Happy 2nd birthday, little man!
February 6th, 2012I’ve been working on Cullen’s letter since his birthday, but I had quite a bit to cover this time. I think it’s probably my longest letter ever, but it has a lot of major milestones and events!
Dear Cullen,
Whew, we’ve had another exciting 3 months since the last letter! Since my last letter, we celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and your 2nd birthday! We took a trip to Atlanta (almost two), one to Davidson, and your first cruise to the Caribbean. We visited two different children’s museums and a science museum. Life was a bit hectic, but we had a lot of fun together.
We had a great family day to celebrate your birthday today. When I told you we planned to go out for breakfast, you literally did a happy dance while saying, “yay!!!” We went out to our favorite breakfast restaurant where you had pancakes, scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, cantaloupe, and grapes. You kept grabbing pieces of my gingerbread pancake off my plate, and I’m pretty sure that was your favorite part. I didn’t mind. You are a sweet boy, and it’s your special day, after all.
We then took you to Target where we let you pick out anything you wanted. We explained to you that you could only have one thing, so once you pick something, you’d have to trade it if you saw something you wanted more. You started out with a rubber ducky and ended up with a Lego (Duplo) Firehouse set. That was a great choice! In between, you had a pillow shaped like an apple, a Minnie Mouse pillow, a set of toddler cars, a Lightning McQueen car that makes a lot of noise when you shake it, and a Tow Mater that did something that we could never quite figure out.
We then took you to get another haircut, your second since your last letter. You always look so much older when you get a haircut. You’re getting to be such a big boy. I said that you were all spiky while they were cutting your hair. Later this evening, Maddie said, “Cullen, you’re spiky!” and you emphatically said, “no! I not spiky! I cute!” Right you are, little man.
For dinner, we had some of your favorite foods: pasta, garlic bread, broccoli, cauliflower, and strawberries. And, of course we had cake. Daddy and Maddie made the cake together, and Maddie iced and decorated most of it herself (Mommy helped a little). It was a cake made with love.
We talked up your birthday quite a bit. Last night, I told you that you would get presents today, and you said, “new Christmas tree?” Maddie helped pick out a present for you – a Lightning McQueen suitcase. When you woke up the suitcase and a new riding firetruck were in the living room waiting for you. You quickly went to the library (which you and your sister still call, “the woods,” and where we had had the Christmas tree) and came back and said, “no presents in the woods!” Christmas clearly made an impression on you this year.
All of the holidays were fun for you this year. Right after the last letter, we had had Halloween. You were an adorable Mickey Mouse and an even more adorable Pooh Bear. You wore the Pooh costume to school and to Maddie’s Halloween parade. Your official costume was Mickey Mouse (and Maddie was Minnie). You were an adorable pair! You were excited about trick or treating, but it was a dreary, drizzly Halloween. That didn’t stop us from having a good time. You had fun collecting candy in your bucket, but you didn’t actually eat much of the candy. We haven’t given you too many sweets, though you are a big fan of M&Ms (you call them “beans”). It’s not that you don’t like chocolate and other treats. We just limit enough that you don’t think about it being an option too much. Now if you see the treats, that’s a different story (“I want that! I want Hershey kisses! I want beans! I want cake!”). You traded your candy to the Halloween witch, and she brought you Nala (from The Lion King) and Minnie Mouse buddies.
We made an unscheduled trip to Atlanta as Great Grandpa passed away in November. As I mentioned in the last letter, he has been sick and had many trips to the hospital recently. I don’t think you and Maddie quite comprehended why we were in Atlanta, but you both missed Great Grandpa. He loved you so much. He was so proud of you and was continually impressed by how smart you were. He was a wonderful man, and I’m sad that you won’t remember him. You and Great Grandpa were buddies in the few times that you spent time with him.
