25 (those swim classes really tire you out). Your Mom and I worked out, we ate some dessert, we watched some television. There was a huge pile of laundry in the bed. The evening consisted of a few trips back to our bedroom: putting away the weights, changing into PJs, letting the dogs out, and in, and out again.

 

We made our way to be around 11:00 and your Mom says, "Did you know Aidan was in our bed?" I did not, but there you were, adorably sleeping in our bed. You had snuck in there- which is really interesting, because if you wake up while we're still up, you typically come and see us, but last night you must have simply wanted to sleep...some where else. This is also impressive, because you're not exactly light-footed. Your thud-thud-thud isn't exactly stealthy usually.

 

But last night, you snuck out of your bed, climbed in ours, tucked yourself in, and got nice and adorably comfrotable..

 

 

I don't know if the huge pile of laundry was good enough camouflage, or if you had tucked yourself in so deeply that I didn't see you, but with the multiple trips to the bedroom, I somehow missed your beautiful face sleeping in our big bed.

 

I'm glad we got to see you there, so peaceful, so at home, so comfortable- exactly the things we want for you to feel in every room in our home. I couldn't resist taking a picture; you looked so beautiful, sleeping there basking in the soft light coming from the closet.

 

When I see you sleeping, I am immediately transported back to your early days as an infant.

 

You have grown to be a creative, impressive, hilarious, complicated, emotional, confident, sensitive young boy. But when we catch you sleeping, especially dwarfed by the big comforter in our bed, it's not hard to recall the day you first held my hand and used to sleep on my and your mom's chest during long naps, drenched in afternoon sunlight.

 

We kissed you and took you back to bed for the night.

 

I awoke to the sound of my alarm at 7 am, and was pleasantly surprised to find you there, cuddled between your Mom and me.

 

 

Civil Disobedience

 

 

The other morning you both were wide awake before I left for work. Aidan, you led the charge.

 

"You are not to go to work," you said playfully.

 

I explained that I had too! Afterall, we'd just had a 3.5 day weekend and a week at the beach. And I kind have to bring home the bacons. But, that doesn't matter. And it didn't phase you either.

 

You rant to the front door. Julia, chocolate milk in hand, followed you.

 

"We are blocking your way! You can't leave!" you said, cheekily.

 

A smile never left your faces, and you both really made me feel so super special that you wanted me to stay at home and be with you.

 

I thought fleetingly about calling sick...but what kind of example would that set?

 

We hugged, we kissed, we made plans to play Candy Land when I got home.

 

And when I got home we hugged again, kissed again, and played, hung out, swam, chased, and read until bed time.

 



The only good part about leaving the both of you is constantly getting to come back to you.

i love you so much; and thank you for blocking the door, and making my day.