Dear Keaton,
You desperately want people to smile at you, to like you, and to generally show you a good time… You will report when a baby smiles at you, "I think he likes me!" If someone is giving you a skeptical look you will yelp right in their face - "Why you no like me?!" You are so happy with a big bowl of rice for dinner after eating tons of apples, strawberry, clementines, and cheese all day. Except when you spy something that may be spicy (like in your Dragon Loves Tacos book) - "A hot bit in my rice! Watch out!" I'm really not sure if a big bowl of noodles or rice would win in a Keaton challenge.
Longest potty training run award goes to: you! I'm exaggerating, but I think it's been about six months of hit and miss and it's still not completely settled. You've even grown out of your first batch of big boy underpants! This month you had your first adventures in underpants out of the house. You told everyone you saw you were dry: the waitress and your music teacher at music class. You have had a few accidents, but I think you are about 80% of the way there. My favorite: "I'll be in the potty, just call if you need me!"
To complete the potty training challenges, you checked off a pretty bad infection that led to antibiotics and a really ridiculous trip to Children's Hospital to be "admitted" which apparently means sitting in the ER for five hours waiting for them to tell you that your doctor is very misinformed on what qualifies as a bad infection. You were walking like a cowboy, but otherwise in pretty good spirits.
The ER wasn't pleasant and was very crowded that night, but you were excited to have all the doctor's attention. We played the Whole Foods food sorting app on the iPad over and over (because it's the only one I really know how to play where you can participate). The attending doctor said she was going to miss you and you replied, "Thanks Doctor, let me shake your hand and then I go home!"
I grabbed a bag of marshmallows left over from your birthday rice krispy treats before we left for the hospital. Marshmallows made your trip to the ER much more pleasant and they were doctor approved. They make you smile and you almost always smell like graham crackers (even though you don't even really eat them) you are like a big cuddly s'more.
Despite your best efforts you have not convinced me that cupcakes are a breakfast food, but the other day when I offered you a donut, you said "I'd rather have an apple than a donut!" You caught on quickly to Uncle Woah teaching you how to eat your pizza like a folded sandwich.
We have an unofficial Friday Funday tradition of watching one of our favorite factory shows (where they show you how something is made - like puffed mint candies was a favorite episode - because spicies are a favorite around here!) We sometimes have popcorn to make it a treat and you make me laugh when you lift the bowl close to to your face, your saucer plate eyes come out, and you giggle as you grab a handful.
You wandered around Aiden's classroom during the International Day saying "Hi, I'm Aiden's brother!" You want to build credibility and you are proud. You were a bit squirrelly during their performance, but since then you've been good about visiting his school. When we dropped off his keyboard for show and tell you were very helpful at getting Aiden's inside shoes. You even said when we left, "Mom, I didn't touch anything but Aiden's shoes because I'm being a nice visitor!"
You tend to wake up and go straight to your brother. Usually there is a good dose of nice playing together, followed by you getting bored with whatever game, and wanting to wrestle. Your brother is not always up for that idea, but you usually are pretty persistent. Your brother says you have talons for fingernails and your dad won't buy a real eagle talon (as a souvenir from his trip to Utah) because he's worried you'd try to slice your brother with it. You made us laugh when wrestling with your brother and getting right in his face and asking, "Does my breath smell like a toothbrush?"
You essentially want to do everything that your brother does, and if he's busy practicing the piano you sorta wander close by and occasionally sing and dance. That is when you aren't trying to distract him and turn off the piano. You pretend to do Mad Libs and one time I thought you actually answered the foreign country prompt when you yelled out Canada, but it turns out your brother whispered it to you.
You still love our weekly Mosaic story time and especially now that the weather is better. There was one storyteller in particular that really kept your attention with a story called the Lizard's Song. Zoli, zoli, zoli is part of the song and you still chant that weeks later. The storyteller was so captivating and she paid you a great compliment at the end by saying that you "listen as well as an adult."
You love watching the construction at Mosaic. They dug up your play yard and added irrigation and a super plush grassy sod. It is very good for tag with your buddies and impromptu friends. It was so fun to see that they turned the fountains back on just in time for your birthday. That means it's time to get the towels, suits, and extra clothes back in the car!
You loved the story time where they did all the classic stories that you recognized. Your favorite being the gingerbread boy, where you got to actually hold up the little felt guy and pretend he was running and riding on the fox puppet. You loved chanting, "run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me! I'm the gingerbread man!" Although you wanted to have a philosophical discussion of whether it's gingerbread boy or man because every kid seemed to say it differently. You seem to be solidly on the boy side.
Your music class egg head song, the confetti egg smash at church, and finding the golden egg during one the easter egg hunts. You are the egg man. I think the treats in the eggs are your favorite part of the holiday.
"It's like a roller coaster without the wind!" when we are driving over a hilly road with the windows shut in the car. You will ask me to put the windows up and say, "I like to be warm like in my bathtub." You have lots descriptions so it's usually easy to understand you. One time I had asked you to see if you could see any pink bushes. A few minutes later you were calling out what sounded like "paint brushes!" and it took me a second to realize you mean pink bushes. Some other funny expressions lately. "I didn't see it but I saw it" still trying to figure out what past versus present tense is all about. Or when we walked into a breakfast place with a big tile egg in the floor, "Be careful you can stick to the yolk!"
"I'm not a baby anymore, my cousin is now!" You seem to be a pretty big smile inducer with your cousin as long as you aren't trying to take his toy or get too close to his space. There was some gentle wrestles that were instigated by the little guy… unfortunately, your instigated wrestles were not nearly as cute and gentle. But when it was on Cameron's terms, there was some cute boogie sandwiches. You enjoyed the back rub from his kicky feet while you cruised on the front of his stroller during a bit of a long hike.
You must have picked up the concept of safety at school. You started saying "safety first" as you held my hand in a parking lot. If I tried to use it, I heard "You can't say safety first, that's my x-pression!" Lotsa preferences you have became safety issues: "Can you close the sunroof to be safe, mommy, I see falling trees!"
We spent spring break in Ohio this month and you were sleeping like a big boy in the twin bed room with your brother most of the time. You weren't a huge fan of the night where Gran and Pop were in charge of putting you to bed. I think it will get easier as you get older, but you do like a certain amount of cuddles and routine at bed time. I think you just don't like the idea of mommy and daddy being away and doing foreign things. Like when I put on bigger than usual earrings to go out, "Mommy, how did you do that? How are those hanging from your ears?"
You had fun on the Georgetown boat cruise and you wanted to walk around M Street all day - "More exploring pease!" You are getting better about knowing when you need to take a break or slow down. Watching our family videos continues to be one of your favorite calm down treats. If the wrestling gets to be too nutso or you just seem off I can turn on the vimeo stream and you snap into a cute guy reminiscing.
It made me smile when I hear your brother ask you, A: "What's your address?" K: "I don't have a dress!" My favorite quote of the month after someone read your "I want to be a dinosaur when I grow up" t-shirt: "I don't want to be a dinosaur when I grow up - too scary! - I want to be a cuddler!" I'm so happy you are my cuddly guy, and some days it's hard to believe that you will have your own address…I guess as long as you don't try to be a dinosaur or professional cuddler. Bottom line I've learned from you is that you will be who you want to be.
Love, Momma
