2.75

Dear Milo,

I can't believe it has almost been a year since I last wrote you one of these letters! How quickly the time goes. Well, as they are known to do, this year has brought about big changes around here. Changes which I knew were coming so I spent this last year busily soaking up all the goodness before said changes happened and being more present with you. I do not regret that for one moment. I do regret that I failed to document every fun outing we did and the awesome things you said and funny faces you made, but I did what I had to do and there will be no regrets about that.



So, before I get to all the changes that have been going on I am going to rewind a bit and try and get out some of the memories of this past year. Mostly this summer. We had such a fun summer. I was determined to have the most summery summer possible and I'd say we succeeded. We went berry picking multiple times (starting off with strawberries, then raspberries and blueberries), went to outdoor concerts at the farm, visited the zoo a number of times, played at parks, picnicked at parks, took 4 weeks of swimming lessons, took bike rides, went to the beach, ate sno-kones and ice cream frequently and even visited Oaks Park Amusement Park. Most of these good times were had with our dear friends. We even had a few new friends added to our lives in the form of tiny, sweet babies who you totally adore. Ah yes, summer was good. I can't tell you how many times I pulled you in for a squeeze to breathe in the smell of outside, sunscreen and sweat on your hair. You would hug me back for a minute then run off to do whatever I pulled you away from, completely oblivious to your mother's impending craziness.



In addition to all of our summer fun we have been doing our normal routine around the house of playing, napping, snacking, etc. Your favorite thing of all time to play with remains the blue guitar we got you on your second birthday. This must be some type of world record for a kid enjoying the same toy for an extended period of time. You are really amazing to watch on that thing. Your entire being shifts into this little rock star. You strum the strings with ease and sway back and forth while singing. Sometimes you'll put music on in the background to play along with, but you are just as comfortable being a soloist. You sing songs you've learned through Music Together (mostly the "Hello Everybody" song) or you'll make up your own songs too according to what's going on (you've done the snack song, laundry, dinner, etc.) and recently your favorite local performer, Mr. Ben has been a great source of inspiration. A couple weeks ago Brody brought you home a ukulele from Hawaii. It's blue. It is a perfect smaller version of your guitar, only it has white flowers on the front of it. You love it. At first I was wondering if your ukulele love would replace your guitar love, but I shouldn't have worried. You may have favored uke for a couple days, but after that you just worked it into your act. You follow along Mr. Ben's routine (on the cd we have) of switching to the ukulele for singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and your ABC's.



As I mentioned before, your body language changes completely when you have a guitar in front of you to strum on. You tend toward the quiet, shy side when we are out with a bunch of people or in public. The other day we were at a friend's birthday party. There were probably about 20 adults and 7 kids running around. There was a lot going on and all you wanted to do was be right next to your dad or I, until you found the "yellow guitar" that matches your blue guitar. You picked that thing up and started strumming and singing and continued to do so for the rest of the party. You were adorable. People kept asking me if we played guitar to you and the truth is we don't. Neither your father or I are skilled musicians, but I have a feeling you will be the first musician in our family.



The other thing that sticks out most in my mind during this past year is how many questions I have answered. WHY? Has become the resounding word out of your mouth and though I have been told it's just a phase, it seems an unending one. I literally got to the point a few times where I just plumb ran out of answers. I had nothing left to explain except to say, "that's just the way it is." You have now taken to filling in that blank for me when you can tell I have answered enough why questions.



So, I guess that brings us to the change. Well, two weeks ago you started going to preschool! The first day was REALLY hard. For both of us. We went to visit the school together a few times and even spent a whole morning with your new classroom together and you did great. We talked about school a lot and how you were going to stay there with your teachers and new friends and mommy and daddy were going to be gone. But none of that could prepare you for that first morning when I got you all settled in and then said it was time for me to go. You screamed and you cried and I finally had to just leave saying I would be back after nap time. Nothing could prepare me for how awful I felt. Luckily the director from your school called me almost as soon as I got in my car to tell me that you had calmed down. That made me feel better. Almost. I couldn't really concentrate on anything until I picked you up and I too had my fair share of tears that day. The second day was no better. It was mostly just the drop-off time though, your teachers said you really opened up during class and asked a bunch of questions (I am guessing they were mostly about WHY?). Last week and today you did great! You didn't cry once and you asked all weekend if it was Tuesday yet and if you could play with your friends at school. You never cease to amaze me with the way you are able to adjust to things.



The next big change is that I started a new job today. I knew that once you were in school I would begin looking for work. I thought I'd find a part-time job somewhere and would be home with you on non-school days. But then, I found a full-time job. In Beaverton. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, so after much deliberation with your father I decided to go for it. And, well, I got it! This job means these changes are even bigger than we anticipated. Tomorrow you meet your new nanny. Nanny Summer. (perfect name, no?) She seems just as sweet as summer and I think you will really like her. It will be yet another big adjustment, but I know you will surprise me yet again with your willingness to accept change.



