Category: Birthdays

My dearest Jay Bird,

Sweet boy you are three today; this fact should neither surprise nor shock me since we have spent the last 12 days counting down until this day and jumping up and down as each day passes. Never the less, I find it hard to believe- my baby is 3!  You are growing up before our eyes kiddo and man-o-man do I wish that I could slow down time. I am positive that if I blink too long these days that when I open my eyes you will be graduating and leaving our nest – a thought that I just can’t bear to consider right now.

I struggle to find adequate words to describe you these days…  You delight in the smallest of things, you adore cars and books, your heart is so gentle and kind and you are stubborn to the core. Honestly, each day can be a constant battle; we have really, really great moments followed by knock-down drag-out fights that end in temper tantrums and time outs more times than I care to admit. And more often than not I am not really even sure what set you off. Sometimes it’s that you don’t get what you want, sometimes you don’t get things exactly your way and sometimes it seems as if there is no reason at all (i.e. you are 2!). Most evenings at supper time I get to play witness to a battle of the wills- opponent A: Jay Bird- fierce determined and decidedly going to declare that you want/like nothing that you are being given for supper. Opponent B: Daddy- fierce, determined and decidedly NOT going to give in or budge one bit. If I were an outsider I believe I might find quite a bit of humor in these battles however, since I have fought during both breakfast and lunch the humor seems to escape me.  So instead I sit, observe and hang on the knowledge that this too shall pass. And it will because it is a phase and all phases pass; however, at the risk of sounding contradictory, I don’t want this phase to pass too quickly because while you are stubborn to the core you are gentle, kind, sweet, smart and just so stinking cute sometimes!

You adore your brother Charlie and while y’all do fight over toys and have normal brotherly moments you are generally SO good to him. You let him play with your stuff, want to make sure that he is included and are the first to try to cheer him up when he is sad and crying. Most often, when he is crying, you will head over to him and ask in your sweet and concerned voice “what’s wrong Charlie?” and then start singing because you know that usually makes him stop.  It’s moments like these that make all the day-to-day crazy so incredibly worth it. A year later you still adore cars and while you vary the things you play with, almost everything is an accessory for cars.  Tools?  Things to fix cars with. Used dryer sheets? Parachutes for cars. Duplo? Used to build garages and things to house cars (although you do on occasion build with Duplo without cars) Mommy’s hair tie? Rope to tow cars with.  I love to watch your imagination at work and listen to your conversations as you play; some of the stuff you come up with is hysterical. Games are also another thing that you have taken to lately.  You love being able to play with me and Daddy after Charlie goes to bed and frequently request to play before your nighttime stories.  It is so fun to watch you play because you really don’t have a competitive bone in your body (you got that from me, not from Daddy).  You are ecstatic when anyone wins and you jump up and down and cheer them along giving congratulatory high fives.  It’s so great and I really can’t wait to see what you will use this encouraging part of your personality to do as you continue to grow;  whatever it is I know it will make me proud.  Along with cars and games you also still love books and want so badly to be able to read them on your own; we are working on getting there and I am sure it will come soon if you have anything to do with it.  You have already memorized all kinds of books and frequently “read’ to us.  Often, in the mornings Daddy and I will come into you room to find a pile of books on the ground that you have been reading all morning waiting for us to get up.  I also find books tucked behind a pillow and under blankets on your bed from before you fell asleep either at night or during nap time.  It melts me when you look at me with sleepy eyes (usually after nap time) and ask me… “Mommy let’s cuddle and read stories okay?”  I try to drop all things whenever possible at those requests because there is nothing that I would rather do than cuddle the day away with you.

Like I said earlier, I am finding it so very hard to accurately describe you sweet boy.  We have our moments and I do want to pull my hair out from time to time; however, more often than not I want to scream at the top of my lungs that you are mine.  Daily, you teach me new things, show me how to delight in the smallest and most simple things and you teach me over and over again how to love.  I hope you always know how very proud we are of you.  I know you will continue to do wonderful things and I can’t wait to see what is yet to come.  This life is quite an adventure kiddo, thank you for taking me along for the ride.

I love you sweet boy, Happy Birthday!

Love, Momma

Jay Bird,

Two- two, you are two today!!  Holy- Moly guacamole, I am in disbelief.  Every day I stumble over the reality that you are mine… you light up my life and make each day better than the last.

You are a constant joy to be around little one and when I say constant I mean it!  You talk constantly, you move constantly- you are ALWAYS on the go.  Most frequently you are either playing cars or finding more cars to play with.  To say that you like cars right now would quite possibly be the understatement of the century, my sweet little boy you are obsessed!  Cars are you world;  they are literally the first thing that you talk about in the morning and the last thing you think about before closing your eyes.  They watch you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  You ask to get down from the table to play with them, we must have at least one of them with us at all times and they clutter every corner of your bed as you sleep.  You play with them nonstop, making them go fast, flip, crash, jump, fly- you name it, they do it.  I love watching you while you play; your imagination is immeasurable and man that is so, so wonderful!  This is not to say that you don’t enjoy other things aside from cars, you do.  You love to color, use stickers, work puzzles, play with your duplos and read stories.  Your attention span is honestly quite amazing, you can sit through stories that some third graders would loose patience with- it’s a fact that constantly amazes your Daddy and me.  It also makes your Daddy very proud…he LOVES to read with you and will read any story that you put in front of him, he even reads them multiple times in a row (which you do ask him to do).

Hugs and kisses are plentiful in our house, which I love.  I am pretty sure that you are the sweetest boy that there is; sure, I know I am biased but it  isn’t far from the truth.  You greet everyone that walks through our door with a shy smile and usually by the time they leave you are hugging, kissing them and telling them that you will “see them tomorrow”.  Frequently, for no reason you will walk up to me and plant a big wet (yup- they are usually wet) one on me and follow it will an “I love you, Mommy”- melt.my.heart kiddo, melt my heart!  Just yesterday I was playing with Charlie on the floor while you played with your cars and for no reason at all you stopped what you were doing walked over to Charlie kissed him on the head and told him you loved him.  And you do, you love your little brother in such a way it makes me burst at the seams with pride.  You are always wanting to know what he is doing, you frequently bring him your blanket to use and not just any blanket your favorite I-can’t-sleep-without-this-blanket and when he is crying you will look at me and say “Charlie isn’t very happy” then look at him and tell him it will be okay.  I can’t wait to see your relationship grow as the two of you grow.. how wonderful it will be.

This isn’t to say that our time together is all rainbows and roses kiddo, we have our moments.  You drive me up the wall, I threaten to sell you to the highest bidder before your Dad gets home and when he does get home I say- “take him, he’s your son tonight”.  But honestly, those moments and those bad days are far out-numbered by the good.  I frequently have a hard time believing that two years has already passed since you made me a Mama.  My sweet little Jay Bird, it feels as though you were just born yesterday and yet have always been a part of my life- and maybe you have been, you just resided in my heart until two years ago today.  And what a wonderful day that was-  I fell in love with you the very moment I saw you and that love continues to grow with each passing day.  Every night when we put you to bed I stand in awe of you kiddo… amazed that you are mine, grateful for all the time we get together and looking forward to all that is to come.

I love you sweet boy, happy birthday- here’s to many, many more.

Love,

Mommy

and since we aren’t heading out to take your two year photos until Sunday and because every post is better with a photo here is recent one of you and Dad driving that makes me smile