I really challenged myself to write monthly letters to each of you, and it has just not gone as planned. It's been a while since I've actually jotted down some notes about each of you and we just got back from a very short trip to San Antonio so I thought this would be a good time.
Jessa, my beautiful Jessa! You are almost 4 years old! Almost 2 more months and it will be your birthday celebration! You talk about birthdays a lot and get very excited to go to any and every birthday party we get invited to. We have already pick out a project for your birthday party, we are going to be building bird houses with 10 of your friends this year. You have been watching Handy Manny and play with the tools ALL THE TIME! You don't have all the tools, in fact I have absolutely no idea where we even got the 3 that we do have, but we have been scouting out ebay to see if we can complete your set! You love building things, figuring out how things work... I will be shocked if you choose a career that is not in the engineering field. You are one of the smartest kids I know and shock me everyday with your memory. You have by far the best memory of anyone I have ever met... including all adults. The other day we went to Target and I gave you a list of 3 things I wanted you to help me remember. I asked you out of curiosity a week later to see if you still remembered the 3 things on my list, and at first you said you didn't then about 15 sec. later you yelled out my 3 items. It's amazing to me how you put things together. A little less than a year ago we had a guy come and fix our refrigerator. The company was GE and that next day as we were driving you yelled out "Look, that's where the refrigerator guy works!" Dad and I looked at each other so confused, looked around and saw a GE building tucked back on the side of the rode! You were just barely 3 when this happened! I could go on all day with stories about dad and I looking at each other confused only to realize you pulled off another stunt we would have never expected someone of your age to do!
You are continually asking to watch the ipad and love a wide variety of shows. The two top shows you like right now are Barbie and the Dream House and Callies Wild West. Your vocabulary is of the charts and you use the funniest words at the most appropriate times. Occasionally you'll repeat a work back to dad or I and go (in a high pitched voice) ".... what's that mean?!?!"
You have been going through a sort of a crying/whining stage recently. When you don't get your way you often find your sleep sack, run to your room and shut your door. Or you just stand there and cry. It's actually quiet frustrating and we are not afraid to tell you to stop. You do a great job playing (and taking care of) Jacen, but you are also bossy and manipulative at times. You learned from the moment he started playing with toys that if you wanted something that he was playing with you should go get another toy and say "hey jacen, don't you want to play with this?" as soon as he would drop the toy to go for the one you have, you'd pick his toy up. He is two and you are almost 4, and this still happens on a daily basis!
We are STILLLLLLL working on getting you to stop sucking your thumb. Most days when we talk about it, you end the conversation by saying "Ok mom, tomorrow I will not suck my thumb!" haha Procrastination at it's finest! It never happens though. We try, you cry, we try some more and then I just give in because I don't have the patience to fight with you all day everyday trying to hide your sleep sack!
You are growing into quiet the beautiful grown up little girl! You are tall for your age, but not too tall! You have an extremely long torso so you have been wearing 5T shirts for about a year now. Even when you were littler I put you in a lot of tunic dresses and leggings because they seemed to fit you the best and not show off your crack ;) You're welcome! You are starting to get a little booty on you but it's pretty cute! You have pretty much the perfect athletic body, and I hope you use that to your advantage to play and get involved in at least one sport. (currently you are in gymnastic and swimming lessons.) You aren't super opinionated on clothes, which is pretty great, but you will fight me to wear your Minnie Mouse or your Frozen shirt A LOT! I don't mind though because most of the time you let me dress you without complaint. When I ask you to pick out something to wear you almost 100% of the time do a fantastic job at pairing clothes together and matching colors so maybe you'll be into fashion? I have no idea! Regardless of what you do, you will always be beautiful with you sandy brown hair, golden brown eyes and the prettiest smile I have ever seen! One of our waiters this weekend said "She is such a cute girl!" :) And that you are!
I enjoy you so much Jessalynn! (or Jessa as you always correct me!) You are so much fun to be around, have the kindest heart, and I love watching you learn! You are beautiful inside and out! Thank you for being YOU!