When I got home from work tonight, your dad had already picked you up at school and you two bounded down the front steps to greet me with big, giant smiles on your faces and gave me the biggest hugs ever. I missed you so much, but wow are you fun to come home to!

Love Always,
Mommy

Hi!

Yes. I do realize that I have a TWO-year old boy who doesn't have a letter telling him how awesome a two-year old he is. I have started writing it, but am unable to publish it for two reasons:

1- we sent our camera cord home with my mom so our pictures are stuck on our camera. Husband ordered us a card reader, which will hopefully be here soon. Why we couldn't just buy one at the store I can not answer. That is his department.

2- every time I write more on that letter my throat begins closing up and I experience I mild anxiety attack and have to do something different, like shop for shoes.

We Feel Fine.

Way back in October of 2008, I received some Flickr mail about this photo of me that Erik took on Valentine's Day 2007:



The email was from a man saying he had found this image interesting and wanted to use it for a book project he was doing and would I sign a release for that? I talked it over with Erik and it was actually a book based on a website he had seen before: wefeelfine.org. He thought it was a cool site concept and said to go ahead and sign the release. I did so and promptly forgot about it. That is until I received a book in the mail a few weeks ago...with me in it!

It's a pretty interesting book and I think the concept overall is very intriguing. They found photos based on different words for our emotions we use such as lucky, happy, or in my case: miserable and display those photos under the word and give breakdowns for the people feeling those emotions based on things like gender, age, season, etc. I am a tiny little picture and they have my words in there too, though they have me listed as "a woman" only. Which I think is funny. Anyway, kind of fun to be in print even if it is anonymously! Here's the photo of the spread I am on, listed under MISERABLE:



Check it out the next time you're at a bookstore, or if you want to purchase a copy go here. I'm on page 115.

I heart NY.

So, like THREE months ago now, I did this thing where I went to New York to visit my dear friend Jessica and her sweet little family. I wrote about it in my letter to Milo last month, but I have neglected to do any more than that. Totally pathetic. Lucky for me Jess wrote a blow-by-blow account of our weekend here and well, she's a professional writer so it's better than anything I would ever do, so enjoy! Also, my camera died after the second day there so she got a lot more pictures than I did.

The last time I was in New York I went my senior year of high school *coughfourteenyearsagocough* with my dance team for a week. We stayed at the Marriott in Times Square, went to a different Broadway show each night and during the day went to classes at studios like Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey. Needless to say, I fell head-over-heels in love with New York City.

The purpose of this trip was worlds different than the last one. This time I just wanted to visit my friend in her new city and see some of the cool places she's found and maybe discover some new ones together. It was my first trip away from home alone since Milo's birth so I didn't want to put too many expectations on myself and it ended up being just right.

In addition to Jess' account of the visit here are a few other tidbits from the trip:

1- I got to wake up every morning to Snow White singing. I think it was early-ish, but every time I would be confused. Milo? Is that you? Then I would remember I was in New York in the sweet Coulter apartment, smile and go back to sleep. I got to sleep until 10 or 11 almost every day. Unheard of. As for who Snow White really was, not sure. Someone who's apartment shares the courtyard with the Coulter abode. I imagine her to be a Broadway starlet keeping her voice tuned for her next big role.

2- One night, Jess tried to show me a rat nest, but we caught them on a quiet night. Literally. By "show" she meant she wanted me to HEAR them snarffle and chew. I still shiver to think...

3- We had a few minor "celeb" sightings. Some Project Runway contestants (I was there right after fashion week) and Paulina Porizkova shopping in SoHo. We tried really hard for an SJP sighting, but it didn't happen for us. This did though and it was awesome.

4- We literally ate our way through NYC. I've decided that's going to be my focus whenever I travel. Food comes first, touristy stuff later. Most memorable thing I ate? Tie: Pizza at Grimaldi's and this beef-wrapped-ginger-rice ball thing that we had at Kyo Ya. But really everything was delicious and I didn't eat one disappointing thing.

I had the best time my second time in New York with the Coulters and I can't wait for my next visit. Next time I will take the boys with me so Cyrus doesn't have to be alone in his despair when Jessica and I announce it's photoshoot time yet again. Or maybe it'll be a girls BFF trip, that would be dreamy too.

Oh, and here are my photos. FINALLY.

Twenty-three months.

Dear Milo,

On Friday you turned 23-months old! I can't believe you are going to be TWO next month! Thursday was Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful meal together. You even ate some turkey and loved your first taste of pumpkin pie. Your Grandma Carol and Grandpa Bill came to spend the holiday with us and we had a wonderful visit with them. You were so loving with them, full of hugs, snuggles and even called them "Gamma" and "Bampa" you made it pretty hard for them to get on an airplane and go home.



