Happy Birthday Chase

Dear Chase,

I don't even know where to begin when it comes to you.

I might be biased but I think you quite possibly could be the cutest child on the planet. You have these deep cavernous dimples that sink in to your cheeks when you crack a grin. I could seriously get lost in there. Your face when you smile is the most angelic sight ever... I could stare at you for hours when you are smiling. On the flip side... your sad face. Oh my is it ever sad. Your lips pout, your eyes brim with tears and thanks to me, your eyes and nose turn beet red... sorry for that. Luckily the sad face doesn't come out too often. Even when you take a tumble and cry, moments later you are hopping down from my lap in search of a specific toy you just thought of and now have to have.

Lately you have been exerting some your very defiant will. If you don't want to do something, you definitely let us know. On more than one occasion you have stood at the end of the hall screaming at the top of your lungs for "Mamah and Daddy's rhoom!!" while banging on our door. Usually if I explain why you can't do something, you accept it and move on... it may take me saying it a few times in a row but you do get it. There are times when I feel silly talking so grown up to you but I feel better explaining why instead of asking you to just accept 'because I said so' as a reason.

And the screaming... boy do you have an ear piercing scream. I wish I could ignore it but something about your scream reaches through my ear and pokes at a part of the brain that just won't let me ignore it. Thus we introduced time-out. Don't get me wrong, you were in time-outs before you discovered your powerful scream... we just specifically went on a time-out/scream rampage. The moment you started screaming, your tushie went straight into time-out... and after a while it worked! Although lately it's been making a comeback... hmmmm... maybe I should start the time-outs more often. And now that you are 2, that time-out is 2 minutes long! Congratulations!

We also started telling you that the rule is "No screaming"... then asking you to repeat it so you will better understand. You complied... we would ask "what's the rule Chase?"... you would reply "no steaming". Then you took it one step further by telling yourself the rule before even being asked. On more than one occasion I have heard your ear piercing scream followed quickly by a quieter "no steaming pwease"... I didn't have to say a word. You are a smart little guy.

But for all your momentary discipline frustrations, there are thousands more lovable 'melt my heart' moments.

Yo routinely ask to "watch Chasey on Mamah's ta-bah-dah-ber (computer)"... and when I say routinely, I mean at least 10 times a day. I cannot open my computer without you climbing (forcibly if necessary) into my lap and insisting that we "watch Chasey on Mamah's ta-bah-dah-ber". And the word 'ta-bah-dah-ber'... you tried like crazy to say computer. You really did and I remember watching you try to figure it out and say it back to me... but it never came out quite right... and you couldn't remember it from one moment to the next. However, somehow you came up with 'ta-bah-dah-ber' for computer and it stuck. It's part of our vocabulary now.

Much like 'straw-bee-days'. You tried to say strawberries but it just didn't come out right... so you figured out your own way to say it... and it works. Funnily enough, you can say 'blue-berrdies' so I am not sure what happened there.

Just recently you have started saying "I wuv ewe" which has melted the hearts of anyone lucky enough to be on the receiving end. September 25th was the first day I said it to you and you said it back. No coaxing or prompting. Just a very sweet "I wuv ewe Mommy" as I laid you in your crib for nap. Life doesn't get much better than that.

When it comes to language, you have become our life narrator. From the moment you wake up you are telling us what is going on. "diaper change"... "mamah make poffee"... "chasey eat oatmeal"... "daddy shower all done!"... and on and on and on and on. I give the impression that it gets old but really it doesn't. Every day I listen to you and it just amazes me... just a few months ago you were just breaking the barrier on speech and now you could be on the campaign trail running for office. Amazing.

Equally amazing is your ability to learn new things... most recently your colors. It started with your paci's... "geen paci"... "bwue paci"... and the coveted "whiiiiite paci!". From there we just started pointing out colors everywhere we saw them... and you caught on quick. Now I hear you call out "back truck" from your car seat and after a quick scan I find a black pick up truck in your line of sight. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with everything you see and report on... you are extremely observant.

Oh and even more recently... as in the weekend Mommy did her 3Day walk... you learned to count all on your own! You counted to 10, unsolicited, twice for Daddy... boy did you make him proud. He wasn't even aware you knew anything past 3... neither was I for that matter! Ever since then 5 seems to get left out but I know soon enough you'll add him back in!

Trucks are HUGE around our house these days. You have even started to demand to know which truck is which. You can tell the difference between Mack trucks (any big rig), dump trucks, tow trucks, garbage trucks, cement trucks, pickup trucks... and if you don't know then you ask once or twice and commit them to memory.

You delight in pointing out "police tars", bus", "fire truck" and "tack-doors" (tractors).

You know your animals and their sounds.

Your favorite chore is to push the shopping cart (grocery store, target, ect) back to its appropriate place... you get upset if we forget and put you right into the car.

You absolutely love to "gind da beans" when I make coffee in the morning... Daddy taught you that one. You even insist on "smell... nose... smell" once the beans are ground. You might be the only 2 year old that smells his parents morning coffee.

You also still get a kick out of feeding Riley... most of the time.

You love to read books. You happily call out which book you would like to read next... "Happy", Nigh nigh moon", "weft foo, weft foo"... the list goes on. You can be very particular about what book you want to read next. You can recite several of your books and often read along with daddy and I.

You have the best phrases... lately I hear "Hi (insert Mamah, Daddy or Riley)... How you doonan?" If someone (or something) is in your way you very politely say "Es-toose-me (Riley, Mamah's chair, truck, ect...)".

You copy us like a parrot these days. Just in the past few weeks you have started to mimic me while I am working. I frequently talk with Grandpa, Bam-ma or customers and as soon as you see me on the phone, you pick yours up and start talking as well. "Hi cus-toe-mer... yeah... yeah... ok", "Hi Grandpa", "Hi Bam-ma". A lot of times you end up just talking up a storm into the phone... most of it completely unintelligible.

It's almost alarming how fast you learn... I feel like I can't keep up with you and your ability to soak up knowledge.

I love watching you with your Daddy. His interaction and involvement with you makes me so happy I could burst. He's great with you. He encourages me to have time for mommy... he even pushed me to have a whole weekend for mommy when I did the Breast Cancer 3Day... and he is so wonderful that I didn't once worry about you guys. I missed you like crazy but I knew you were in good hands.

I can't believe that I have had you in my life (this side of the uterus) for 2 whole years now. Sometimes it feels like yesterday that you came home but other times you feel so natural, I can't remember life without you. I am honored that God chose your daddy and I to raise you... for that I feel like the luckiest parent ever.

Happy Birthday Chase