Dear Carolyn,
Today you are two and three-quarters. You’re starting to ask if you’re three yet. I think you just want a birthday party, since a couple of your friends have just turned three and had their birthday parties!
You have nearly figured out the whole potty training thing at this point. We are all so excited! We’ve successfully run errands with big-kid underpants several times already, and every time we both get a bit more confident in this new diaper-free life. The only downside? You have nothing to hold your pants up anymore – we’re going to have to find an easy-to-open belt! (You did not get the tall-and-skinny genes from me!)
Your latest obsession is audio books. We probably eat at Wendy’s a little more often than we should (although that’s the only fast food we ever eat) and they’re currently giving out audio books on CD instead of toys in their kids’ meal. You will now fall asleep to “Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed” nearly every night. You love it! You’re just generally so interested in letters and books right now, it doesn’t surprise me that you love the concept of falling asleep listening to a story instead of music.
In just a few short weeks you’ll be starting preschool. I had a hard time deciding whether to send you this fall or not. I’m concerned that you will most likely be the youngest in your class – by far – since the trend has been to hold children back a whole year. You will be four in kindergarten when many of your classmates are already six. But you are so smart, so social, and so eager to learn, I think I would be doing you a disservice to keep you back just because you happened to be born in the fall instead of the spring. Hopefully you won’t hate me for it in a few years!
The other day you fell asleep sitting next to me in a chair and I snuggled you on my lap while you slept. It’s been more than two whole years since you napped while I held you, and I couldn’t believe how much bigger you’ve grown. And yet, when you woke up, you still did your little baby sleepy stretch. See? You’re still my baby. Even if you are two and three-quarters.
Love, Mommy