One of your favorite things to do right now is to help. Yes, help. Oftentimes when I see you are playing quietly by yourself, I sneak off to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher, but as soon as you hear me putting away the silverware you come zooming in from the other room frantically yelling, "help!help!" at the top of your lungs. You help with putting away things like the cutting boards and your dishes and you hand me things that go up high out of your reach. You are always very careful and know to treat the breakables very delicately. You also love doing laundry, feeding the dogs and raking leaves. In the morning, you hang out with me while I'm getting ready. You love to go through all of our things on our nightstands. You love to find my wedding ring, which I keep in a special box next to the bed while I'm sleeping, and bring it to me. I love that you love helping us. You love to have a purpose and you are just such a good boy.



Another fun thing is you have learned everyone in the family's proper names. You no longer call Monty "Dog" you call him Monty. You now know that Brody's real name is not Bro-Bro, it's "Broby" though you still choose to call him Bro-Bro most of the time. You know Daddy's name is Erik. And, yes, you know my name is Mindy. You still call me Mama all the time, but if I am being especially silly you will giggle and through your laughs say "come on, Midi" which just makes us both laugh even more.



Earlier this month I did something pretty silly: I took you to a puppet show. I knew it was a crapshoot going into it. Puppets can be a little scary and you tend to get overwhelmed with things like that, but your friends were going and I thought there was a chance you would think it was cool. I didn't want to just assume you'd hate something and not try it (much like vegetables, you must always TRY them first). So anyways, we went. The gal doing the puppet show brought around a puppet at the beginning to introduce to all the kids. It was a flamingo named Mango that was as tall as you. You thought he was pretty cool, even gave him a nice pat on the head. I quietly let out a sigh of relief. When it was time for the show to begin the gal went up on stage behind a curtain and turned on the music. It was a Mother Goose-themed show and you were a little hesitant, but were doing really great. Until... DUN-DUN-DUN. That's what the music did and a little "villain" puppet popped up. A little man. You SCREEEEAAMED! And didn't stop. We were about three minutes into the show. You just kept asking to go home so, of course, I took you home. Since then you have reminded me OVER and OVER, "little man scare you puppet show." I won't be taking you back there for quite a while. Maybe not ever.



You have really started recognizing emotions and you are starting to tell us if you are feeling happy or sad. You are always very concerned with others emotions as well. If we are at the store and you hear another kid crying somewhere you look at me, tilt your head to the side, wrinkle up your nose, nod your head up and down and say "sad." Like you feel exactly how sad that kid is. It is the sweetest thing. You also know if the characters in your books are feeling sad or happy. And you are constantly checking in with us "Mama happy?" Yes, Milo. Mama happy.

Love Always,
Mama

Meet our new family member.

You may have seen my very housewifey tweet a week ago about needing a new vacuum. I got a lot of really great feedback from friends and after a lot of research we decided to go for it. We headed to Stark's this morning and got ourselves a Dyson.



*SWOON* I unpacked that thing as soon as I got home and gave it it's maiden voyage on our 8x10 rug in the living room (which I have already vacuumed three times this week with our old vacuum). Folks, after one pass with the Dyson I had to empty the canister. That's how much crap it got off our rug. Gross. And awesome. Milo had to take a nap soon after, but as soon as he gets up I am going to vacuum the rest of my house So. Hard. I can't wait! I guess I am an official housewife. That's cool. Probably after I'm done vacuuming, I'll fix myself a cocktail and flip through a magazine while the kids watch television. Thanks for being an inspiration, Betts.

Halloween 2009.

This Halloween we were ready. We bought Milo's Halloween costume months ago. Purchased a plastic pumpkin to hold all his loot and Milo received invitations to TWO Halloween parties in our neighborhood. We had it all planned out where we would walk to the parties and trick-or-treat in between and on the way home. Then, both parties got canceled within five minutes of each other. Both kids had come down with the sickness. After our last month of being sick we totally understood, but were disappointed nonetheless.

When Halloween day came, we decided to head to Kennedy School where they had folks lining the halls to hand out candy to the kids. I dressed up as a witch with clothes I had in my closet (fitting, I know) and a hat I found for $5. We carved pumpkins then headed out to Kennedy School. Brody had to stay home, as his plans were foiled by him being sick too. At Kennedy School, we ran into a few friends, loaded up the plastic pumpkin with candy and got to eat dinner with Milo's best girl, Lolo (and her parents) so it all worked out beautifully. Milo even got to try his first piece of candy. He opted for Smarties. He LOVED them. I helped him eat the rest of his candy.