Three big milestones happened on that trip. We put you in a forward facing car seat for the first time, we stopped using high chairs in restaurants, and you started to climb out of the pack-n-play. You loved facing forward in the car, and now you talk more about what you see out the window. I thought that you and Maddie would miss facing each other, but you interact in the car more than ever. I think it helps that you see the same things out the windows. You especially like to point out school buses, trucks, and Christmas decorations. In the morning, we say “bye bye” to Daddy, our house, and the “little” car. Lately, you and Maddie feel the need to say “bye bye” to every mailbox that we pass on the way out of the neighborhood. I’m not sure how that started, but I’ve been trying to put a stop to it!
As for the climbing, we knew we needed to transition you to a big boy bed soon. We decided to wait until after the cruise, since we didn’t want to mess up anything with your sleep schedule (you have been a consistent sleeper) before traveling. Shortly after the cruise, we converted your crib to a toddler bed. We have pillows on the floor next to the bed, and you fell out at least once a night for at least a week. Of course, the bed isn’t far from the floor, anyway, but you just roll off onto the pillows with that extra cushion. Your bed is often full of buddies. We often have to limit the number we allow in your bed so you have room to sleep. You would put every stuffed animal and doll you own into that bed, if it were up to you.
We still used the high chair at home a little longer, but now you use one of our portable booster seats. We no longer get high chairs in restaurants (or even booster seats). You sit in a regular chair like a big boy, and I think you’re less wiggly than your sister. She’s constantly falling out of her chair. You rarely fall out of your chair, but sometimes you’re just DONE with the meal and can’t be bothered to sit any longer. You’ll either want to sit on my lap and wiggle or stand or walk around. Most of the time, you do pretty well with restaurant meals.
The following week, we went to Davidson to spend Thanksgiving weekend with Nana and Papa. Kristin and Chad joined us for the traditional Thanksgiving feast when we had turkey, country ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, steamed veggies, bread, and sweet potatoes. You and Maddie were excited about the feast, though I can’t say you ate much more than normal!
We visited three different museums in the past 3 months. Two of those were with Nana and Papa. We went to the fairly new children’s museum near their house, and we went to the science museum near us to see a holiday model train layout. We also went to the local children’s museum for a birthday party. All of these museums have a bunch of hands on exhibits that you and Maddie loved exploring.
While we were in Davidson for Thanksgiving, we went to visit Santa. You were excited about the idea of visiting Santa, and you had been talking about how Santa was going to bring you your own Annabelle for a while. You talked about Santa and were excited while in line, but when it was your turn, you refused to sit on his lap. You didn’t want to be too close to him! You sat on my lap and somehow the photographer worked some magic. Considering how unhappy you were about the experience, it’s pretty shocking that she was able to get such a happy looking photo!
Whenever you were asked what you wanted for Christmas or what Santa would be bringing you, you were unwavering in your response: “My Annabelle.” You and Maddie have had many disputes over her Bitty Twins, especially Annabelle. Fortunately for everyone, Santa brought you your very own set of Bitty Twins! You have two girls: a brown haired girl, Annabelle (just like Maddie’s Annabelle) and a blonde haired girl, Izzy. You refused any name other than Annabelle, so now we have “Maddie’s Annabelle” and “Cullen’s Annabelle.” You also wanted to call the blonde girl, Henry, but I thought she needed a more suitable name. I suggested at least half a dozen names, and every time you said, “I don’t like that name.” At some point, you tried calling her “Boy” and I said, “no, she’s not a boy!” You then answered, “Is not a boy” when I asked her name. I said, “you want to call the doll ‘isnottaboy?’” “Yes” (the first time you said yes). I said, “Can we call her Izzy for short?” “yeah” “So we can call her Izzy?” “Yeah, Izzy.” So, there you have it. The doll is now known as Izzy. You still call her “My Henry” at times. The funniest thing is that you refer to your dolls as your “ladies.” Cute. And we’re all happy that we have less fighting over dolls in the household.
