Linky Lou-
Well, we did it! We kept you alive for two years! It's quite the accomplishment, if you ask me. The last two years have been full of a lot of heartache, triumphs, and everything in between. They have been some of the hardest of my life, but they are proving to be so rewarding for our entire family.
Linc, we all love you so much. You're the cutest little boy in our family and you're worth all the exhaustion.
Your language skills are seriously off the charts. About a week before you turned two, you stopped constantly referring to yourself as "Linky" and often spoke of yourself as "me" and "I" correctly. When our neighbor Paul drives by, you yell "He waved at me!" instead of "He waved at Linky!" It's amazing to hear that change happen so rapidly in you. I'll definitely miss hearing you refer to yourself in the third person all the time. But we're happy you're able to communicate so well. I laugh so hard when you repeat the phrases I constantly say, like, "Stop talking and let's watch a show!" or, "STAY WITH ME" when we walk through parking lots or cross the street. I'm always trying to get your attention or your sister's and am saying "stop talking and look at me" so it's no wonder you picked that up.
You got a hair cut yesterday and I was afraid I was going to be stuck working late and your dad would end up taking you. I knew if he did, you'd get another one of those awful big-boy buzz cuts that would make me cry for a thousand years. I'm so glad it worked out and you didn't even freak out this time getting your trim! It was awesome. You do look so big now, but at least not like a little man-child.
Your love for your sister is huge, and whenever she's at a friend's house for a few hours, you usually stop playing or doing whatever and will suddenly say, "Lessss go get Penny now." You miss her when she's gone, and I'm afraid when she's in first grade it will be a rough transition for the two of you. She's convinced she won't have any time to play with you when she's in school all day. We'll have to make sure the time you do spend together is awesome.
Linc, you're singing the ABCs already, and counting quite a bit. Aspen basically taught you everything you know. Which is everything
she knows, which is a lot of information. You're very into Cars right now, which is only a littler earlier in life than Aspen (I think she was closer to three when her obsession began). You also love trains, and received a huge electric train set from your cousins (we love hand-me-downs!) for your birthday.
Your food preferences are still a mystery to me. Also, you may be lactose-intolerant as of about a week or two ago. One evening you kids had ice cream after dinner, and you barfed it all up in the middle of the night. A couple of days later you had nothing but a huge glass of chocolate milk for dinner and barfed that up a couple of hours later. Your tummy troubles culminated in you having the hardest time pooping in your entire life during CHURCH. There was a lot of screaming and crying and you were begging me to help and take you home. I did finally help you (yuck) and we played outside until you were ready to go back into church, just in time for snacks in Nursery! So you're off all dairy except for Greek yogurt (which both you and I can eat without any troubles). No more cheese or milk for you, buddy! I'm sorry. It's a tough life, but we'll at least get through the misery of missing out on ice cream together.
Dad started watching YouTube videos with you before bed so you'd stop crying about him being the one to put you to bed, and that little habit is proving hard to break! Now before naps and bedtime you always want a little show. You are obsessed with ninja vids, which is actually parkour. You also went through a phase of wanting to watch car crash compilations, but when Kev realized you were watching actual fatalities occur, he wised up and stopped showing you those (!!!!). You love watching Cars shorts, or those videos during which people open up and play with toys. Aspen went through a phase of watching those, too, and it's so funny! Like, COME ON and go play with your own toys instead of watching someone else do it!
Right now you love wearing hats, anything with baseballs/bats on it, a rocket ship shirt (thank you, Little Einstens), and your Superman light up sneakers that someone gave to me while I was in line once at Kid-to-Kid. Many days you refuse to change your clothes entirely so you often wear PJs until bedtime, when we put on clean PJs. I remember doing the same for your sister when she was your age, too. You love to play ball and are so good at kicking and throwing, and we're working on catching. You're also obsessed with a little fabric doll of Aspen's. She's been kind enough to basically give it to you. You often ask "where's Linky's baby?!" in a distressed, whispery little voice throughout the day. You like to wrap it in your blankies, put it to bed, carry it everywhere and help her watch shows with you. I love that it serves as a substitute for the babies at work that I won't let you take home (the doll ones). Aspen even finds the doll around the house occasionally and runs to you, yelling that she found your baby and you should take better care of it. It's awesome.
Your hair is much more red than Aspen's, and your eyes still seem very blue (whereas hers were shifting to green around this age). You're a little miniature of your sister and it's so great comparing baby photos of the two of you. You usually insist that all the baby photos are you, regardless.
I better stop now before this lasts until your next birthday! I just wanted you to have a good idea of what life was like for your first two years. I'm so glad I was able to do these monthly letters for both you and your sister for 24 months each. She asked me recently why I don't do monthly letters and photos for her anymore, so perhaps I'll do some periodic updates from now on to keep the tradition alive.
Thank you for the chance to be part of your life (A HUGE PART, AMIRIGHT?!), Linky Lou. We love you so much and will keep squishing you as long as you'll let us.
Kisses,
Mama
See Aspen's monthly letter HERE.
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