20th Month

Dear Sarah,

Before I even begin this letter, I have to tell you that with all of the recent developments I could easily turn this update into a novel the length of War and Peace. Much like War and Peace, it probably wouldn't be very interesting. Oh, but I could be extremely thorough and long-winded. So, I'm going to try very hard to restrain myself and only give the condensed, CliffsNotes, version of what you have been up to. Here we go.



A few weeks ago, a friend asked what I had found most surprising about you. After thinking for a bit, I told him it had to be your awareness. I never imagined that someone so young could be grasping as much as you seem to be. Every day, you come up with a new concept or phrase that just amazes me. I'd like to think that you're the only kid in the world who's ever shown these abilities, but I now realize that toddlers aren't just little oblivious, balls of destruction. They are thinking, rationalizing, balls of destruction.



The concept of soft is something that you tried out this weekend. The big friendly golden retriever that you pet at the restaurant was "soft". You let your dad know that your favorite yellow blanket is "soft". I bet next week you figure out "stinky" and "nice" and then you'll be able to describe Lola perfectly.



You also determined that an eight pack of juice boxes is "heavy", a round copper coin is a "penny", noises outside are "scary", falling down "hurts", and a big colorful ball is a "beach ball".

The distinction between a "man" and a "lady" has also been made. Daddy is a "man", "Mike", and not someone to go to when you want a spur of the moment whim met, but he is most likely to give you a "cookie" before bed. I'm a "lady", "Mama", and the one who will probably cave when you want to be carried outside to see the moon in the rain.



See how hard this is. I'm trying to contain myself, and I just keep going on and on. So, let's just say that you seem to get a lot of stuff. (Nice description, huh? Don't you wish I'd summed it up so clearly a few paragraphs ago.)



The only other thing I'm going to mention is that you are now working hard on counting. As of today, before you jump off of a chair that you're not supposed to be standing on much less jumping off of, you hold your little fingers in the air and count:

"One.. Two.. Five.. Eight.. Nine.."

You then jump off the chair, land on a physics text book, and scribble with your "lellow" crayon an eloquent solution to the unified theory in the margins.



OK, slight exaggeration. You actually use a green crayon and you write the solution on a "paper towel" not a physics text book, because a text book is too "heavy" to carry around and it "hurts" when you land on it.



Love,
your mama