A Year and a Half

 Dearest Owen,

You are growing and changing with leaps and bounds these days, I cannot even wrap my brain around all you've done and said since last I wrote. Everyday I hear new words spoken with your tiny voice, some clear and perfect - others your own little version that melt my heart. Just last week you started saying your name, "Oooo-wah" even though you can pronounce the letter "O" perfectly, you've chosen to call yourself "Ooo-wah" and that's totally cool with us.

At 16+ months you started walking and eating and you haven't stopped! You eat three full meals and a snack at the table in addition to nursing 4 times a day. You wake up each morning between 7:30-8:30am. We go on an outing to the zoo, park, pool or play date and then home for lunch. You nap in the afternoon from 1-4 and you go to bed around 8:30pm. Your favorite foods are meatballs, blueberries, peaches "pee, pees", graham crackers "cookie!" and Greek yogurt. Two days ago you ate a PB&J sandwich for the first time and you looked more like a little boy than I've ever seen. You are very stubborn when it comes to drinks and will only accept water in your straw cup. You only take you milk from the tap and you refuse to drink juice.

You are enamored with the fire truck across the street and I must say that I am so happy when there is a fire call because watching you rush to the window in excitement as the truck pulls out of the bay and turns on the lights, makes my heart soar. You wait until its out of sight before you climb down and tell me about your "woo, woo ta" and when the truck pulls back in and closes the doors you tell me that your "woo, woo ta" is "night, night"

With changes, come challenges for us my boy. You are exerting your independence and your emotions run high. You want my complete and total attention 100% of the time. You have grown increasingly attached to me over the past few weeks and I cannot even leave the room without complete hysterics. My days of successfully leaving you while I work out are gone, and now we're working our way back to 20 minutes apart.

Daddy has had a rough couple of months at work, and his job keeps him away from you more and more these days. After weeks without seeing him, he is a stranger to you and we have to take baby steps to reintegrate him into our routine. I know this is hard for you, and its hard for him too, for all of us. These are the days that I am thankful the only memory you'll have of this time is through these letters. I want you to remember our days together, how much we laugh and how completely in love with you I am - but I don't want you to remember how much we miss your Daddy right now. I am comforted because by the time you do remember, he will be tucking you in every night, and teaching you to ride a bike or skip a rock. The sacrifices we're making now are nothing compared to the lifetime we have together.

Your hair is long and summer blonde, your legs are lean and your teeth are perfectly straight. The way you say, "Mama" is the sweetest sound I've ever heard. The joy (and frustration) I feel on a daily basis are visceral and my role as your Mama is always the first thing on my mind when I wake and the last thing before I sleep at night. Our days are strung full of precious moments where we learn about one another. You show me more and more of your shining personality every day - you are sweet, and kind, thoughtful and fearful. With your Daddy's caution and your Mama's words, you are the perfect blend of the two of us.

Living with a toddler adds so many more dimensions to the day -- there are tampons in the shower, toy horses in the dishwasher, cheerios in my bra and with each unexpected turn, a smile on my face.

You make me want to have a million babies, but for now, my heart is all yours.

I love you "Ooo-wah" every second of every day.

Mama