The Christmas season was wonderful this year as you and Maddie were very excited about everything. You loved the Christmas lights and decorations. Both of you pointed out every light display on the way home from work every day. You would exclaim, “Christmas lights!!!!!” or “Christmas tree!!!!” We built gingerbread houses and decorated sugar cookies. You loved opening presents. Some of your favorite presents from this year included the new play kitchen, a strider balance bike, Mr. Bump medical kit, a Little People Train set, and a board game called Go Away Monster.
You ask to play Go Away Monster all the time. You love it! You’ve been showing a lot of interest in games, and you are doing well with taking turns and following the rules for Go Away Monster. You take turns drawing tiles out of a bag and either vanquishing monsters or putting furniture in your room. We’ve tried a few other games, but you’re not quite ready for the others. It’s exciting that you and Maddie are starting to play games, something your Daddy and I love to do!
You and Maddie play together more and more. I love seeing you two play happily together. We have to watch you carefully, though, because you will sometimes hit your sister for no reason. I think you do it most often when you don’t like what she’s saying. This earns you a quick trip to time out. When you’re done with time out, you have to apologize to Maddie. You two are quick to forgive and will hug and kiss each other.
I would say most of the time, you two have fun together. I overheard Maddie say to you recently, “Cullen, Let’s play a game where I run and you try to catch me. I’ll keep running and you try to catch me.” You replied, “Ready. Set. Go.” You then spent maybe 20 minutes running around and chasing each other. Maddie kept saying things like, “Try to catch me! That’s the name of the game!” This type of playing is common in the house now. She has gotten you to start using your imagination, and you’ve even said things like, “You be pirate princess, Daddy is Captain Hook.” You’ll also do things like say that your piece of cheese after a few bites is a “boat.”
It seems like you do a lot of things earlier than your sister did because you have her showing you the ropes. She tries to teach you things like how to write your name and other things that she has learned in preschool. I remember doing the same sorts of things with your aunt Kristin, so it’s fun to see the two of you interact in this way.
You might not be quite ready for everything your sister wants to teach you, but you are ahead of the game in many areas. Lately, you have been demonstrating one-to-one correspondence with your counting. Your specialty is counting two items (“one and two!”), and you seem to have no problems counting accurately up to 5. You have correctly counted up to 10 items, but you get a little confused if the items are too close together, especially if there are more than 5 or so.
Your language skills are amazing. I know I keep saying it in your letters, but it’s true! We feel like you are able to communicate just about anything you need to tell us. You can identify almost anything, and you speak in complete sentences most of the time. You continue to make observations and ask for things you want. You say things like, “Daddy has ABCs on his shirt.” or “I want a muffin in my bowl.” You have recently said, “I want to get my bike from the garage.” and “Those are big boxes over there. They are too heavy.” You’re aware of your classmate’s allergies and tell him and the teachers that he can’t have milk or cheese or eggs. You are too smart.
You know that Mommy and Daddy’s “other names” are Kerry and Gabe. You also know a few other names for family members. For a while, you insisted that your last name was Brudder. I said, no, and told you our real last name. You replied things like, “No! Brudder! Stop saying that!” You know our last name now. When we tell you or Maddie something you don’t like, you often will say either “Awwww, man!” or “I don’t think so!”
You understand sizing concepts like big, little, heavy, and giant. You seem to know most of your colors, but you are not consistent with your identification. I think sometimes you just don’t want to play along with our little quizzes. You use first person correctly. You can answer many of our questions, and not just yes/no questions. Of course, sometimes you choose not to answer us, but that’s another story. You express your opinions on a variety of things.
