Dear Asher,

You are now two and a half years old! Somehow, this fact is stunning to me. Where did the last six months go? Well, let’s see …

You have learned to talk! To sing! To fight with your brother!

I gave up trying to write down all of your words several months ago. The floodgates of language opened up and I and my notepad were swept downstream ( Read more... )

1. "Where Lucas go?"
2. "Baby need a pluggie!"
3. "Cockleshells!"
4. "Baby hold the milks?"
5. "Whyyyyyy?"
6. "Baby eat some O's and milk?"
7. "I don't know."
8. "My mommy, my daddy, my brother, my toys!"
9. "Daddy took it away!"
10. "Love you, Mama."

Remember, way, way back, when Baby Lucas decided that certain words were hilariously funny? Remember how he couldn’t stop giggling when you said "caterwaul"? (Or "codswallop!" Or "flibbertigibbet!" Or "flimflam!") Remember how people from all over racked their brains to bring us silly words in the hopes that their silly word would make Lucas giggle ( Read more... )

We're deep into Spring Break now. Lucas and Asher have had last week and this week off school and daycare. I am in the midst of my busiest weeks of this year, so this isn't an ideal situation. I was more than a little freaked out heading into the break, but I've since relaxed and honestly things are going fine. The grandmothers helped me out a lot ( Read more... )

Asher now sings the Elmo Song to himself. "La la la. La la la Elmo song. La la la. La la la Baby song!"
...

I think this means I've shown him the YouTube clip from Sesame Street too many times. Now you can sing it too.

For this small moment, this one fleeting magical phrase, I have worked tirelessly, selflessly, sleeplessly, and often lonesomely for two years and two months exactly:

"I love you."

Asher said this to me tonight for the first time.

My dear father would like the world and the Interwaves to know that Asher also now says "grandma," which is something my long-suffering, patient, saint of a  mother has waited a long time to hear, for she is too dignified to have chosen for herself an easy-for-toddlers-to-say nickname, and thus is the last grandparent Asher has called by name. Last ( Read more... )

Asher has added to his growing vocabulary "pink," “orange,” “purse,” “wow!,” “Tina," "Noah" (one of two preschool buddies-Asher kind of mangles Gabriel's name), "I don't know!", "TV" (as in, "watch TV!"), "Bob," "shoes," "hat," "guy(s)," "auntie," "truck." There are probably more, but it's hard to remember them all. Often, we say something and he ( Read more... )

Asher now says "eat," “watch,” “clock,” “little,” “cookie,” "monster," "Cookie Monster," “Elmo,” “Elmo, la, la, la!” (which means "I want to see the Elmo song on YouTube"), “hippo,” “seal,” “whale,” “chips,” “yellow,” "blue," “purple” (though he does not correctly identify yellow, blue, or purple),  “snow,” “pow,” “pluggie,” "read," “blankie,” “ ( Read more... )

It's been a long time since I posted about what Asher is up to, and since his second birthday is next Saturday, I feel a good long letter coming on. But in the meantime, I have to write about his first (in my view) true pretend play. Asher will sometimes mimic his brother, if Lucas is pretending to be a mouse or a cat or something, but that's ( Read more... )