Love,
Mommy
Jacen! Sweet Jacen! You just turned two last month! We had a Paw Patrol themed birthday party with you with a TON of friends. It was a lot of fun! Paw Patrol is by far your favorite show, except you call it "Pup Pup Goose!" When we first started watching the show there was an episode called Pup Pup Goose and Jessa would ask for it a lot. You caught on and now that's what you call Paw Patrol. You, of course, know all the pups names. Your little sweet voice is so cute to listen to when you talk, but you are so stinkin stubborn it's hard to get you to say anything when you don't want to. Currently we are working hard to get you to say "TR"uck instead of "F"uck... especially before you start school in a week or so. At first it was really funny, but now that it has lasted over a month or more and you LOVE trucks....it's getting a little frustrating. You are also pronouncing "drink" with an F sound. We are trying our best at setting your little words straight! You, like Jessa, have a blanket it's gray with chevron stripes on it and currently it's got a huge hole in it. I really need to sew it up because I don't think it will be going anywhere for a long while. You still suck your thumb but really we only see it in your mouth when you are tired, thank God!
You are on of the most hard headed and stubborn little boys I have met. You act JUST LIKE ME, and I know this will cause it to butt heads in the future. Right now though you think it's sooooo funny! The looks you give me out of the corner of your eye as you are running away from me as I try to get your dressed, trying to brush your teeth.... trying to do anything productive are absolutely hilarious. One of my most funny moments with you is you were in the back of the van playing around before we were getting ready to leave. I asked you over and over to get in your seat but you weren't listening. I threw out a threat to you (it's usually "do you want a spankin?" and the only way to get you to do ANYTHING) and your reply was in the most drawn out annoyed voice "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY MOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM."
You are very carefree and often bundled up in your own little world... until Jessa comes along. You, normally, play very well with her but the two of your recently have started fighting... A LOT! Pushing, Kicking, Hitting.... it happens a lot! At the end of the day though, you two really do well together and I'm sure will be close friends always.
You are so very different from Jessa and what we thought we knew about parenting Jessa totally changes when it comes to parenting you. You are a lover and adore physical touch. I actually would tell people when you were just weeks old that I was praying already for your wife someday because you would only be content if you were holding on to me. Your wife will need to be able to meet your need to be touched at almost every second of the day, which will be very challenging. Just a few months ago you started playing when I would drop you off places like church, MOPS or babysitters instead of insisting on being held the whole time. When I pick you up you you turn your head away from mine on my shoulder and tuck your arms underneath your body in between us and last a few mins and then it's like you are recharged! Last night we stayed in a hotel and after you feel out of your bed I decided to sleep in the bed with you and your head kept finding it's way snuggling onto my belly. It was cute, but not very comfortable for me.
Speaking of sleep, you LOVE sleep! Which is pretty great! We just transitioned you to a big boy bed and you have done fantastic! In the mornings you still call for us (mom, dad or Jessa) but as soon as we open your door you get down from your bed. You have been potty trained now since a little over a month before you turned two! You would cry and cry if you didn't get to sit on the potty everytime Jessa would go and I got tired of taking off and putting new diapers on. SOO we decided just to try it out! You had a rough 2 day start then where awesome for about a week and then we had accident after accident for about 2 weeks. After that though you have been accident free for the most part. You are still struggling with telling us if you need to poop or pee, but you always know so I guess that's what matters. "I go potty" is your catch phrase for both. You're a rock star!
Anywhere we take you Jacen, someone if not multiple people make comments about your eyelashes. In fact just this weekend we had our waitress at a Thai Restaurant we took you to pet your eyelashes! Yes PET THEM! It was very uncomfortable for all of us, but you actually didn't seem to mind that much. And if I do say so myself I think you are rather handsome and those eyelashes are pretty killer! We just buzzed your head so they actually make them look longer, and those dark brown eyes you have... well you already know how to use them to your advantage and get pretty much anything you want! You have such a gorgeous skin tone color and tan super easily. You are such a cute little guy!
I can't wait to see how you grow in the next year or two. We are just starting to see your full personality coming out recently and while I think it will be a challenging one, I'm excited to see it fully and find out what an awesome little boy you will become! Thank you for your contact hugs, laughs and smiles!
Love,
Mommy