You still love to antagonize your sister in a variety of ways. We don’t have the “I’m first” argument now, but you find plenty of opportunities to get under her skin. She’s a little bit of an easy target, to be honest. Sometimes you realize that something is bugging her, and then you repeat it over and over relentlessly. Your latest thing is to shriek like a banshee at her which drives everyone crazy. You often shriek things like, “STOP IT!!!!” or “NO, IT’S NOT!!!!” You two have silly fights about the most ridiculous things sometimes. Since it’s winter, it’s been getting dark on our ride home. One of the daily fights you had on our commute home was whether it was light or dark. In a way, you were both right, but it drove each of you crazy to hear the other say the opposite.
One afternoon, I picked you up from school, and you told me that one of your classmates bit you. I knew that you probably were not telling me the truth since the teachers are required to report such things to us. “Lyla bit you?” “Yeah” I then asked if other classmates bit you, and you said “yeah” each time. I also asked if each of your teachers bit you. Apparently, everyone bit you that day. I then asked if Maddie bit you, and you said that she bit you, too. I said, “I don’t think that Maddie bit you.” You said, “Maddie has teeth!” I said, “Yes, Maddie uses her teeth to bite food.” You replied, “I bite chicken!” I love getting glimpses into how your little mind processes things.
You have been singing a lot of songs now, and you know most of the words to Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the bed, the chorus of The Backson Song (from the new Winnie the Pooh movie), Rock-a-bye Baby, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the theme song to Jake and the Neverland Pirates (Maddie’s favorite show). Your favorite show is still Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (you ask for it frequently, and it sounds like you’re saying “Nicky Nouse”).
You are getting pretty good at the preschool games on the iPhone, including Monkey Lunchbox. It didn’t take you long to figure out all of the puzzles in the game, though you seem to poke around the screen at random for some of them. I’m impressed with how easily you do the simple puzzles which involve touching the pieces and dragging them across the screen to the appropriate places. In addition to Monkey Lunchbox, you like to play Peek-a-Boo Barn and several Fisher Price games with animals. We have an “Apptivity case” for you to use so that you don’t break the iPhone (and it makes it difficult for you to press the home button).
You gained quite a few iPhone skills while we were on our Caribbean cruise. We had numerous situations where we were waiting, on a plane, having a leisurely meal, or doing something that bored you. We turned to the iPhone some of these times! Fortunately, the ship had plenty for you and Maddie, so it wasn’t hard to keep you entertained. You were not a fan of the muster drill, and everyone in the theater knew you were there.
You did pretty well with the long dinners, though you got a bit restless towards the end of some of them. I don’t blame you too much. Those dinners are almost two hours long, so they are difficult for the adults sometimes, too! You were a good eater on the cruise. You especially enjoyed the cold fruit soups and the savory bites (one of the nightly bread selections with some kind of flavoring and poppy seeds). You were thrilled when we let you feed yourself the soups, but you typically made a giant mess! One of those nights was formal night, and I couldn’t resist buying the photo that the ship’s photographer took of us. After you were finished with your meal, you insisted on sitting on my lap and hugging me. Very sweet and sticky, little man. For most meals, you wanted to make sure that you were sitting next to Mommy, so I had my hands full keeping you happy, fed, and entertained for many of the meals.
One of my favorite moments of the cruise was during dinner when the waiter did a napkin trick for you, creating a mouse out of the napkin and making it “hop” onto the table. You watched carefully and tried to replicate the trick. I am so glad that I happened to catch that moment on video. It makes me smile!
Your favorite meals were undoubtedly the chocolate character breakfasts! We met characters from Madagascar and Shrek at these breakfasts and at photo opportunities around the ship. You were hesitant about the characters at first, but you warmed up to some of them after a few times. You did not like King Julian or Shrek, but you absolutely loved Fiona! After she visited our table, you looked after her wistfully and said, “Come back, Fiona!” We had three character meals on the ship, and each time we had the best table in the restaurant. The characters came out and did a dance right in front of our table, and you loved it.
