Baby Cannon Turns 2!

 

My Sweet Cannon,

I am getting to your two-year letter a little bit late in light of a couple recent events.  This is important to note because even in these last couple of weeks you have added quite a few important milestones to your history and done a considerable amount of growing up.

Daddy took you to your two-year appointment and came back with the following statistics: you weigh 28lbs, 12oz; are 35” tall; and have 51cm in head circumference.  You are now in the 75^th percentile in height and weight and, of course, off the charts in head size.  Such a smarty with that big brain!  You are still wearing 2T clothes and just started having an opinion on what you like to wear.  Anything decorated with cars, airplanes, animals or trains is fine.  You don’t care what pants I put on you but you absolutely loathe new shoes.  If we put new shoes on your little feet you whine for an entire day about it before deciding that they are not so bad after all.  Your feet are currently size 6 but the dreaded transition to 7’s (and therefore new shoes) is close at hand.

It seems that there is not much that you don’t have an opinion about. You appreciate routine and order in its fullness and are quick to remind us if we accidentally miss steps, such as taking away your toys when you’re in your crib, or forgetting to turn on your white noise to sleep.  With all of this opinion has come an entire vocabulary that is so fun to listen to.  You have started conjuring up short sentences and are able to tell us almost anything you want to.  Your favorite words are ‘ok’ (which you use any time the answer to something is yes and you shout repeatedly if you want to know if a person is alright after a loud noise or jarring action); ‘better’ (meaning ‘please kiss it better’); ‘where did it go?’ (which is always said with your little hands and eyebrows up in question); ‘work’ (to describe where Daddy is any time he is not right beside you); Tank; ball; bubbles; choo-choo; plane; light; and many many more.  You are a little talking machine!

To be realistic, you gave Mommy and Daddy a real run for our money from about 14-22 months old.  You got so frustrated when you couldn’t communicate with us and would throw very long, very loud tantrums that drove us to do a lot of reading and a lot of experimenting.  As you learn to talk these outbursts have become much more scarce and much more manageable.  You seem significantly happier and really enjoy sharing your happiness and sense of humor with the people you love.  When you do something that you think is hilarious (such as hide Tank’s toys in tall places repeatedly) you laugh and run away jumping, normally asking ‘funny?!’ to let us know how funny you really think you are.  Your little smile melts my heart and makes me want you to stay this small forever.

In November, just after getting rid of your binki for good, we took a fun Thanksgiving trip to visit Kimpa and G-ma (pronounced gui-ma, just ask you).  Though your sweet smile could never be tainted, you took a tumble and chipped your two front teeth, creating a small triangle of a hole in the front of your mouth.   I called every dentist in town and they all promised that the only solution was to wait for your permanent teeth to come in, as caps on the front teeth would fall out too quickly.  With this news we have (cried) learned to embrace your chipped little smile and everything else that you have bruised and broken along the way.  In these past 6 months you have also: healed from a very severe case of cellulitis around your eye which threatened blindness if it had not been treated when it was; been diagnosed with an astigmatism in your right eye resulting in glasses; tripped and fallen into the ledge of the fireplace, giving you three stitches on your upper lip; and jumped from the top of a flight of wooden stairs, breaking your wrist (you did this because you were so excited to see G-ma when we got home from the hospital with Baby Elle.  We had been home 5 minutes).  These were just the permanent and severe things that your darling 2-year-old self has gone through recently… you come by new bumps and bruises every day, making you a real live little boy with a vibrant amount of energy that keeps me on my toes and laughing all day long.

When you were about 22 months old you started to enjoy the comfort that comes from slowing down every once in a while and became a bit of a cuddle bug.  You love to be rocked and sung to before going to sleep and will often crawl up into Daddy or I’s laps and ask to ‘hold you’.  This sweetness has become so raw and tender as you have started to interact with your new baby sister, Elle.  You love to stand next to Elle and rub your cheek on her fuzzy little head and talk to her.  You normally just say cute things like ‘baby sister; hi baby sister; it’s ok sister; don’t cry sister’.  You also love to kiss her head and talk about her stinky poops.  I think you know her name is Elle but you much prefer to just call her sister.  You have adapted to sharing the spotlight incredibly well.  Even in the hospital you loved to look at Elle and kiss her little head.  You talk about her whenever she is not around and are always making sure that she is ok.  Her little scab from her umbilical cord has you very perplexed and you like to touch it and say ‘ouch’. 

It seems to really bother you when other people are not well.  When I was in the hospital after having Elle you were so excited to spend time with the baby, G-ma, and Daddy but after Daddy told you that I had an ouch on my tummy (from the c-section) you did not like being close to me and would not sit with me or touch me except for a kiss goodbye when you left each time.  It seems that whenever you are frustrated or consumed by a problem in your life, you are instantly stopped if you are brought to recognize someone else’s needs.  You could be in the middle of the tantrum of the century and if you recognize that someone else is hurt or needs something you will instantly stop and cater to them.  You have a very tender heart.

The people that you are most willing to share this tenderness with are those that you trust and are comfortable with.  You are not quick to befriend people and are also not ashamed of your criteria.  Mommy and Daddy have made the list, as well as a select few family members and friends in the ward.   This does not mean that you are mean to those that don’t make the cut, you are just very candid about it and will not share (not your favorite topic anyway) or perform (hugs, kisses, high fives, nice looks) for those that have not yet ranked.  I’m hoping that as you get a little bit older we can have a talk about the art of cordiality.

In December Daddy and I bought a house here in Danbury, CT where you were born.  It is a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom, split-level house with a huge basement to play in and an acre of land to explore.  You have made your mark on the house already by depositing money into every exposed crevasse you can find (a penny saved is a penny earned, right?!), drawing circles on the dining room wall in red crayon (luckily the room hadn’t been painted yet), and following Daddy around, helping him use his tools with all of our DIY projects.  You LOVE having more room to wrestle, chase Tank and run around and know just where to go to play with your ever-growing collection of toys.  Your favorite things are currently animals, toy airplanes, trains with tracks, and anything battery powered.  You would also probably watch TV all day if we would let you but Daddy and I are pretty strict on keeping it off during the day so you don’t end up without an imagination.

For your birthday we took you swimming at the Ridgefield Recreation Center and had a small party with pizza, cake and presents with the Tavares family.  We also took a road trip to Rhode Island to see Uncle Shawn and Aunt Shelby (who you met for the first time!) and you loved it!  Together the four of us sang you Happy Birthday over a second cake and by this time you knew the drill and blew out your candles before we had even set it down in front of you so that you could get right to eating and feeding cake to everyone at the table.  You put on quite the show and had us all laughing up a storm with your little displays.  I have no doubt that you will be able to entertain a crowd as you get older.

Cannon, you have my heart absolutely locked on you.  I adore watching you grow and learn.  You are kind and sensitive, while still very stubborn and orderly.  Holding you in my arms while I sing to you at night makes me feel so complete, I wish it would never end.  You have me lost in either laughter or utter confusion all of the time, making your world the perfect place for me.  Thank you for being you and for looking at me with such big loving eyes.  I can feel your trust and your faith in me and I am propelled to continue to live in strength.  I will love you forever, more than you can ever know.

Always,

Mama