We took you to several shows on the cruise, and we weren’t sure how you were going to like them. The first one was a general ice show based on Monopoly featuring places around the ship. You were totally entranced with the skating! We couldn’t believe how much you enjoyed it. You also loved the How to Train Your Dragon ice show. When the dragons first appeared on the ice, you exclaimed, “Dragons!!!” You talked about the dragons at other times and told people how you saw a “BIG fwagon, flying!” Dragons were your thing on the cruise (and you were excited when Santa brought you and Maddie a set of dragons).
We tried another show that I hear was boring for some of the adults, too. It was called Blue Planet, and I was looking forward to seeing it, but you didn’t last five minutes. I heard that I didn’t miss much. Instead, you and I were buddies and I let you show me around the ship. I just let you go where you wanted. You would go and stand in front of random things so I could take your picture. Sometimes it would be something like the Christmas tree or the car and other times you’d just stand in front of a random post. I loved your expression when you did this. Another funny thing that you started to do on this trip was to refuse to hold an adult’s hand. Instead, you would put your hands together and say, “I hold my own hand.” Very clever! You did this on our Cullen-guided tour of the ship. You lead me to some places that I hadn’t seen yet. You climbed stairs over and over, played a little on the play structure, and ended up back at the carousel.
The carousel was one of the highlights for all of us. You and Maddie could have ridden it all day, if we had allowed it! I have no idea how many times we went around that thing, but I’m pretty sure that you and Maddie rode on every animal on that carousel.
You and Maddie were excited to have your own cabin as we had two adjoining cabins. We were happy to have the extra space, and one of our cabins had a window that looked down onto the Promenade. We even watched one of the parades from our room! The other parade, we watched from the sidelines in the Promenade. You and Maddie enjoyed your first parade! All of the characters that we saw around the ship danced around right in front of us. You and Maddie both loved it when we saw the penguins, especially.
You’ve now been to The Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. This was your second trip to Florida. We didn’t think too much of the Bahamas, but you and Maddie didn’t complain about riding in your strollers and seeing the sights. Your favorite part was climbing the Queen’s Staircase (the whole thing while holding Nana’s and Papa’s hands) and exploring Fort Fincastle. Grandma bought you a cute straw hat that was personalized with your name. You and Maddie like to wear it around the house and say, “Yeehaw, boy!” I’m not sure where that came from. Those were the highlights of Nassau, and we weren’t too impressed.
St. Thomas and St. Maarten were much nicer as we took excursions that escorted us to beautiful beaches. You and Maddie had so much fun playing in the sand. We also briefly walked on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. You were excited at first, and then you were a little hesitant about the waves. You ended up loving it and wanted to put your feet in the water. We had jeans from the airplane that afternoon, so our jeans got a little wet. We were better prepared on St. Thomas, but we didn’t think we would swim. So, we didn’t wear our swimsuits to the beach, and it turned out to be a very calm beach with inviting waters. We were bummed we couldn’t take you and Maddie in the water, but we enjoyed it!
We wore our swimsuits for the beach on St. Maarten (actually St. Martin, since we journeyed to the French side). Unfortunately, that beach was not kid friendly. The waves were a bit rougher and you and Maddie were not fans of the seaweed. You still had fun playing in the sand! I can see some beach trips in our future.
This trip meant your first round trip plane rides. You did pretty well except for the last 15 minutes of the first flight. The second flight wasn’t too bad, though you told me you wanted to get off the plane over and over. We kept you entertained with the iPhone, snacks, and Mr. Men and Little Miss books. We brought new ones on the trip, and your favorite is Mr. Bump. We have been reading those a lot since the trip.
Our nightly routine involves reading several books, and you insist on me putting you to bed. Sometimes we cuddle in the glider to read stories, and other times you want to sit by yourself. Some of the books we have read so many times that you can “read” them to me. It’s cute when you summarize each page. We have been reading longer books, too. After our books, I sometimes sing Rock-a-bye baby or other songs. You then need a paci in your mouth as well as a few other pacis to hold. You then say, “cover me up!” and I lay your blanket over you. I tell you how much I love you and give you kisses and say “night night.” You usually play in your bed for a little while. You’ll flop around (we can hear you banging around and see you on the video monitor), play with your twilight sea turtle, get books to “read,” and play with your “buddies.” You will sometimes do this for an hour before falling asleep. You sleep through the night most of the time, though one of us occasionally has to come in to put your paci back into your mouth. You like to throw the pacis through the slats on the backside of the crib.
You have been resisting naps at times. When you are at home on the weekends, sometimes you will take an hour or two to settle down and sleep. We have seen you disappear from view on the video monitor and visited your room to find you sitting in the glider reading books. It’s getting more and more difficult to get you to sleep. Several times on the cruise, you didn’t take a nap all day. That has happened on a few other weekend trips as well. Hopefully, you will embrace “quiet time” if you don’t nap much longer. The down time is good for you (and for Mommy and Daddy!).
You finally got the last four regular teeth to fill in the gap between your front teeth and first molar. The last ones will be your “two year old” molars, which I’m sure will come a bit later like the rest of your teeth. You got these recently, and they all came in at about the same time. I noticed one day that you were crankier than usual and thought to feel your gums. Sure enough, your teeth were starting to poke through the gums. You are not a happy teether!
You just got over a yucky stomach bug that affected you for over a week. We had many unpleasant diapers. At school one day, your teacher told me that you said your diaper was “as Cullen says, ‘messy.’” She used air quotes when she quoted you. You then said, “I pooped. It was ‘messy’” and used air quotes, just as she had. Hilarious! One of your “messy” diapers happened when we were on the way to Atlanta. We had made it just past the “big peach” in Gaffney and stopped at the Stride Rite to find some shoes for you and Maddie. We smelled something and looked down to see your diaper had leaked and on the FRONT of your pants, around your knees. Daddy took you back and changed your diaper and clothes. He said it was quite unpleasant. Given that Daddy had been feeling bad as well, we decided that we shouldn’t share our germs with Great Grandma and other family. We headed back home, and I was sick with the same bug two days later. It’s a good thing we didn’t share the bug with everyone! Yuck!
Times like these make me dread potty training. There’s something to be said about a child with a stomach bug in diapers versus a newly potty trained one. You have shown a little interest in the potty. We quickly figured out that the potty we had for Maddie wasn’t appropriate for boys, so we went out and got one with a higher “shield.” It looks like a frog, and you love your “frog potty.” You have peed in it a few times. The first time, you were startled and looked down and said, “yuck!” I had to cheer and let you know that you had not made a mess but that you had done the right thing! We are curious to see how potty training will go after you move up into your new class at school. You might become much more interested when you see your classmates visiting the potty.
I feel like this is my longest letter yet, but I had to cover so much. It was an eventful three months, to say the least. I have one more funny story. When we were visiting Nana and Papa, we went out to eat. Nana gave you a piece of chicken from her pizza. It must have had some spices on it that you didn’t like because the next thing we knew, you were leaning over and spitting it onto Maddie’s plate!!! We had to whisk it off her plate with a napkin quickly. She would not have liked that (and who can blame her!). You two often demand to sit next to each other, though sometimes you can cause trouble (whether you’re having too much “fun” at the table or fighting). It’s sweet that you like to be near each other. You also still take baths together, a fact that you will someday be embarrassed by. For now, you two think it’s fun to have a buddy to squirt with rubber duckies.
I am so thrilled to be your Mommy, sweet boy. Everyone told me when I was pregnant with you that little boys absolutely love their mommies. They couldn’t have been more right about that! You are my special buddy, and you adore me. It’s pretty clear that I’m your favorite person in the world, and that feels pretty wonderful. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Daddy, though I think he knows. I hope that you will stay my sweet little boy for a while. I love you big, big, big, giant bunches. Or, as you like to reply, “no, little bunches!” I love you more than I ever believed possible.
Love,
Mommy
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